Is Financial Coaching Right for You?

If you’re reading this, well done!  You’ve just taken your first step toward wealth by exploring the life-changing tool that is financial coaching.  This is an investment in yourself, your future, and your success.  How does it work? We’re about to dive in and find out.

I will cover many of the common questions people have asked me about financial coaching.  With these answers all in one convenient location, you’ll be able to determine if the financial coaching option is a good fit for you before you purchase the service, enabling us to talk more about the important stuff that truly matters to you during our meeting.

Before we begin, I’d like to share a personal story that I hope will change the way you look at things going forward.

After graduating college and working at a bank for a few years, I aspired to climb higher up the ladder.  I cast a wide net of applications for various positions within my company and the regional financial industry.  Despite meeting or exceeding the qualifications for these jobs, there were crickets in response to my efforts.  I couldn’t even get a phone call, let alone an interview!

Just as I began to feel a little defeated, I stumbled upon a Groupon discount for a resume-building and writing service.  I had never considered having my resume reviewed professionally.  However, exasperated by the idea that someone would charge a whopping $80 for something that could not guarantee results, I scrolled on.

Several hundred applications and a few weeks later, not much had changed.  Desperation led me back to that Groupon ad, but this time with a different perspective.  Instead of seeing it as an expense, I realized it was an opportunity to invest in myself.  Why had I ever been unwilling to see this for what it was? A way to obtain a much greater salary that would prove a measly $80 to be peanuts compared to this advantage’s potential profits.

It’s an investment in yourself, not a fee.

Right now, you might be asking yourself some questions, like:

• Will it be worth it to pay this fee for financial coaching?
• Does it make sense to pay for a service that offers no guarantees?

I strongly encourage you to transform your framing of these questions to maximize your potential.  Put the focus back on yourself.  Instead of seeing this as a “fee,” start viewing it as an investment in your future.  When you make this decision, you’ve got to be ready to put in some work to get the biggest bang for your buck.  With my financial coaching, you’ll be exchanging your hard-earned dollars for game-changing knowledge, skills, and a personalized strategy for your success.  I’m not providing fish here; I’m teaching people how to fish.

Who Will Financial Coaching Benefit Most?

Let’s be honest.  Those who will get the most out of this will be the ones who are truly prepared to take control of their financial destiny.  This means being willing, ready, and motivated to commit and make an effort to change their lives.  Although I mainly work with early-career professionals and young families amongst the “millennial” generation, literally anyone with the right mindset will benefit from my coaching.  I am here to serve people who seek guidance in generating and securing sustainable wealth.

How Do I Find the Best Financial Coach for Me?

Although many factors qualify a person to become a financial coach, there are three things you can use to gauge their ability to help you: trust, experience, and competency.

Trust

Where finances are concerned, trust is everything.  Your financial coach must be someone you feel comfortable with because you will discuss personal matters.  If you don’t, you likely won’t gain much from the experience, as you won’t trust the professional’s advice or intentions nor open up about your goals, objectives, strengths, and weaknesses.  One of my top priorities is to create a friendly, welcoming, nonjudgmental atmosphere for my clients, enabling us to get to the heart of the issues and make actual progress.  After all, your success is my success!

Experience

Even with all the trust in the world, a financial coach won’t get you very far without hands-on knowledge, skills, and especially competency.  Your wealth mentor should confidently and proficiently walk the walk, not just talk the talk.  For example, if a coach recommends index investing but doesn’t have any experience with it, this may not be the right person for you.  Size up a potential coach’s competence by first asking them about their personal approach to finance and what information they read to stay ahead of the ball.

Competency

Additionally, you’ll need a coach with intellect or wisdom from the industry – “book smarts,” if you will. A sign of a competent coach might be found in their ability to explain the differences between a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA). It’s important to remember that some professionals may demonstrate intellectual competency but lack direct experience. If a coach has a solid understanding of the home-buying process yet has never personally bought a home, how much can they really help you compared to someone with the knowledge and firsthand experience? They’ve put in the footwork, overcome the obstacles, and can, therefore, pass their wisdom on to their clients.

Am I the Right Financial Coach for You?

