I help people through financial coaching.
Here’s how it works.
Whether your goal is achieving financial freedom, planning for early retirement, career change or just making your money work harder for you, everyone needs to take control of their money and make the best of their situation.
I can teach you to manage your own money better. Or act as an independent sounding board to discuss career, finance and investment challenges.
I have a degree in economics, I’m a qualified chartered accountant and I worked in corporate finance in the City over 20 years and reaching partner / MD level…whilst managing my own portfolio and finances to financial independence.
My approach is very different from traditional financial advice. I’m not on commission and I never try to sell you anything. I work with intelligent people who want to learn and make their own decisions.
I don’t provide regulated investment advice or product recommendations or hold client money.
I run most of my coaching sessions via Zoom. I’ve done this for people in the UK, America, Dubai, UAE, Finland, France, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, Sweden, India, Thailand and Australia as well as from all over the UK.
I can also meet face to face in central London (Portman Square W1) or at my home in Farnham, Surrey. In person meetings are particularly valuable when meeting for the first time.
What clients say
“My husband and I had a coaching session with Barney…and he was fantastic. He added so much value…”
“consider a meeting with Barney. He’s a good guy, very easy to talk to, speaks plainly, and makes a great sounding board”
“unique combination of impressive financial knowledge with the softer side of personal development. Thoroughly recommended…”
“I got way more from the session than I ever thought possible”
“the value you will get from him is beyond money”
Previous clients
You can check out more client feedback in the comments below.
It’s good to talk
Yes, I’m biased but you should talk to someone about your plan. The best plans are simple and robust and have been looked at and challenged by someone that’s on your side.
Yes, it’s possible for some people to do it on their own. You can learn from your own expensive mistakes (as I did). But it generally works out cheaper to get help and learn from other people’s mistakes.
Price is what you pay and value is what you get and the value should be >10x the price over an investing timeframe.
How you benefit
You get to pick the brain of someone that has already faced the issues that you are facing. You get to ask questions and bounce ideas off someone who has achieved financial freedom.
You get the confidence of knowing whether you are on the right track. You get transparency from me (I will tell you anything you want to know about how I invest, spend less and earn more). You get total confidentiality.
We can focus on what is most important to you but here are some of the things that I have helped people with:
- learn to take control and manage your own portfolio, pension etc
- understanding your ability to bear risk and setting a target asset allocation
- how to minimise investing fees and costs
- moving country (many of my clients are internationally mobile)
- how to invest tax efficiently
- how to overcome financial anxiety
- how to think about asset allocation, diversification and volatility
- transitioning to financial independence / retirement-
- how much is enough?
Am I offering a shortcut to financial freedom?
Yes and no. There are no get rich quick schemes and no gimmicks. You still have to do the work of spending less than you earn and investing wisely. But if you want to greatly accelerate your progress, you can pick my mind in a few hours for what I learned over the last 25 years.
Why have financial coaching?
For the same reasons that all top sports people and business executives have coaching.
Reading books and blogs is great, but its not enough on its own: we learn best when we combine reading with a mixture of Q&A, personal interaction, accountability, discussion, encouragement and practical guidance.
Getting to financial independence is as much about psychology and motivation as it is about the simple mechanics of earning more, spending less and investing wisely and on a tax efficient basis. Talking these issues through with someone that has been through them before is hugely beneficial. Everyone has blind spots and you don’t know what you don’t know.
Here’s what Vanguard say on the subject of financial coaching:
Clients may not realize they need coaching, but many do. In the investing world, clients’ otherwise sensible instincts and habits can fall short.
Vanguard
In other words, you don’t know what you don’t know and you don’t know your own blindspots. That is just as true for career issues as it is for investing and money issues.
Everyone is different and so different people have different areas that they want to focus on. The coaching sessions work best when you have identified beforehand what areas you would like help with.
Monthly subscription
This is a recurring monthly subscription. There is an initial payment of £250 followed by a subscription of £50 per month. The subscription auto-renews but you can cancel any time by emailing me.
