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To Financial Coach... a coach is gonna coach (1 Viewer)

Chadstroma

Footballguy
(((edit update 3/12/21)))

I have decided to pursue this with the intent of starting it.

(((edit update 3/12/21)))

I would love to get some feedback... 

(I am posting this rather than hijack the Mortgage Rates thread like I was doing) Some of you may be familiar with me in the Mortgage Rates and other threads dealing with personal finance etc. 

I am seriously considering adding Financial Coaching services to what I do. I would remain a Mortgage Broker and in fact will be enrolling in insurance classes soon to add doing Insurance Brokering. Both mortgage and insurance will be working for companies as a W2 employee. The Financial Coaching would be starting my own company. 

For those here in this thread you have been exposed to my advice and coaching. Honestly, the feedback and kudos from my fellow FBG's has been a driving force for me to consider this. 

Some further info on me. Obviously I am a Mortgage Broker, I have been in banking, financial services, lending etc for 20+ years. As is my nature, I have gone above and beyond to understand and learn more than the training given to me or what others in my positions in the past typically know. I would give myself an expert rating in mortgage and equity lending, banking, credit scores/repair, and general personal finance. I am well acquainted with investing. I am more knowledgeable than your average person for insurance. That knowledge base will greatly increase as I begin the process to get licensed. 

My general thinking currently is to focus on first time homebuyers in credit and generally preparing to buy their home as the niche but offer general financial coaching as well. 

Reasons for why I think there is a market for this are:

Most LO's don't mess with putting time and effort in helping people get ready for a mortgage. They basically tell them "your credit needs to be XXX, come back when you get it there" or otherwise quickly move on. Why? Because you put all this time and effort into helping someone and then they hear about some DPA program or a family member tells them to go somewhere else or they think they are getting a better deal somewhere else for some reason and the hours of time you put into helping them means nothing to them. All of those are real examples that have happened to me- regardless of whether I can actually help them better or not, they think they are getting something better/more elsewhere. Whether broker or LO, anyone that does go above and beyond has been burnt. On top of that, people that need the help may or may not actually do what you tell them to do to get ready. So, even if they are committed to using you, they may never get there because they are not really committed to it. Someone paying for a service to get there is likely at a higher level of commitment. 

I help a lot of people that I am not licensed in states for and I get nothing for it. I do enjoy helping people but I also need to be fair to my family and respect my time since I am not independently wealthy. I have to just turn people down who ask for more help because my time is my money. If they want further help, they can pay for that and I can serve them.

I have an email that I put together to help my clients get ready for a loan without spending a ton of time with them. I often send that to people who I have no opportunity to do a loan for (in a state I am not licensed in). One of the guys I did reached back out and asked if I could spend time with him to go over everything specifically and offered to pay me. I said that I didn't normally do that but it sounded like something I could agree to and asked him what he thought was fair. He said $100 and I agreed. He sent me his credit report and I reviewed it and then we had a phone conversation to go over everything and give him a specific game plan on what he needed to do. It all took less than an hour of my time to do. (My first paying client)

People literally pay hundreds of dollars for the Dave Ramsey crap. I mean, hundreds of dollars to have someone say "Don't spend money and don't use debt" and along the way give poor advice in other areas. Obviously I don't have the Dave Ramsey brand/name and I am not about to pay thousands to be one of his pep's but that is evidence there is a market for this.

I ended up coming across a Financial Coach and he agreed to jump on a call for us to talk about it. He actually has his niche doing basically the same as I was thinking of doing. He just started and is doing it part time but he is bringing in business. 

Finally, I have a FB group that is centered around Credit Scores/Repair. It has a little over 300 people in it right now (I hadn't been trying to grow it much until recently) and I threw up a poll last night when I also posted in here. Simple question: If I were to offer Financial Coaching services would you be interested? Two options: Yes! Where do I sign up? and No thank you. It currently shows 65 reached and 19 have answered Yes! (no one said no but I wasn't really expecting anyone to- lol) Now, not sure who many of those 19 would really sign up when it came to actually paying money but that is a pretty good response I think. 

So, that is all why I am thinking there is some business here. I further thought of the potential to tap into my broker contacts across the country where I see some opportunity to have this become my main business, maybe even eventually stop lending but for now it would be a minor part of what I do unless/until it grew to be the primary source of income. Who knows. 

I am not really sure what I am looking for in this post. I know many of you are smart (all except Bronco and Chief fans that is), some are business owners, insightful, knowledgeable etc. It is a great group of people who have a lot to offer. Anything helpful is much appreciated. Thoughts, feedback, advice, constructive criticism, pleas to not do it or whatever else. Thanks for anything helpful!