Luckily for you, I’ve made it relatively simple to assess my competency.  I actually wrote a book to help people navigate the complex world of mortgages, titled Master Your Mortgage: What the Bank Will Not Tell You About Buying a Home.  Not only is it a helpful resource, but it’s also a cost-effective, low-risk way to determine if I know what I’m talking about!  You can also explore my blogs, Youtube channel, and various social media (TikTok and Instagram) to comprehensively understand my style, approach, skill, and proficiency.

For the best results, I suggest holding off on reserving me as your coach until you’ve verified my financial competence.  Then, you’ll want to sign up for the membership starter to better understand what kind of things I can help you with. Again, it’s a cost-effective way to further see if working with me one-on-one is required. You might find the membership pro has all you’re looking for, and one-on-one coaching might not be required. I only take on a limited number of clients at any one time; therefore, if I’m not taking on any new clients, sign up for the membership starter, and you will get first access when a spot opens up.

Your Mindset is What will Determine your Success.

In my experience, the most successful coaching clients have one main thing in common: their mindset.   They enter this commitment knowing that it’s not me who will deliver their success but themselves.   They understand that I’m not going to pitch some crazy investment for a “get rich quick” scheme and that this is a long-term plan with long-term rewards that will last for generations if executed properly.   They seek guidance in developing the right mindset to make a breakthrough.

Many people make the mistake of believing that finance is all about math, but it’s not.  One of the biggest things blocking people from wealth is their inability to understand how emotion impacts our decisions.  Nearly all of us have acted irrationally with our money when chasing something emotionally satisfying, momentarily “forgetting” about our long-term aspirations.

It takes an honest conversation about money to uncover the existing mindset, knowledge, insight, and ambition to replace it with something more effective.  Despite popular belief, financial challenges are not caused by a lack of money – at least not in my experience.  Rather, people face wealth obstacles because of habits formed in childhood.  Most of us learn how to manage money from our parents, friends, and family.

Money is simply a tool, but it often becomes a vice for people when they use it to suppress pain or hide insecurities.  They don’t buy Starbucks every morning because they need coffee to function.  They do it for the emotional satisfaction that this ritual provides.  Imagine the money you can make when you realize you’re selling that experience, not coffee.

Wealth is a mindset.  You must first understand what you’re doing wrong so you can overcome the obstacles blocking you from success.  Then, you’ll need to establish and feed the mindset that will take you there.  Comprehending this will be the difference between turning four coaching sessions into an annual net worth increase of $500,00 or walking away feeling like you wasted your time because there was no overnight solution for wealth accumulation.

How I Work

My approach to coaching comes down to three things:

1. Knowledge acquisition – You can’t achieve progress if you don’t know right from wrong. My coaching starts with correcting any flawed inherent beliefs you may have about finances, the ones that could keep you spinning around in that hamster wheel forever.  I’ll examine your mistakes, show you where you went wrong, and educate you on the proper way to approach and view finances if you want to achieve your goals.

1. Mindset transformation – After clearing the misconceptions and faulty financial practices, we’ll begin to shape the mindset that will carry you into the future of your dreams. If you’ve read my book, you’re already familiar with the structure my coaching is modelled after my “Build You. Incorporated” concept.
2. Changing behaviours – Of course, knowledge and mindset achieve little without action. That’s where behavioural changes come into play.  However, with the knowledge you’ve acquired and the wealth mindset you’ve built, you’ll be able to see what behaviours you’ll need to adopt to set, meet, and surpass your goals.

Knowledge+ Mindset+ Behaviour= Reaching Your Financial Goals

If you are prepared to change your future and ready to put in the work to unlock your maximized financial potential, then it’s time to move on to the next critical step: purchase your financial coaching session with me.  This is where you start investing in yourself.

I am extremely passionate about coaching and take this work very seriously.  I hope you will, too!  That’s why I encourage you to do a self-assessment, ensure you’re up for this challenge and show up to our appointments poised and ready for action.  It helps to bring your notes and any questions you might have.  I look forward to helping you grow your wealth!

-Brighton, CEO and Founder of Wealth Marathon