Collaboration enhances advice

Written by Chris Budd, founder of the IFW.

Back in March 2024, I was invited to attend and speak at the annual conference of the Financial Therapy Association (FTA). The delegates included, at one end of the scale, therapists who specialised in financial issues, and, at the other end, financial advisers interested in helping their clients in deeper ways. There were people from all shades in between, including plenty of financial coaches, but also non-regulated people working for charities to provide support and education to disadvantaged communities.

One of themes of the conference was about how these different groups could work with each other as a way of broadening their individual offering.

This is something we’ve been advocating in the Institute for Financial Wellbeing (IFW) for some time now. I often get to hear about such partnerships, and the results can be extremely powerful.

What happens if you stick to your wheelhouse?

The first session of the FTA conference presented a case study. A young same-sex couple were seeking advice on buying a house and how to invest a financial gift. The information provided included a transcript of the meeting conversation. In this, one of them complained that the other’s mother was putting terms on the gift which he felt would not have been the case if they were not same-sex.

The conversation in my working group began by looking at some of the technical aspects of the investment portfolio. The financial advisers were comfortable here, and the therapist (and me!) stayed quiet.

When I raised a question about the attitude of the mother, the therapist stepped in to explain what might be going on between the couple, and offered some techniques to bring out the issue to prevent becoming a problem later. At this point, the advisers stayed quiet and listened.

When the session reconvened, it transpired that every working group had reached the same conclusion: not only that the therapist and the advisor wanted to (to use an American colloquialism) ‘stick to their wheelhouse’ i.e. to stay on the area of expertise, but they were really pleased that the other discipline was also around the table for the discussion.

Collaboration beats competition

The IFW is the closest that we have to the Financial Therapy Association in the UK that I’m aware of. Our membership includes lots of financial coaches, non-regulated individuals eager to help clients with their relationship to money. We also have lots of regulated planners, able to dig deeper into clients objectives and relationship to money, but often a little worried about what they might uncover.

The IFW Community, an online space for conversation and ideas, is the IFW’s solution to this conundrum. In this space, which is free for members to access, advisers and coaches meet each other alongside psychologists, academics and other professionals to discuss all sorts of aspects of our relationship with money.

In reality, if you are an adviser and you met a new client such as the case study above, would you introduce a coach? If not, why not? If the answer is because you don’t know one, then you should join the IFW and visit the IFW Community. If you’re already a member, don’t forget to swing by the IFW Community for a chat.

But the question goes both ways. If you are a financial coach and you met the above client, would you introduce them to an adviser or planner? Same question – if not, why not? If it is because you don’t know one, join us and start a conversation.

Coaching + planning is better than just coaching, and planning + coaching is better than just planning. This is an idea that is just getting off the ground in the US. It might just be something we in the UK can lead the way on.

If you’d like to measure your clients’ financial wellbeing, the Financial Wellbeing Pulse is now live and ready for you to use. You can email enquiry@financialwellbeingpulse.com for more info.