Financial Coach - Who are they and how do they help?

Financial Coaches are individuals who work with clients to change behavior with respect to money. Coaches are not counselors. They do not judge you for the mistakes you made and dwell on what went wrong in the past, but, rather focus on the future. Just like most athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs hire coaches to improve themselves and their ventures, financial coaches can help individuals and families improve their personal financial situation through education, standard practices, guidance, and accountability. They also provide coaching on career, estate planning, insurances, mortgages and any other topics that lead to inflow or outflow of money in a household.

Here are a few ways they can help you, and also a list of what they cannot do for you.

• They help you break the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle - They educate, empower and provide accountability to stick to a proven and agreed plan for you to break the cycle. They will develop a cash flow management plan that works for your household. Remember, they work for you and your success is their success.

• They help you develop your financial number - Well, retirement is not an age anymore. It is a number. They will help you develop that number and work towards attaining the goal. They help you leave a legacy for generations.

• They help you optimize your investments - Since they do not sell any financial products, they can provide you with objective guidance, and will apprise you of the optimized path with minimized risk.

• They help you save money - They review your budgets and identify excessive/unnecessary daily expenses. They will then point out ways to save on your insurance premiums, mortgages, utilities and any other expenses.  

• They help decrease stress in your marriages - They are not marriage counselors. But, since statistics has shown that financial issues are a leading cause of increased  stress in marriages in America, their timely financial help can decrease that stress.

• They help you set up your children's college fund- They can inform you of all the available opportunities towards saving for your children's college, and provide accountability to do the same.

• They help you with career advice - They usually have a large network of recruiters and hiring managers that they can refer you to, in order to boost your career and income.

What they cannot do:

• They do not do any work for you - That is correct. They believe in teaching you how to fish rather than providing you with fish. They are not interested in short term success.

• They do not manage your investments - Remember, financial coaches cannot sell you any products, nor manage those for you. They can guide you, but you have to directly correspond with your investment manager.

• They do not make any calls for you - Again, they teach you how and what to talk to your creditors, banks, collection agencies etc. They even provide role play to boost your confidence. But, they cannot make those calls for you due to liability issues.

• They cannot perform miracles.- If your goal is to have a quick and easy fix, financial coaching is not for you. What they do is change behavior and help you attain financial success in the long term. They believe in changing your family tree forever.

There are countless success stories of those who have gone through financial coaching with us. If you need help, please contact us.

6 Steps to Avoid Credit Report Errors

A credit report is a detailed report of a person's credit history. There are 3 credit bureaus in United States - namely Experian, Equifax and Transunion. These agencies collect information from a variety of sources, to create a report, and assign a numerical value called Credit Score based on their analysis. This report  and the score is critical, if you are planning to borrow money, as lenders rely on the details in the report to determine the applicant's credit-worthiness. 

Credit report mistakes are more common than you think. The Federal Trade Commission's 2013 study revealed that one in 4 (25%) consumers identified errors on their credit report.  It is your responsibility to ensure that your credit report is accurate in every category. If not, you may either have become a victim of an identity theft, or a recipient of a bad loan costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Here are the 5 steps to avoid costly mistakes:

1) Obtain a free copy of your credit report

As a consumer, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from all 3 bureaus on a yearly basis through AnnualCreditReport.com. This is the only authorized government website from where to obtain free copies of your credit report and scores.

2) Educate yourselves on various aspects of Credit Reports and Scores

Credit reports and scores are packed with information and you need to learn how to review a report. You also need to educate yourself on how hard and soft inquiries affect your score. This is a service that Mayanah offers to all their clients as part of our coaching.

3) Check for Identity Errors

Identity errors are those that are related to your identity. Common errors are:

• Ones with regard to personal information such as name, address, social security number, phone number, spouse's details etc.
• Additional accounts that third parties might have created as a result of identity theft.
• Mixed accounts, Duplicated accounts or Incorrect accounts - These need to be reviewed very carefully.

4) Check for Reporting Errors

Reporting errors are very common and some of them are:

• Accounts that incorrectly show as late or delinquent
• Accounts shown as open, when they were actually closed
• Same accounts listed multiple times
• Incorrect date of last payment, opened date or delinquent date
• An error in the type of account

5) Check for Balance Errors

These are errors with incorrect credit limits or balance amounts.

6) Take Steps to Fix Error

Ignoring any mistake in the credit report is catastrophic and you need to dispute it ASAP. The best option is to dispute it online.

• Experian Disputes
• Equifax Disputes
• TransUnion Disputes

You can learn more about online disputing at Lendedu.com.

Mayanah Financial Coaching encourages to review your credit report at least annually and fix any errors that might harm you in the future. However, we do not support borrowing to boost the credit score. We are against debt and we empower our clients to live a debt-free life. Contact us to learn more.