Financial coach vs financial adviser

If you want a decision about a product — which pension to consolidate into, whether to transfer, how much cover to take, where a lump sum should sit — you need a regulated adviser. If you want to know where the money goes, what your goals are and how to get the same three jobs done, that is coaching.

No, it is a different job at a different price. Initial regulated advice typically costs £1,500–£3,000, or 1–2% of the assets involved, because it carries regulatory liability, a suitability report and a continuing duty to you. Coaching here is £39 for a half-hour or £69 for a full hour, £399 for the Money Road Map, because nobody is taking responsibility for a product recommendation. If you need a defined benefit transfer analysed, you need an adviser. If you need to know where your salary goes, you need a coach.

Yes — general information, but never a recommendation. A coach can explain how tax relief works, what the auto-enrolment minimums are, how to trace a pension you have lost, and can model what happens to your projected pot if you contribute more. What a coach cannot do is tell you which scheme to use, which funds to hold, whether to transfer or consolidate, or when to start drawing. The line is the personal recommendation: "here is how this works, and here is your number" is coaching; "you should move it there" is advice.

Because that is a personal recommendation, which only an authorised adviser can give. An informal "if it were me" carries none of the protections a real recommendation comes with: no suitability assessment, no written reasoning, no ombudsman route if it goes badly. We will tell you what your figures say, what your options are and which of them needs regulated advice. You will not get a steer on provider, product or fund, however the question is phrased.

No. Money coaching is not an FCA-regulated activity. There is no Financial Ombudsman Service route and no FSCS protection over coaching, because there is no product and no regulated recommendation being made — those protections attach to advice, which is why product decisions go to an authorised firm: we can introduce you to Equity & General, and your coach stays involved before, during and after any regulated advice. What you can check about us: Buzz Money Coach is a trading style of Buzz Accounting Ltd, registered in England and Wales (company number 15182358), registered office 16 Aylmer Parade, Aylmer Road, London N2 0PE, and every fee is published on this site. If something goes wrong, email hello@buzzaccounting.co.uk and a person deals with it; the route for data complaints is in our privacy notice.

If you go on to become a client of Equity & General, E&G pay us a commission — disclosed to you before the introduction, and you are free to say no. An introduction is always optional. Buzz Financial Services is a separate business, and its regulated advice is given through Equity & General Financial Services Limited (FCA No. 474163). Your fact-find goes with you only if you agree.

Yes. Advice handles the product decisions — the pension, the investment, the cover, the mortgage. Coaching handles everything advice does not: the monthly surplus that funds any of it, the will that never gets written, the actions between annual reviews. If you do the coaching first, you arrive at an adviser with a fact-find built, a clear surplus figure and written goals.

Then it is neither of us. Free specialist debt advice from StepChange or National Debtline is the right first call and it is better than the paid alternatives — they negotiate with creditors, arrange debt management plans and advise on formal solutions such as IVAs and bankruptcy. A coach cannot advise on debt solutions, and neither can most financial advisers; it is a separate regulated activity. Be wary of anyone charging you to set up a debt plan the free services provide. Once the immediate pressure is gone, coaching can help you build the budget and savings that stop it happening again.