 
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It doesn't seem like it will cost you much capital other than time, so why not? 

You were a great help to my fiancee and me during our home buying process. 

 
I think it is a great idea. Do you have any other big social media presence? I actually follow a finance coach on Tiktok because she makes entertaining content. It seems like a good way to add onto your existing business.

 
Do it.  Back when I was doing a ton of tax returns (have a very small client base now) I was amazed at how many people, with very good incomes and nice houses, knew, or cared very little about personal finance.  We're talking people with 6 figure incomes and a modest mortgage and less than $10 of interest income and very little to no 401K contributions.  No college savings for their children either.  I had 1 client that was sending in extra money with his mortgage payments but was making essentially interest only payments on $20,000 plus of credit card debt.  Stupid stuff like that which seems like common sense to most of us.  I tried (try) to help whenever I can but it seems at your level, where people are making the biggest purchase of their lives, seems like a great place to interject some wisdom (and make a few extra bucks).

 
I have an email that I put together to help my clients get ready for a loan without spending a ton of time with them. I often send that to people who I have no opportunity to do a loan for (in a state I am not licensed in). One of the guys I did reached back out and asked if I could spend time with him to go over everything specifically and offered to pay me. I said that I didn't normally do that but it sounded like something I could agree to and asked him what he thought was fair. He said $100 and I agreed. He sent me his credit report and I reviewed it and then we had a phone conversation to go over everything and give him a specific game plan on what he needed to do. It all took less than an hour of my time to do. (My first paying client)
There are several good credit counselling companies that will do credit report review and budgeting for free.  They do a decent job too.

 
It doesn't seem like it will cost you much capital other than time, so why not? 

You were a great help to my fiancee and me during our home buying process. 
Yea, there isn't going to be a whole lot of money to put into it. 

I did buy a book on starting a financial coaching company $35, then get a domain, email and a website put together. I am still into the early stages of this so I am not sure if there is or if I would to invest in any software.... potentially a CRM. Down the line there are certifications I could do as well. To start, relatively cheap for sure. 

It was a pleasure to help you bro! 

 
All I ask is that if you do this, please deliver your messages for any commercials and videos you do in the tone of the Dr. Rick from the Progressive commercials:

"You don't need to buy more furniture on credit. You already have some."

 
Coach vs Advisor ?
Financial Advisor is a broad term most often applied to financial planners, investment professionals, wealth managers etc. A Financial Coach could be considered a Financial Advisor as well. It seems a lot of the Financial Advisors (I have joined a couple of FB groups of current Financial Coaches) are either Financial Advisors (in terms of the financial planners investment pros, etc.) or CPA/tax professionals. 

I think I would say that a Coach is more about helping you navigate money matters and advice etc in general where as a Financial Advisor is more about how you make your money work for you more. But as I said, there is no real clear cut lines or roles on the two. 

 
I think it is a great idea. Do you have any other big social media presence? I actually follow a finance coach on Tiktok because she makes entertaining content. It seems like a good way to add onto your existing business.
I have flirted with Tiktok but when lending and COVID went crazy that fell by the wayside. My Youtube needs to be redone (long story but I can't get into the old channel but I didn't do much with it anyways). I dabbled with Reddit. 

FB is my main social media right now with a few things going on but the main two are my business page: https://www.facebook.com/mortgageloanmasters and then the FB group centered around credit scores/repair https://www.facebook.com/groups/creditscoremasters (Anyone is welcome to follow/like my business page and join the FB group- if you join the FB group, make sure to answer all questions, I try very hard to protect the group from spammers, scammers, etc so if you don't answer all, you won't get accepted) I am debating on adding separate FB business pages for Financial Coach and Insurance or just have the one business page and rename it Chad Masters- Financial Genius (ok, working title, that is most likely not the one I would use lol) I would start a FB group centered on financial coaching, likely not for insurance.... because honestly, who would join that group? 

I am also on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortgageloanmasters/

My tiktok is @mortgageloanmasters

I will ramp up content and do more video as well that I can publish on all of these as well as my webpage. 

 
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I'm curious, how do you monetize your efforts? There is plenty of need but will those folks pay up for "coaching"? Its a natural move for the licensed folks who have a product(s) to sell on the back end.

 
I'm curious, how do you monetize your efforts? There is plenty of need but will those folks pay up for "coaching"? Its a natural move for the licensed folks who have a product(s) to sell on the back end.
There is probably a few different income streams I can think of:

  • Self publishing a book/guide on Amazon
  • Affiliate marketing/referrals
  • Selling a premium advice or personal service
 
I think there are pretty heavy rules being an "advisor".  That's why it was probably asked above.