This gets you as much one-on-one coaching time over Zoom as you need plus access to all of the articles, spreadsheets and charts on The Escape Manual.
In other words; whilst you remain a subscriber, you get unlimited coaching time and access to me (I can offer this because my clients are intelligent, reasonable and sensible people who want to make the best of their time).
You can pay securely by Paypal here or using the button below:
Or you can pay here securely by debit card (processed by Stripe).
Annual subscription
This is an annual subscription and the cost is £460 in the first year.
After the first year, the renewal price is lower (£350 per year) to encourage and reward recurring, long term relationships with clients.
This gets you as much one-on-one coaching time over Zoom as you need plus access to all of the articles, spreadsheets and charts on The Escape Manual.
In other words; whilst you remain a subscriber, you get unlimited coaching time and access to me (I can offer this because my clients are all intelligent, reasonable and sensible people who want to make the best of their time). So ongoing subscribers get all the Zoom time that they need. Plus unlimited Whatsapp / email access.
I do most sessions over Zoom / Teams / Gmeet but I’m happy to meet for the first session face to face in Central London. Or you are always welcome to come meet me in Farnham, Surrey.
After the year 1 renewal (at a lower price) your subscription will automatically continue at the same price (until you cancel / email me asking to turn off the auto-renew). So by subscribing now you avoid future price rises. The sooner you join, the lower the price you lock in.
And the sooner you get started, the more value you will get from it over a lifetime of investing and compounding.
You can pay securely by Paypal here:
or you can pay here securely by debit or credit card (processed via Stripe).
Family / spouses / significant others
I am very happy to see couples together or in separate sessions. So if you are the financially aware one in your relationship, I am happy to talk both to you and / or your significant other. This is all covered by one subscription, there’s no need for both of you to pay.
I don’t mind whether you are fully aligned re financial issues or whether you need help to resolve your differences!
I am also happy to talk to adult (i.e 16+) children of clients…helpful for those that want someone else to try to talk some sense into them!
A holistic approach
One of the great things about doing financial coaching is that no two clients are the same.
Different clients want different things. Some want a sanity check on their Financial Independence spreadsheet, some want to discuss portfolio construction, or risk management. Some want a sounding board for their financial plan, some want to learn about investing, some want help handling a stretch promotion.
If clients want me to stick to personal finance then I do. But some clients want to achieve changes that might overlap with their career, health or relationships.
My financial coaching clients tend to be high-performers and / or people who want to achieve their full potential.
I have a holistic approach to wealth and so – as well as helping you get richer – I am interested in health, happiness, wellness and the science of high performance.
Let’s get started
If you would like to speak before signing up, please choose a convenient time for a free introductory video call on Gmeet here.
If you have any questions, please email me on barney.whiter@gmail.com
I look forward to speaking with you
Barney Whiter
Important regulatory notice: I don’t give regulated investment, tax or legal advice. I never try to sell you anything. I don’t give product recommendations and I don’t take your money away to invest. You have to make your own decisions. In short, its about teaching people to “fish” rather than selling them fish.
The Escape Artist 
I have personally talked with TEA on more than a few occasions and always look forward (with accountability) to the next time. I cannot tell you how much value he brings to light. I was previously on a path which did not work out so I asked him objectively to help me navigate growing my income while saving more. He constantly had ideas which we worked through until we came up with an plan based on my resume and past career. TEA’s mind works so well to lead you onto a good path that works for you and your situation. He is also not afraid to give you his resources in order that you may grow in financial wisdom and independence. I highly recommend him as a coach both in finance and in your career.
I had my 2nd coaching session with TEA and boy did it knock my socks off!
We started talking about investing but went a lot deeper than that and TEA was able identify a blindspot for me regarding career progression. Turns out the issue for me was not really about investing but inner game. TEA was able to identify and discuss this in a way which totally made sense to me.
