What’s the Difference Between a Financial Advisor and Financial Coach?

When I first started as a financial coach, people often thought I was a financial advisor (or someone who told people to just stop spending money on lattes!). Neither is true! 🤪 But I do understand the confusion. The word “financial” just brings to mind “financial advisor, “ so naturally people would think that’s what I am. 

To clear up confusion, I started referring to myself as a money coach instead of a financial coach just to reframe it and make the difference a little more clear. But still, what is the actual difference between the two? Both work with money and people, but they are two different jobs  that serve different needs.

I’m so grateful for my own financial advisor. He is an expert on investments, and I am so incredibly grateful for his years of work to help my husband and me be prepared for retirement one day and to make sure we are properly insured right now. He helped us figure out how much we need to contribute each month to reach our retirement goals, and he does a fantastic job managing our investments for us. We meet with him once a year to review how our investments have done under his care and to talk about any changes to our long term plans.

Years ago, I asked our advisor for some help with budgeting, which he kindly explained wasn’t really what he was interested in. 

Now as a money coach, I understand! What I was looking for was a plan for our day to day money. Despite earning a good income, I didn’t know if our spending was reasonable or not. We had fluctuating income and fluctuating expenses, so I just didn’t have a clear picture of what I could spend month to month and still have what I needed for the irregular expenses.

I needed a financial advisor and a financial coach, even though I didn’t know what a money coach was at the time. 😕

As a money coach, I help people with their day to day money management. This is the money that needs our immediate attention, and honestly, it’s the management of this money that causes the most stress in our lives. 

We all know we should spend less than we make, right? But no two months look the same, and since different expenses are always hitting at different times, we don’t always have a very clear picture of what we are spending to even know if it’s less or more than we make! All we know is that we feel uncertain or stressed.

I’m here to support you live the life you want, and money is a tool to make that happen. I don’t promise that you can have everything you ever wanted all at once 😀, but I do believe that you can move the needle in the direction you want to go so you can reach your personal goals with your money. I also believe you can feel confident, calm, and empowered with your money, and that those feelings will spill over into other areas of your life.

Bottom line, a financial advisor will manage your investments for you and charge you an annual  percentage of your portfolio as their fee (AUM). A financial coach empowers you in creating simple systems to manage your day to day money to reach your goals for a flat fee. Both are incredibly important and can be used at the same time. 

If you’d like support in creating a plan for your money that brings you calm and confidence, book a free 15 minute Q&A call today! I’d love to chat!