If you go out on your own I wish you the best!!!  Best decision I ever made.

 
Yea, there isn't going to be a whole lot of money to put into it. 

I did buy a book on starting a financial coaching company $35, then get a domain, email and a website put together. I am still into the early stages of this so I am not sure if there is or if I would to invest in any software.... potentially a CRM. Down the line there are certifications I could do as well. To start, relatively cheap for sure. 

It was a pleasure to help you bro! 
Following. :popcorn:

It sounds like your demographic is similar to what I want to get into when I can.  Go for it! (And keep us informed)

What service did you use to register your domain? 

 
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The Z Machine said:
First thing I would ask is, "are you acting as a fiduciary in this role?"

If you are not, then I would not use your coaching services.  If you are, then I think you have a shot, but monetizing your advice will be tough. 
I'd assume fee only, fiduciary. 

To start, you could offer services for free. Build up the clientele. 

 
The world needs a non-secular Dave Ramsey. Small to medium businesses that employ entry level or less financially savvy team members would be a huge customer base.
I am not sure I could ever be as known and successful as Dave or Suzie etc but considering there is some monumentally horrible advice from Dave in some areas, I would be happy to be an alternative voice. 

 
Do it.  Back when I was doing a ton of tax returns (have a very small client base now) I was amazed at how many people, with very good incomes and nice houses, knew, or cared very little about personal finance.  We're talking people with 6 figure incomes and a modest mortgage and less than $10 of interest income and very little to no 401K contributions.  No college savings for their children either.  I had 1 client that was sending in extra money with his mortgage payments but was making essentially interest only payments on $20,000 plus of credit card debt.  Stupid stuff like that which seems like common sense to most of us.  I tried (try) to help whenever I can but it seems at your level, where people are making the biggest purchase of their lives, seems like a great place to interject some wisdom (and make a few extra bucks).
In 20 years of working with people with their banking, lending, and overall finances it is not uncommon to see people who earn significantly but have no clue how to manage their finances and are financially a mess. I have also seen people who make very little and manage their finances so well that they were well positioned for any emergencies and towards retirement. Personal finance is not taught in schools (mostly at least, hopefully there are some schools teaching it). People just do not know and then some know but knowing isn't their issue. 

 
There are several good credit counselling companies that will do credit report review and budgeting for free.  They do a decent job too.
I have talked to more than a few people that had used those kind of services and were still lost but I further, I would and do go well beyond what they do. 

 
Question- would you need liability insurance or a separate LLC in case someone got off the rails?
I will form either an LLC or S Corp (trying to figure out what would be best tax wise). I am also exploring the legal ramifications currently. Professional liability insurance is something I most likely will do, I will need to get in touch with the broker owner of the insurance I will be using- he is actually a lawyer and specializes in that insurance. 

 
Financial Advisor is a broad term most often applied to financial planners, investment professionals, wealth managers etc. A Financial Coach could be considered a Financial Advisor as well. It seems a lot of the Financial Advisors (I have joined a couple of FB groups of current Financial Coaches) are either Financial Advisors (in terms of the financial planners investment pros, etc.) or CPA/tax professionals. 

I think I would say that a Coach is more about helping you navigate money matters and advice etc in general where as a Financial Advisor is more about how you make your money work for you more. But as I said, there is no real clear cut lines or roles on the two. 
Fee structure would be the interesting concept to me for this.  Like, taking a percentage of what you've saved someone reducing interest on credit cards, avoiding fees and/or late payments through organization/ideas you provide.  When to refinance a mortgage to save them $X a month.  The possibilities are endless really.    

You could start as a coach and then parlay that into being an advisor once you get someone financially healthy.  I've dabbled with the idea of a financial advisement company that actually only pulls commissions when their clients make money.  There's an initial start up fee of course.  But, you can actually look your client in the face and tell them you're working in their best interest, because if their investments don't move in a positive direction you don't charge them.  Portfolio was down this quarter, sorry, we get bupkis.  This "we do better when YOU do better!" line is such BS to me.  Yeah, you still got your percentage even though my portfolio took a dive.

This isn't a new concept though, and anyone who is actually interested in being "coached," can find that information rather easily for free.  The important factor will be you differentiating yourself somehow.  Good luck.

 
It doesn't seem like it will cost you much capital other than time, so why not? 
This would be my response.  Low capital costs, so the price for failure is low.  If you're willing to invest the time and accept that risk, then why not?  You obviously have the experience and chops for it.

 
Pros:

1. You’re good at it

2. Small startup cost so very little risk to see if you can make this work.

Cons:

1. Any conflict of interest with your current job? I would be a little suspicious of hearing from a mortgage broker: You don’t qualify right now but pay me $100 bucks and I’ll show you how you can.

