How I benefitted from working with a financial coach 

As an investing coach, why would I hire a financial coach for myself? (Especially one that charges more than I charge my own clients!)

Just like hairdressers still go to someone else to do their hair and therapists often attend therapy, you’re in the best position to understand the value of someone else’s perspective and skills when they do what you do. Plus, once you really understand what a money/financial coach does, it doesn’t sound so surprising. 

This coach had two roles. The first was to guide me through setting up a different type of investment that I didn’t know much about. 

I saved my most precious resource: time

The obvious benefit of this is that he saved me hours and hours of research into how this kind of investing worked, what tech or platforms I needed and he gave me options on what strategy I would follow. As what I wanted to learn was much more complex than the kinds of investing I teach, it was all quite overwhelming. I’m not exaggerating when I say I had a headache by the end of most of our face-to-face sessions. I would definitely have given up if I’d been doing it myself, or it would have taken months and months. 

But actually I don’t think I’d ever have done it and just got stuck in endless research, never quite sure if I’d read or understood enough.

With the coach, I had to keep up a pace as we’d leave a session with tasks for me to carry out and that built in accountability. At first, I didn’t like to message him to tell him how overwhelmed I was and how difficult I was finding it. But he kind of gently told me off for that and asked me why I was paying him all that money if I wasn’t going to let him help. So I started giving him updates on my progress and that really helped me get on with it and reassured me about what I was doing. 

Which leads me to the second of his roles and the one where what I was paying him was priceless.

The financial coach challenged my beliefs

The value was apparent even in the first session. It was quite challenging as I had to explain my current financial set up so we could work out how to accommodate the new investments. He asked me why I had certain things set up the way I did and I found myself then questioning that too. I went away seriously doubting some of what I was doing, and unsure about almost everything else. 

I really benefitted from the shake up. 

I reevaluated everything he’d questioned through the different perspectives he’d offered on risk and how conservative (or the opposite) I was being. The result was that I became more sure about some of my beliefs and open to changing others. The knock-on effect of that was I immediately became more aware of opportunities I had with the money I already had. I made some easy changes even before we got to exploring the new investments and am better off financially because of those. 

Our sessions, spaced out over about 6 weeks, mean I’ve reorganised my investments, gained a new perspective on risk, and learned things I can pass on to my own clients, if relevant. And I’ve already made the price of the coaching back. (I mean, on paper I have. I’d have to sell my investments to take the money but these are long-term investments so I’m not doing that.)

This kind of progress is why I started offering a 1-2-1 package for my clients last June. 

Get your finances in shape in 3 easy stages

It includes access to any of my courses or resources that will suit you and your situation. And you get 3 x 1-2-1 60 minute sessions plus a final check-in after 4 months. And, just like my coach, you can ask me questions or give me updates anytime you need during the package period.