Combining Coaching and Planning to Increase Firm Effectiveness

Written By: Curtis Sheldon & Tonya Peasley

Successful Financial Planning Firms recognize that wealth management is not just about numbers; it is also about behavior, and long-term transformation to help individuals in their journey of meeting financial goals.  At C.L. Sheldon & Company, we’ve made it our goal to integrate financial planning and financial coaching within a single firm.  Tonia Peasley, an AFC®, ChFC®, believes clients deserve to have a team that meets their every need. 

“We have made it a goal to make sure the services we provide to our clients follow a client-centered approach.  As planners, we have different skill sets on our team and instead of a client working with just one financial planner, we work with our clients together as a team so that our clients benefit from a holistic service model.”   

While financial planning focuses on strategic planning, financial coaching emphasizes behavior and accountability, something all clients can benefit from at some point along the way in their financial journey.  Curt Sheldon CFP®, EA, owner and Lead Planner at C.L. Sheldon and Company, has created a model of service that enhances client outcomes and deepens relationships.   

“I think it is important to realize that the training that a CFP® receives is different than that received by an AFC® (although the CFP® training has evolved over the years).

Beyond that, individuals have different personalities and thrive under different conditions,” Curt says. That is why we purposely look to bring team members on board with different skill sets. Rather than force a team member to work in an area where he or she doesn’t have the training or comfort, a client with a certain need can work with the team member that bests meets that need.  

Recognizing that different clients have different needs, we offer different levels of service tailored to those needs. 

The financial coaching services offered focuses on helping clients take consistent action to get their financial life in order and stays away from investment advice.  “It is not uncommon that a client may start working with us as a financial coaching client and then after a few months, they become a financial planning client.  The same goes that there are times where financial planning clients really would like to do some cash flow work to determine if additional funds might be generated to apply toward their investments.  “I will sit down and work with them for a few sessions to determine if their spending is in line with where they would like it to be,” says Tonia Peasley, our Financial Coach. 

Even the most sophisticated financial plan will fail if a client can’t stick to it.   As Curt puts it, “The skillset a financial coach brings to the table helps us make sure that the plans we provide move beyond a binder that sits on a shelf, to action.” We find that some clients are fine on their own and don’t need the assistance of a coach to move from plan to action. But when they do need help, a Financial Coach (AFC®) can get them moving in the right direction whereas a technical oriented planner might struggle with the same task.  

The goal to integrate financial planning and financial coaching follows the idea that clients need both strategy and support to meet their financial goals.  While a planner can provide clarity on the financial plan on the what needs to happen and how to make that happen, the Financial Coach focuses on the why.  The dual approach method helps those clients who come to us feeling overwhelmed or intimidated by implementing something new.  Tonia focuses on helping clients implement change.  “I often have sessions with our clients that just help them talk through how they are feeling about implementing a new objective in their everyday life to meet a goal.  Changes in your finances can be intimidating, and I listen to the client and then help them create a less stressful way of implementing these changes.”  

How do we go about knowing who needs to meet with a client at a specific time? 

Curt may meet with a client during a review meeting and recognize the client has questions about how their monthly spending is affecting their overall success.  He then suggests they meet with Tonia within a week or two to discuss cash flow options and to really determine if their spending is in line with where they think it is. In some cases, a coaching session(s) may precede moving into planning. This can happen if the client has significant debt or is struggling freeing up cash flow to increase investments. 

One area where we have found a dual service model to work well is working with the next generation of clients.  “We are now working with the children of several of our clients.  We offer a financial coaching option of a few sessions to help these younger clients really start on their financial goals and to start building that trust with a Financial Planner and to make sure they are on the right track” says Tonia.  Another area we find financial coaching and planning go hand in hand is at the onset of retirement.  Curt may have a conversation with a client about how to spend down their financial buckets.  The client is used to a regular paycheck coming in twice a month and not seeing that increase in their checking/savings account can be hard to get used to.  Tonia will work with the client to determine what needs to be implemented to help them feel comfortable with the change of not seeing those funds coming in.   

When you integrate financial planning and financial coaching services, clients are more likely to follow through with action items and they feel like they are achieving their goals.  The firm benefits by having better financial inputs from clients, they build stronger client relationships and client satisfaction is successfully achieved.