2. The way you described it, it sounds like pretty low revenue and not much repeat business. If you charge $100 and help someone, how likely will they be to come back? You need a LOT of those clients to build a business.

3. Can people in a bad state afford to pay someone to help them? While we FBG’s can all afford it, the average joe out there is struggling and may not want to spend more money on something that’s intangible.

Overall, to me it sounds like a good side gig that you could start and see how it progresses. If it grows, great! If not, you haven’t lost much.

 
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I have a question that relates to financial planning that I’m uncertain about. Figure this is a good spot. 

Related to the stimulus checks. My brother’s income the last 2 years was above the 80k threshold to get a stimulus check. This past year however his income was just above the 80k number, he hasn’t filled yet and asked if he sets up an IRA which he hasn’t done if he puts in enough can he get this stimulus? 

I told him to do it regardless but wasn’t sure if that impacts his income in how it relates to qualifying for a stimulus check.

Anyone know?

 
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I have a question that relates to financial planning that I’m uncertain about. Figure this is a good spot. 

Related to the stimulus checks. My brother’s income the last 2 years was above the 80k threshold to get a stimulus check. This past year however his income was just above the 80k number, he hasn’t filled yet and asked if he sets up an IRA which he hasn’t done if he puts in enough can he get this stimulus? 

I told him to do it regardless but wasn’t sure if that impacts his income in how it relates to qualifying for a stimulus check.

Anyone know?
If it's like the last stimulus the answer is yes.  I'd get the IRA going, get income where he wants it.  He *should* be able to claim those credits when filing next year if he doesn't get them this year.  It has to be a traditional IRA to drive the income level down.  Roth won't work.

Absolutely worth it.

 
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I'm curious, how do you monetize your efforts? There is plenty of need but will those folks pay up for "coaching"? Its a natural move for the licensed folks who have a product(s) to sell on the back end.
The route I am thinking of is a session/program charge. Paid up front or monthly. There would be other ways to monetize it as well. I am really approaching my thinking on this as not being a way to sell but in giving advice. I am really trying to work out in my head the  appropriate level of doing a mortgage/insurance for someone I can, or keeping separate or offering but encouraging them to shop around etc. Whatever I do, doing the right thing is more important to me than selling. I tell people all the time that I am a HORRIBLE sales person but I have been successful in most sales roles that I have had because of exactly that- I don't sell, I have advised. Sometimes that has been advising not to buy from me. 

 
There is probably a few different income streams I can think of:

  • Self publishing a book/guide on Amazon
  • Affiliate marketing/referrals
  • Selling a premium advice or personal service
Yup.... 

I already had started on a book focused on credit before the poo hit the fan. I could finish that and also expand/adapt it for a larger personal finance roll or add other 'books'. Sell them but also offer as part of a package in services. 

There is some affiliate stuff that I already dabble in just because I give so much advice to people so that would be part of it. 

 
The Z Machine said:
First thing I would ask is, "are you acting as a fiduciary in this role?"

If you are not, then I would not use your coaching services.  If you are, then I think you have a shot, but monetizing your advice will be tough. 
Yes, I have to figure out the legal approach on that though. There is no licensing requirement for Financial Coaches so there isn't big brother looking over your should like there is in investing, mortgage lending, insurance, etc. 

My initial thinking would be in the contract language that I am acting in a fiduciary role in my advise and coaching. Actually doing that isn't a problem for me because I have always approached everything I have done with that mindset even when there it was not needed or honestly even discouraged (Banks suck). 

 
If it's like the last stimulus the answer is yes.  I'd get the IRA going, get income where he wants it.  He *should* be able to claim those credits when filing next year if he doesn't get them this year.  It has to be a traditional IRA to drive the income level down.  Roth won't work.

Absolutely worth it.
Awesome thank you. I told him to do this regardless but wanted to give extra incentive to make him do it. Which sounds like it will pay off next year (and ultimately down the road when he has the IRA instead of whatever he was going to blow the money on).

 
Yup.... 

I already had started on a book focused on credit before the poo hit the fan. I could finish that and also expand/adapt it for a larger personal finance roll or add other 'books'. Sell them but also offer as part of a package in services. 

There is some affiliate stuff that I already dabble in just because I give so much advice to people so that would be part of it. 
All could be pieces to the puzzle and I like the sessions idea too. I've been on Ramit Sethi's mailing list for over a decade, it seems what he has been cashing in off of his successful book (I Will Teach You to Be Rich).  Ultimately though, I think a lot of it will depend on the community you end up attracting. Doing it in addition to your broker role will allow time to evaluate and iterate.

