Get Financial Management Counseling from a Nearby Provider
Looking to find a locally-based financial management counseling professional? The National Financial Educators Council has a nationwide counseling team formed of strongly-qualified individuals who can help you meet your personal finance goals. They have proven competencies to meet rigorous criteria for education and practice, and feel passionate about helping people like you.
The number one goal for the NFEC’s financial counselors is to educate and guide you to improve your money management capabilities. The foremost consideration of someone who has earned Financial Counselor Certification from the NFEC is seeing you succeed. They facilitate your accomplishments by researching your situation and offering custom guidance, educational resources, and support.
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How Well is an NFEC Financial Guidance Counselor Qualified?
The NFEC knows anybody can hang out a shingle claiming he or she is a financial counselor. But NFEC counselors don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk. They are Certified Personal Financial Wellness Consultants, a title which means they’ve met stringent criteria for training, experience, and background verification – which in turn means you can feel secure in hiring them. Every NFEC Financial Coach maintains obligatory fiduciary to you, so they must put your best interests first. They’ve successfully undergone nearly 400 hours of training, testing, and counseling practice to earn the NFEC Financial Coach marker.
The NFEC set standards for NFEC Financial Coaches to meet in order to become qualified to carry out financial management counseling. To create these guidelines, the NFEC consulted four areas: 1) the consumer protection industry; 2) psychology fields; 3) educational principles; and 4) counseling and consultation methodologies. A financial guidance counselor deals with money issues, which can leave many people stressed and anxious. These counselors undertake the difficult role of identifying individuals’ needs, goals, and objectives and then giving them education, support, and guidance toward financial well-being.
NFEC Financial Coaches Versus Average Financial Management Counseling
To compare NFEC-certified financial management counseling with the average run-of-the-mill financial counselor, we conducted a Google search using the search term ‘financial counseling.’ We turned up 137 websites appearing in the first 50 pages of search results. Of those 137, 26 indicated their packages and prices on the site. Those data were used to generate this report.
The most common service the average financial counselor offers is “talk” – i.e. contact with the counselor by phone or email. Several had education available in the form of resources, coursework, or training. Just a few would provide clients a personal plan based on their individual situations, and only 2 were set up to offer re-planning and reporting (adaptations to the original plan and updated reports with new data).
In contrast to the average, an NFEC financial guidance counselor offers the entire gamut of services, including a tailored Personal Finance Plan, ongoing financial counseling resources, and updated progress reports as circumstances change.
Step 1: Clarification, Planning
The first step in the financial management counseling process is discovery. For starters, how well do you think you might score on a financial literacy test? Your counselor will set up an extensive interview to assess where you stand now in terms of money, lifestyle, knowledge, and goals. She or he will explore your full personal finance profile – from income streams, to credit load and history, to assets, to insurance coverage.
At this first touchpoint it’s crucial for the financial guidance counselor to lay out all the factors that go into your financial health, and create a detailed, custom Personal Financial Plan Report just for you. The counselor will give you the report in writing and it will set forth your prioritized goals and plan of action. From that moment on, the counselor will guide and support you to reach each of these benchmarks.
Step 2: Meetings, Support, Training
The financial guidance counselor also gathers data in the moment so you can track your achievements, gives you progress reports so you can celebrate your victories, and draws inferences based on the data to inform modifications to your customized plan.
Step 3: Upkeep, Support
Step 3 in financial management counseling involves maintenance. You’ll have a sound plan in place, you’ll be meeting your urgent needs, and your counselor is addressing key areas to build your financial foundation. Now the counselor segues into a support position, allowing you latitude to make your own financial decisions while staying on-hand to help if you need it.
When you need ongoing education during the upkeep part of the financial planning counseling process, your counselor will provide it. When there are changes in the financial world, your counselor will keep you apprised. You can have the counselor nudge you when key dates and deadlines are approaching. You can ask for resources at any time to help you make timely life decisions.
Step 4: Niche Guidance As Needed
The last step in the financial management counseling procedure is gaining connection with the NFEC’s team of specialized experts. Your financial counselor guides you to build a financial basis, but at certain stages in life you may need to find a housing counselor or require extra support from someone with niche expertise. Say you need to make a large purchase, or choose from an array of retirement plans – the NFEC has an expert who specializes in that niche.
All NFEC team members are completely independent and 100% responsible to clients. They don’t have ulterior motives to market or sell financial products.