Highly recommended for anyone wanting investing or general life coaching. This stuff is invaluable!
Well worth talking to TEA if you are like me and have read lots on FI but want some help applying it to your own situation. We covered a vast amount more than I expected in the 2 hours from fundamental investing principles to career advice. I would have gotten there eventually through trial and error and wading through blog posts, but having done this I feel I have taken a massive leap forward. Highly recommended.
Just had a two-hour introductory session with TEA. He gave excellent practical guidance, I’d recommend anyone interested in FIRE to have a chat with him. Before you go make sure that you’ve:
– Got a list of questions that you’d like answered
– Have read up on TEA’s style of investing
– Be willing to listen and open to new ideas and ways of living life
Before I had the coaching session I was… less than confident with what I was currently doing, however after just a couple of hours, I now have the confidence to press onward with FI knowing that I’ve got an FI Mentor by my side.
An enlightening experience. Barney is great at helping you to take stock of your investments and explaining how he has achieved financial freedom.
I had an excellent 1st session with Barney on Friday. He has given me the confidence to move my money out of its current high charging structure. This may add another £2Mn to the fund in 20 years time. Great return on investment !
Incredibly useful chat with TEA regarding our future financial freedom. We covered many topics in a couple of hours. We now feel confident in our choice to go it alone and look after our financial health ourselves – in fact, as suspected, we’d be detrimentally affecting our pockets by letting IFAs look after things for us. Looking forward to a follow up meeting after the summer.
I’m very glad I booked a session with TEA. I contacted him because I wanted to determine if my relative confidence in my finance strategy was justified or not.
Turns out, a bit of yes and no!
We discussed my strategy’s strengths and weaknesses, including where I was submitting myself to unnecessary risk or leaving easy money “on the table” – and most importantly, *why* these choices made a difference.
I found TEA very easy to get along with. If you like his writing style, I’m sure you’ll like him in person too!
I expect the £ numbers we were discussing were significantly smaller than some of his other clients, but that didn’t matter. So be reassured, those who may worry this is only for people with six-figure salaries (though from the comments above I have no doubt he’s great for that too – the core principles of economics work the same on all of us, after all!).
Thank you, TEA!
Emily
My wife and I have just had a 2 hour initial session with Barney and were hugely impressed.
We wanted to check we were on the right lines with our journey to FI and also to discuss our investing strategy having parted company with our Financial Adviser.
These areas were covered in a thorough and straight forward manner.
I also wanted to make contact with Barney before encouraging my two 20 year old siblings to pay a visit. I have no hesitation in suggesting they visit ….. as soon as possible!
Thank you
I sought The Escape Artist out in person after enjoying reading his writings and deciding that it is time to kick-start my FI journey.
The value that I got from our first session was immense! The takeaways from it are going to do me a great deal of good, both professionally and financially.
It is not enough to be financially independent without cultivating the right mindset to go with it.
Barney has the skill of piecing the puzzle together for you just right.
Spending over two hours with Barney has helped to adjust my perception of wealth accumulation, achievable growth and creating a sound strategy for my personal finances.
The previously obscure, risk-laden world of investment is now much clearer and I’m now dead set on delving deeper into it – my recommended reading has already been ordered!
Many thanks, Barney for your invaluable insights!
The coaching session far exceeded our expectations and was a massive confidence boost in terms of what we can actually do if we put our minds to it!
You have given us plenty to do and fired us up. Two things that really chimed with us – First, the idea of changing our lives NOW rather than the save hard, then spend theme of so many FIRE sites. Why should we wait to live our lives as we want to, to live as the people we truly are? Second, taking baby steps rather than having A Plan which would take huge chunks of time to action. Baby steps is definitely the way forward.
Thank you for helping us on the path to breaking our shackles!
Just spent 2 hours with Barney. The guidance he gave could be life changing. Came away with some tangible actions and assured of my path in life. I see myself having a session with Barney every few months. Highly recommended.
