Financial Coach

March 12, 2009 8:58 AM

Are there online financial coaching services—not investment financial planners or debt counselors--for debt-free people fed up with researching every personal money decision?

I’d love a subscription to a financial coaching service, along the lines of a personal shopper—they know what’s in someone’s closet and can tell them what to pull out of the closet or buy for a wedding/job interview. I’ve already done all the heavy lifting—no debt; downsized; funded the IRAs and just happened to be in cash already; sold the house before everything tanked. But I am sick of researching everything to death. I’d supply my financials and personal profile to this coach and ask boring stuff like:

--Given my situation, should I rent or buy?
--What’s the maximum I can spend on a rental/house purchase?
--What’s the best health network in my location and what plan of theirs should I get?
--How much should I be paying a tax preparer?
--What’s the best car insurance company and how much deductible should I take?
--Should I split up my IRAs (now that I’ve consolidated them on one place!!!) for safety reasons? If so, where?
--Where should I park proceeds of the house?
--What’s the most affordable communications package in my area for all phones, internet, cable?
--How much would you charge to work up a budget for me knowing my thrift level, income, savings, and splurges?

Metafilter is great, but I have too many questions. I’d like a financial hand holder who has my personal profile and financial information and can just give me answers. I’ve already read all the Oprah guru books, seen the shows, etc. They worked. Thank you. But now I want to personalize my everyday financial decision making with somebody like me, who’s not me, who can do the research while I enjoy life.

posted by Elsie to work & money (5 comments total)

We have a fee-only financial planner who helps us answer those types of questions and much more. He even helped us find cheapo life insurance. Financial planners aren't just for managing investments; they are especially great for helping you write out a budget and achieve long term goals. Get a personal recommendation from friends if you're nervous about finding one on your own.
posted by Alison at 10:29 AM on March 12

It's definitely not exactly what you're looking for, but I'd think that engaging a financial planner in the Garrett Planing Network might help. The drawbacks (for you) that I see are:

1. This wouldn't be online.
2. You might need to pay for a comprehensive financial plan upfront - it's not clear to me from their web site if that's compulsory. (The seventh question in their FAQ suggests that it's not, but that a comprehensive plan is typical.) See also the next-to-last question in that FAQ.
3. Cost could be an issue.

This would, however, be a way to get help with an hourly-rate-based planner. I get the sense they customize their approach to individual circumstances. The network's members are fee-only, non-commission-based planners.

Disclaimer: I'm licensed as a certified financial planner but I don't now work, and never have worked, as a financial planner. I'm not a member of the network, and I have had no first-hand experience with any of the members of the network or the work they do for their clients.
posted by cheapskatebay at 10:39 AM on March 12

Post this question at diehards.org. A lot of smart people will answer your questions and give you things to think about.

For the record, I think it's a bad idea to hand over decision-making power about your money, health plan, utilities, and/or housing to somebody else. These are things you should know about. It's annoying to keep track of them, but not keeping track of them could end badly.
posted by hardcore taters at 10:42 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

I'm a life coach. The kind of thing you describe isn't a relationship I would have with a client; the goal of coaching is to give the client a framework within which to make her/his own decisions and to identify his/her beliefs about money, not to prescribe actions.

What you're describing sounds much more like a financial planner's work; in the US, "financial planning" is largely a regulated industry, involving certification examinations and documented experience dealing with financial and investment decisions. As hardcore taters says, it's a bad idea to let other people make these decisions for you, and anyone you pay to help you with these choices should be someone who has the experience to give you accurate information and has a certification that requires them to behave ethically with the recommendations they make about your money.

It is my understanding that, in the US, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which is part of the Securities & Exchange Commission, regulates anyone who provides investment advice. Some of the things you've listed above fall into that realm (IRA advice, parking proceeds from a house sale, etc.).
posted by catlet at 11:19 AM on March 12

While several of your questions seem to require a financial planner, I think some could be answered by a virtual assistant or some other non-expert who is willing to do research for you. You probably don't need a financial planner to tell you what's the most affordable communications package or to compare plans from different auto insurers.

Also, for some of the other questions, the researcher could identify your options, and then you could present the options to the (probably more expensive) financial planner.
posted by PatoPata at 1:08 PM on March 12 [1 favorite]