 
Awesome thank you. I told him to do this regardless but wanted to give extra incentive to make him do it. Which sounds like it will pay off next year (and ultimately down the road when he has the IRA instead of whatever he was going to blow the money on).
I don't know what the roll off is for what just passed, but he theoretically can drop income 6k - should be easy enough to plot up contribution vs. benefits.  If he has kids that goes into it, too.

BTW, my 21 year old, for some reason, never got a stimulus check from either round, despite the fact that I emancipated him on my taxes before the pandemic started.  On his taxes, which we just completed, we were able to claim both stimuli payments.  (His scholarship was dependent on him being emancipated - it cost me a bit, but man did it end up paying off for him!)

 
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I'm on the fence with this.   It's like the RE agents that put on "first time buyer" seminars and maybe one person shows up.

Also, you're kinda already doing this and you get paid when you get to do a loan for them.

 
Chad...I'm leaning no.  People don't pay Dave Ramsey outside of some books or seminars.  He makes his money selling advertising and sponsoring stuff.  If you do go this route, to be successful you'll have to prioritize monetizing you efforts over helping people.  Personally I think you would be better off expanding your current model of hawking wares while offering free advice and good customer service.  If you want to help people with money then I'd go all in as a financial advisor.  Otherwise I do think you could make a boatload helping people with their insurance needs.

 
Aren’t you the guy who put nothing down on a new car on a six year loan, and wanted to sell that as genius? 
First, let's be clear. I am not a Dave Ramsey clone. In fact, I think he does as much damage as he does help with his monotone focus on not spending and not using debt. (There I saved anyone interested in spending a couple of hundred for doing one of his courses. He wants you do not spend money and don't use debt). My view on money is that it is a tool, the same for credit and debt. They are all tools. The end result is not to accumulate more tools but to use those tools towards bettering your life and the lives of those around you. That is my philosophy on money, credit and debt. Just let's have that be crystal clear. 

There are a lot of reasons why I went with a new car on that purchase. The plan for this vehicle is to have for about 10 years, so the depreciation wasn't really a concern for me in buying new. I wanted the latest features and safety equipment on the vehicle. I am not a mechanically inclined person so I did not want a vehicle that already had wear and tear. I did not want to spend more time searching for the right slightly used vehicle after Allstate had screwed me over for months and it was way past time to get a new vehicle. This purchase was not a planned event but a replacement for my truck that was totaled in an accident.

The way I structured the purchase was with the down payment from the insurance settlement and then financed the remaining balance. Our rate is (I think we have $2K left on the loan actually) 3.29%. I could have taken 0% financing from the dealer but opted for the $3K rebate instead and then negotiated between the dealership and my employer at the time (A large bank) to get the best rate available. I could have done a 5 year loan and the rate would have been the same, so I opted to take the 6 years to increase my cash flow with the intent of using that extra cash flow to invest the money. Being curious, I went back and did some calculating of what I did with the money (hard to track specifically so some assumptions were made) and it looks like I am up $1-2Kish over the cost of the financing. 

So, in the end, I leveraged the low cost of debt and made more money while still doing what I wanted to do for a purchase. 

Anything else I can help you with?

 
Following. :popcorn:

It sounds like your demographic is similar to what I want to get into when I can.  Go for it! (And keep us informed)

What service did you use to register your domain? 
I have not registered yet. I was looking on Google domain. It looks like the cost is about $12 a month I think. 

I seem to remember you wanting to do a FA, right?

 
I'd assume fee only, fiduciary. 

To start, you could offer services for free. Build up the clientele. 
I don't think I need to offer for free... I kind of have already been doing that. That poll I mentioned before in that group 28 with yes and someone added "depends on how much" and there are 2 votes. In a group of 300. Plus the nice thing is that I am not hungry for clients in that I need to make money off of this. I can take clients as they come and don't have to go chase them. I expect to do no marketing or advertising that costs money unless I am starting to really take off and trying to transition to this being the main income earner. 

 
So, in the end, I leveraged the low cost of debt and made more money while still doing what I wanted to do for a purchase. 
Last new vehicle (wife, I don't rate new vehicles) we financed as there was a $500 rebate.  Financed the minimum (10k) and paid it off early.  Pocketed $300 or so on the deal.

These systems can be worked.

 
I will form either an LLC or S Corp (trying to figure out what would be best tax wise). I am also exploring the legal ramifications currently. Professional liability insurance is something I most likely will do, I will need to get in touch with the broker owner of the insurance I will be using- he is actually a lawyer and specializes in that insurance. 
LLC gives you more tax flexibility than S Corp.

 

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