I recently benefited from a two hour discussion with Barney, and what a sensible investment it was. We covered a list of questions and topics I had provided, which he addressed thoughtfully and usefully. I came out of the session feeling both assured and inspired – thoroughly recommended.
Thank you so much for your assistance. The coaching really has been invaluable, well worth the money at double the price. Your candour was refreshing and clarified many home truths I’ve been sub consciously avoiding. I will arrange another session in 6 months.
A session with Barney will definitely change the way you view your immediate and long term career path. Having an external and objective view on things can focus your energy in the right way, and will put you in a better frame of mind if you are at a crossroads in your career or life.
My session with Barney helped me bring clarity to (a) the actual nuts and bolts of FI investing: asset allocation, investment portal, timing etc and (b) identifying additional income streams. He helped me move past a ‘block’ regarding the latter and I now have a clear path to achieving my goals, including many specific actionable ideas. Highly recommended.
Just had a 2 hour+ coaching session with Barney, and it was time and money very well spent.
He provided me with not only the reassurance that I was looking for on my own plans, but also some different ways of looking at things and very practical and actionable pointers on maximising investment returns going forward.
Barney also identified very early on my tendency to put things off, and that has had an immediate impact on me.
All the topics I had wanted to discuss were covered with directness and clarity, and Barney followed up afterwards with an email summary covering the main points we talked about.
It’s refreshing to talk things over with someone for whom financial independence is not only a theoretical option, but someone who has been there and done it – not something you can say about many of the other “advisors” you might come across.
Thanks again Barney!
Barney was -unsurprisingly -direct about what needed attention and areas for immediate improvement. And he followed up his comments with a detailed email summarising our wide-ranging discussion.
In summary, two hours very well spent. I just need to take action on what was discussed to reap even further benefit. Like it says on his web-page – this was “Financial Coaching”. Coaches don’t do the hard yards – that’s our job as the person being coached… Thanks again Barney.
Sometimes you get the feeling you’ve made a great investment and this is one of those times. Just came away from an empowering 2 hours+ coaching session with Barney – The Escape Artist is as funny, direct and perceptive as you would imagine from reading his blog!
He made us feel at ease, listened to me harp on and very quickly had drilled into the root issues and personal challenges in our situation. I walked into the room with a large knot of questions, lists and spreadsheets that previously kept going round in circles, and we have gained some real clarity.
He has helped us to prioritise the big wins and given us some strategies, confidence and new perspectives to go after them. I already know this session will pay for itself many, many times over. I’ll be checking in with Barney for a progress report and follow up session for sure – great to meet you and thanks for everything Barney!
My husband and I just had our first coaching session yesterday, and it was excellent. Huge amounts to think about, but he’s made a big difference in terms of our education and has opened our eyes to a completely different way of thinking about investing and money. Well worth every penny and looking forward to continuing our education……thank you TEA.
I recently had a introductory 2 hour session with TEA. I found the session incredibly useful in two respects. Firstly, the session gave me confidence that my approach to FI, investment and finances is generally working, but there are some small but important tweaks I can make that can bolster my chances of reaching FI in the near future. Secondly, the session also pointed me in some new directions of things to investigate, think about, and work on in the future that will be beneficial. There are simply very few people in the UK / world who ‘get’ the notion of FI and how the system works, and the TEA is one of them. He gave me a lot of confidence that I’m on the right path, and a true ‘outlier’ but in a good way (as far as FI is concerned). I plan to work more with TEA in the future, and address some of the softer skills that I believe will be beneficial in my career and life, including a review of where I am financially. I think a session with the TEA works for both advanced level and beginners, so advice would be to give this a try if FI is a goal, and you have some specific questions etc. that you want to address. Most importantly, be humble, and recognize that you can learn a lot from someone like Barney. All the best!
Hi Barney,
This is long overdue – just a big thank you really.
