As a person works through their goals, examining potential barriers or resources they will need, money is often a topic that is considered. Sometimes finances are an imagined barrier and the client can find a way to work around it (for instance, you do not need an expensive gym membership to begin exercising) but other times a goal will require financial investment of some kind. This is likely to require budgeting and sometimes consideration of taking a loan.

Often people, particularly these days, find it hard to create a budget that works for them and if a coaching session involves discussing budgeting goals it can be quite stressful and challenging for a client. Many of us were not taught to budget through school or by family and some people have learnt some difficult financial lessons. If there is clearly a financial hardship, I ask if I may take my coaching hat off and recommend a resource – the Moneytalks helpline offered by the Ministry of Social Development in New Zealand. This free service will put you in touch with a trained financial mentor who can help direct you to further resources as required. You would want to have on hand details of your household income, bank account statements, and details of your regular bills/expenses and money you owe (loans, hire purchases, etc.). If there is not financial hardship but more just a difficulty in designing a budget, The Ministry of Social Development also provides a link to a budgeting tool.

In the case of consideration of a loan, then a very useful resource linked from the Ministry of Social Development website is information on what you need to know before borrowing money. There is always risk with debt, and consideration with interest rates and fees is needed. Knowing how much you really need to borrow, how much the repayments will be (and how frequent), and what the total cost when you factor in interest will be are some of the key questions to ask yourself.

Providing the right space for a client when coaching can see a number of unique solutions emerge to help budgeting for goals or avoiding large loans. Dreaming may be free, but turning dreams into reality may require careful planning with financial resources.