What's the Difference Between Financial Coach and Advisor? (2024)

Financial planning isn’t often taught in school or at home, leaving many of us on our own to figure out how to manage money in adulthood. For those who want guidance on how to budget, manage debt or invest, there are professionals who can help.

Financial coaches and financial advisors both provide advice or education on how you can manage your money. An advisor typically helps you manage, invest, and develop your financial portfolio. In contrast, a coach can educate, give basic advice and suggest ways you can save and invest. They can also help you to become more financially literate and confident in managing your own finances.

Below we discuss what both types of financial professionals do and when one or the other might be right for you.

Financial Advisors in the UK are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to make specific product recommendations (e.g. a specific investment fund or mortgage) to their clients. You can also hire afinancial advisor on an ongoing basis, for example, to manage your investment portfolio.

Because financial advisors are regulated by the FCA, they are required to have a Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA) as a minimum level of qualification.

Unlike financial advisors, financial coaches don’t need to be regulated by the FCA or require formal qualifications. They can’t, therefore, give you advice about specific products or where exactly to put your money. Instead, they help you by focusing on fundamental financial knowledge and habits.

A financial coach’s aim is to help you change your behaviours and beliefs around money. This could mean reducing your spending, educating you about saving and investing or suggesting ways to reduce your debt. However, these are always general tips rather than specific recommendations. Essentially, afinancial coach’s goal is to inform and empower you to feel confident enough to make your own financial decisions.

While financial advisors often charge a fee, financial coaches charge for their time. Their prices vary depending on the experience of the coach and the packages they offer.

Financial coaches can therefore help awide variety of people,regardless of where they are in their financial journey or how much money they have. It’s common for a coach to help someone toset savings goals,create a budgetor begin investing, for instance.

Related: 7 Money Personality Types: Which One Are You?

Whether to hire a financial advisor or financial coach depends on your financial goals and needs. Do you want someone else to manage your funds for you? Or do you want to learn how to make well-informed decisions and manage your money yourself?

If you’re looking for someone to help you achieve long-term goals like a sizeable investment portfolio, retirement account or starting a business a financial advisor could be better suited to give you the right advice. An advisor might also be a good idea if you have a financial windfall (such as inheritance orlottery winning) and aren’t sure how to best manage the money.

A financial coach could be a better choice if you want to improve your financial knowledge in order to better manage your own money. A coach can help you if you want guidance to improve your credit to get a mortgage, need accountability to stick to your savings goals or simply want support in making certain money decisions. The support and skills-building aspect of financial coaching aims to uplift and encourage you if you’re feeling discouraged about your financial situation.

If you are still uncertain about where to begin, platforms such as Unbiased providefree financial reviewsto kickstart your journey, no matter your financial situation or goals.

To summarise, here are a few things to consider when choosing between a financial coach and a financial advisor:

• A financial advisor is authorised by the FCA to recommend specific financial products. They can answer specific questions, such as which pension you should take out or which funds you should invest in. In contrast, a financial coach provides guidance but not specific product recommendations. For example, they can discuss the pros and cons of various financial products (savings and investment accounts etc.) but can’t recommend a specific one to you.
• Financial advisors generally only work with people who have large sums of money to invest. Financial coaches don’t have minimum wealth requirements and can guide you no matter your financial situation.
• Advisors typically charge a management fee of around 0.75-1% of your assets (with potential initial fees) while coaches tend to charge by the hour.

No matter what financial professional you choose, it’s important that you are well-educated about your financial options. You need to be able to trust and understand the advice you receive. So, educating yourself should be a must whether you hire a financial coach or a financial advisor.

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