We met in June last year and being a slow learner I then went away and did my own research on Vanguard – long and short of it is that I did exactly what you and I spoke about (I won’t use the word advised because I am a big boy and take full responsibility for my own actions) and the feeling of relief was immeasurable…..set it & forget it…and don’t fiddle!
We are pretty well set up and lucky and the pension which I will look up in 20 years’ time will either enhance my good life or be handed down.
You sparked off in me a huge purge on reading and podcasts and everything FI and I am really grateful – its not just the money, it’s a much better lifestyle and has given me a great purpose moving forward. My part time job which I had taken on for just two days a week (to keep me out of mischief) has turned into a flexible 3-4 day regular gig – it’s a 5 minute walk from my house it couldn’t be better and I get to listen to lots of good stuff – don’t know how long I will choose to do it but it’s a good choice for the next year or so.
There is a very powerful podcast with J L Collins on Choose FI (……not as powerful as yours though 😊!!) which just explains the investing bit so well.
My daughter and son have both set up SIPPS and are investing with Vanguard so they should have a lovely surprise when I’m pushing up daisies.
Keep up the great work – this stuff makes a real difference.
Steve
My wife and I had a session with Barney to try to figure out what to do with our savings and how to plan for the future. He helped explain investing to us in simple but informative terms and helped us completely rethink what we were currently doing. We followed up with a skype session and now we’ve set up an extremely simple system which should save us tons of time and hopefully money too!
Hi Barney
So I made it through the tunnel, past the guards, over the wire and into the woods.
Today marks day one outside of the prison camp and so far it feels pretty good!
Now I just need to make sure I don’t re-offend and have to spend any more time in the corporate slammer.
After we met at the back end of last year, the company decided to move my role, making my position redundant.
So it’s all worked out pretty well, allowing me to escape with a small bag of swag and plenty of financial breathing space to start work on the side hustle.
I also just wanted to say thank you for paving the way and showing that there is a way to live outside of the corporate world. Your help and guidance have definitely helped me and even though I can’t claim to be 100% financially independent, you’ve helped me get to a good place.
Will spend some time over the next few weeks getting the finances in order, and developing a passive income stream – might get back to you if I need some additional help with that.
All the best
Ian
I recently met with TEA for an initial consultation – he provided very practical and useful guidance for how to approach FI. He was well prepared for our session, was a great listener (an under-appreciated skill), and provided a lot of useful advice that I am already implementing. There’s one specific question TEA asked me about my investment plans, and the answer to that question alone more than paid for the cost of this session. Looking forward to continuing the FI dialogue with TEA in future sessions.
I’m based in the United States and found a one-on-one Skype call with Barney to be extremely helpful as I figure out my personal investing approach. I wanted a less US-centric approach to crafting my portfolio and Barney was able to provide exactly that. If you’re considering meeting with TEA, do it. It’s definitely worth it.
Hi Barney,
Hope you are keeping well. I’ve been meaning to contact you but I wanted to wait until I was in the position I am as of this week. From our last coaching session, I’ve been doing some real radical honest reflection about me, who I am and areas I want to improve on. The super useful feedback I got from our session has been in my mind and I’ve thought about it a lot. We spoke about increasing my day rate rather than worrying about trying to optimize any more frugal things.
This idea of expanding rather than accepting and optimizing what I had, was a scary thought if I’m honest. Why? Well this challenged me to unroot a bigger confidence issue that affected other areas of my life. Its work in progress but I am making good progress and this work is actually more effort (and rewarding!) than doing some extra courses or working harder at work.
As of today, I have negotiated a 25% pay rise for a contract extension for my current role. I’m emailing you, not to brag or pat myself on my back but to thank you from my heart for cutting through my mind-bs and highlighting this area for me.
Ironically, we had the session to talk money and the biggest value I got was more about my mindset/breaking through my mental models. I’m currently saving 70% of my income, sometimes its boring but I trust the process.
Thanks again Barney!
