Be a Freelance Money Coach
March 6, 2008
A money coach is an offshoot of financial planning. Whereas a financial planner will actually look at a person’s finances and “crunch” numbers, a money coach helps clients overcome limiting financial beliefs and behaviors.
A money coach can come from many backgrounds—accounting, counseling, psychotherapy, and even bookkeeping.
There are many avenues to get started as a money coach, many of which parallel the financial planning career field. One way to establish credibility is to get certified. The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is the most prestigious certification you can attain.
The CFP is granted by a Certified Financial Planning board after you pass a series of exams and get the required experience. The not so good part about this certification is that it requires a bachelor’s degree. It also takes time to schedule in the required courses.
There’s also training and certification available for money coaches available from the Money Coaching Institute. It’s founder, Deborah Price, has written the de-facto book on money therapy called Money Magic.
You can specialize as a money coach but you’ll need to be careful that you aren’t actually offering financial or investment advice. These types of services are regulated by the federal and state governments.
A few specialities include:
- Investment coaching
- Budgeting
- Family planning (having children will impact a family’s finances)
- Dual career planning (helping career couples come together)
- Debt management and restructuring
What to Charge
How you charge for your coaching varies on your location and experience. You can charge a flat fee for a certain number of coaching sessions or get setup on a retainer program for a fixed number of hours each month as needed.
You can also charge by the hour. Since this is very similar to counseling/psychology, you should be able to charge $75+ per hour. But, hourly fees can scare people off. I recommend charging a base fee for a guaranteed number of coaching hours while giving discounts to clients who buy more hours in advance.
As a freelance money coach, you’ll most likely market in your immediate area when you first start your practice. But, you don’t have to limit your market.
With advances in Internet communications technology (Skype), you can counsel anyone from anywhere. And since being a money coach isn’t state regulated, marketing nationwide is a great possibility and opportunity.
Links for Certifications
Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Eduation
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards
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