At R4 999, the latest fitness watch is an absolute steal. The online deal of the century expires today, so you have a choice to make. Your credit card slides out your wallet as easily as a hot knife cuts through butter and 2-minutes later your cell phone dances to the tune of the SMS notification, your bank sends every time there is a cash exodus.
A little buyer’s remorse suddenly creeps up on you like a chill you get when you are battling a bout of chronic flu, but you quickly counter that with some sound logic.
R4 999 for a fitness watch isn’t bad considering you’ve signed up at the gym with a personal trainer once a week. If you throw in the new pink and neon state-of-the-art trainers and a couple of gym outfits, the entire exercise has cost you R7 500 (once off) and only R24 000 for the year in personal training fees.
It’s your health after all, isn’t it? How do you put a price on that?
- Personal trainers, life coaches, cooking lessons and nutritionists.
- Marriage coaching, homeopaths, dieticians, and career advisors.
Ever since we were 24 months old and our parents dragged us off to swimming classes (ok that might be stretch, let’s call it ‘learning how not to drown’ classes) we’ve had coaches in our life.
If you take the time to think about your schooling career, it was full of coaches and mentors.
As you transitioned out of school into the real world, you started replacing cricket and netball coaches for other types of coaches that don’t trade their time for free.
- A personal trainer is likely to charge R500 per gym session
- A life coach is likely to charge you between R750 – R1000 for a session
- A nutritionist is probably in the same ballpark when it comes to fees
And we don’t think twice about consulting coaches and paying for their services unless of course, we start talking about the idea of a “money coach”.
Why is the idea of a “money coach” so off-putting?
How many times have you ever heard someone at a braai pipe up with, “Guys, you have to meet this new money coach I’ve been seeing!” You never hear that type of comment, do you? Yoga instructors, personal trainers, the local life coach and even a good nutritionist is likely to steal the limelight.
The more you think about it, the more questions start churning up in your mind.
If we spend 10 hours a day, (let’s include the commute to work and back) 5 days a week, trading time for money over 40 years, it makes sense that meeting with a “money coach” on a regular basis would be a no-brainer.
- We’ve never been taught the fundamentals of investing
- We’ve never been taught how to draft a Last Will and Testament
- We’ve never been taught how to draw up an Estate Plan
- We’ve never been taught how to ensure that we have a detailed retirement plan in order to ensure that we have sufficient income when we reach retirement age
But we put off seeing a Financial Advisor for the following 3 reasons:
- We don’t want to open up about our personal finances, in fear of being judged
- We don’t want to be sold something
- We unconsciously believe that we are doing a sterling job ourselves
Let’s look at each one of these reasons in isolation.
The fear of being judged
Money is a very personal thing, isn’t it?
In a plastic world that attaches a fair amount of value on how much you have and how well you are doing, baring it all to a complete and utter stranger seems daunting.
Who wants to meet with someone to tell them that for 20 years you haven’t put a cent away for retirement? That’s not an easy thing to admit, is it?
Who wants to meet with someone to tell them that while they have a wife, three kids, and a mortgage, they haven’t taken out any life insurance and don’t have a Will in place?
It’s not easy to talk to your own family and friends about money, so it makes sense that we would pull up the handbrake when confronted with full disclosure by a money coach we’ve never met.
The fear of being sold
What’s in it for you?
That’s a question on the tip of your tongue every time you are confronted with the prospect of seeing a Financial Advisor. Very few things in life are free, so if someone is driving across town to meet with you to discuss your financial affairs, there must be some expectation of a sale. Why else would they be coming to see you? Maybe you don’t want to buy anything right now, but is the person, fighting their way through traffic, on the same page as you?
So, guess what you do? You don’t commit to seeing anyone and another delay turns into another missed opportunity to look at your personal finances.
I’m doing a sterling job; I don’t need anyone else to tell me what to do
In our minds, we are the masters of our own universe. Every one of us is the lead actor in a feature film that is playing out in our own heads. Add our inflated egos into the equation and think about how difficult it is for anyone of us to actually admit that we might need a little assistance.
“I’ve got a house, a car, and a solid job. Look at me, I’m doing better than most of my family and friends, so what can someone else tell me, that I don’t already know?”
Why do you need to see a Financial Advisor?
If you can put your hand on your heart and without telling yourself a white lie, answer these questions truthfully, then you don’t need to see a Financial Advisor (Money Coach)
- I’m 100% sure I will be able to retire comfortably
- I’m 100% sure if I pass away my family will be left financially comfortable
- I’m 100% sure I have my children’s future schooling costs sorted out
- I’m 100% sure that my investment strategy is sound
- I’m 100% sure my Estate planning is bulletproof
Or you can do what you know you need to do and make an appointment with an Old Mutual “Money Coach”.
You don’t have to buy anything, but you do need to start building up trust in someone.