The Seattle Financial Empowerment Center has integrated financial coaching and the City University of New York Personal Finance course to create the first comprehensive model for entry level performance of Financial Coaching. We have learned that emphasizing only technical skills results in graduates who struggle to work effectively with clients under duress. Creating professional tracks that build skills over time has proven a best practice and led to greater outcomes for the FEC.

 

The professionalization of financial counseling requires defined core competencies and criterion must be established that are tied to academic credentialing and educational credits. Identifying staff who will have competency and capacity to perform on both a social services level and a financial management level is a challenge in recruiting appropriate staff for financial coaching centers. While it is highly likely you will find candidates with some required attributes, it is much more difficult to find individuals with all competencies necessary to work in this field.

 

The Seattle Financial Empowerment Center has identified core competencies and requirements. When conducting recruitment for new coaches, these criteria are applied to determine the starting point from which development as a coach will occur. Additionally, entry-level coaches are required to have a bachelor’s degree or educational equivalent. After completing coursework for both social service competencies and financial management competencies, financial empowerment coaches must successfully pass a written exam and a practicum demonstrating their ability to translate the coursework into practice as a coach.

 

Financial Coaching training is centered on the following objectives that will help candidates become proficient in building the core competencies:

• Apply financial coaching concepts to case management to assist in reaching agency outcomes and client identified goals.

• Enhance financial skills and knowledge that are useful in everyday contexts.
• Develop confidence in using coaching tools that address various client financial situations.
• Leverage existing strengths, qualities, experiences, and values to increase confidence in addressing financial issues with clients in case management.
• Engage clients in empowering financial coaching conversations using newly acquired skills, methods, and approaches.
• Identify appropriate opportunities to integrate financial coaching during client conversations.

 

During the training there are several coaching demonstrations set up in triads, where there is a coach, client and observer. Each candidate actually participates in all three of these role plays to get multiple views of the coaching process. At the conclusion of these demonstrations, the participants are each given an opportunity to provide feedback on the experience from their vantage point.

 

This training exercise also fosters peer learning as each candidate is provided an observation rating based on the coaching demonstration.  This “learn by doing” format is most effective in the training environment to help each candidate demonstrate core competencies in a practice environment.  The candidates get constructive guidance from the trainer based on the demonstration observations that can be used to foster the development of competencies that need to be further developed.

 

The financial management skill component was developed by the City of New York in partnership with City University of New York as part of their Personal Finance course. This is a college-level curriculum that is credit bearing with specific academic milestones which represent the core financial knowledge competencies required of an entry-level coach.

 

Performance Evaluation & Milestones of Professional Development for Coaches

Underlying credentials and professional experience before training are key, such as successful course completion and successful results on examinations for the curriculum. These are the first performance evaluation points for the financial coach. The tools utilized to assess financial counselor competencies are combined approaches that focus on service delivery, client surveys, and changes in participant’s baseline and engagement.  In addition, counselors are regularly assessed on mathematical aptitude, coaching strategies, community-based resources, integration programs and knowledge of consumer rights and laws.

 

Examples of credentials for entry-level to senior-level counselors include:

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university and at least one year industry experience in the areas of Accounting, Finance, Banking and two years’ experience in Social Service or Community Based Organizations with emphasis on community resources, budget development, credit, banking and debt reduction.
• A mid-level financial coach will have the qualification to certify through Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE) as both a financial counselor and a financial coach. In addition, 60 percent of the qualifications required to become a Certified Financial Planner will have also been obtained.
• Senior-level counselors must possess a bachelor’s degree and five to seven years work experience providing financial literacy, individual and group financial counseling, operations management and supervisory experience.  Senior counselors must also have collaborative skills that emphasize diversity and multi-cultural competencies and socio-economic trends.

 

In addition, all counselors must also have intermediate use of technology, public engagement and presentation competencies.  The first year coach is required to complete a minimum of 1,000 hours of financial coaching experience.

 

We are now looking ahead to establishing a credential that acknowledges the integration of social service and technical financial management skills using a blend of competencies from the Master of Social Work degree and the Certified Financial Planner certification track. If common standards for financial counseling/coaching were adapted on a national basis, it could create more consistency of clients’ successful progression towards their goals. Using this approach, we have seen a marked improvement in interactions between coaches and their clients as represented by the outcomes the client achieves.