An excellent session which provided key insights for getting significant others on the same path and optimising current financial setup. I recommend having a session even if you ‘think’ you have everything in your mind sorted. Thanks again Barney.
My husband and I had our first in depth session with TEA and we were so pleased with how much we learnt in only two hours. Barney is great at simplifying concepts that were too complicated for us. He also followed up with resources and links to help us move forward with the plans we discussed. We left the session inspired and with much more confidence! Would highly reccommend him to anyone looking to learn or improve their financial journey!
We had a coaching session recently and found it really useful. I’ve read lots of FI blogs, many of ‘the’ books, listened to the podcasts etc – but Barney was able to cut it down to basics, bring simple clarify to a few fundamentals (which I’d missed), and review our plan with non-judgemental advice. Thoroughly worth it. Thanks Barney.
I found my coaching session with Barney very helpful – and, more importantly, very profitable.
Long been a fan of his blog and his clear, articulate vision about money and finances. It echoes sensible advice about compounding, long-term growth that only shares can provide as well as the importance of using instruments with low charges. I found Barney clear, helpful, honest and I would very happily consult with Barney again for any financial fine-tuning.
Barney never tries to sell anything. He doesn’t invest your money for you – he helps you to understand what you want out of life in relation to money and he gives you the knowledge to get to where you want to get. That’s a profoundly assertive way of coaching and it helped me a great dea. Thanks Barney.
As someone who reads Financial Blogs obsessively (to a fault), I wasn’t sure there was a lot more to be learned through coaching. Two sessions later, I can admit I was wrong. Very Wrong.
After our first session, my path was clearer; I felt reassured; more confident. And left with multiple actionable changes/alternations to make to my financial and personal life.
Three months later we had another session, which set me back on the right path and helped me work through some work/finance issues.
What I love about these sessions – and what I overlooked before starting – is how they are valuable both financially and personally. It’s not just about money, it’s all-round self-improvement.
For anyone who’s been skimping on lattes all month to add another £50 to your vanguard ISA, STOP. Drop Barney an email instead. I promise it’s worth it.
I had coaching yesterday – life changing, thought-provoking, highly relevant. Amazing.
I had my first session with Barney recently and it was insightful, prompted me into action and I will be asking his advice again in the near future. The value Barney gives is the lack of superfluous bs and clarity of ideas. I echo other words of advice, that is to read the blog before you go and have a clear set of questions or general idea of your aims.
Really glad I decided to pay for coaching with Barney. The session has changed my perspective and given me a concrete plan to take action on. Thanks a lot Barney.
Hi Barney. Around 4 years ago my husband and I did a coaching call on Skype with you. I wanted to thank you wholeheartedly as last year we both quit our jobs. We now have an eBay business side hustle and I re-trained as a Yoga teacher. I am still an avid reader of your blog and am working on one myself (very slowly). Anyway, I just saw your podcast for FI Europe and wanted to say hello and thank you.
Paying Barney for coaching will likely save you thousands if not tens of thousands of pounds in the long run and far cheaper than a biased financial advisor. Your best return will be his time and knowledge. Accelerated learning, tips, blindspots exposed and advice about self learning. The man provides value beyond his fee, call him….
My wife and I recently realised we might be in a position to achieve financial independence – partly as a result of this excellent blog – but had a lot of questions and uncertainties around whether this was the case. Two hours with Barney answered all of them and gave us the information and mindset to plan for the future with confidence. I cannot recommend Barney’s coaching enough, he is funny, opinionated and interesting, and wants to help you.
I really enjoyed my recent coaching session with Barney. As you’d expect, he’s good with numbers, but he’s also got a really easy way of explaining complicated concepts. He’s a great listener – and questioner – drilling down into what was driving me to ask some of my questions in the first place. He also followed up with a thoughtful, tailored summary of what we’d discussed and things for me to take away. Highly recommended!
I am so glad I decided to see Barney.
Despite my reading about investing and financial independence, even though I knew what my next steps should be after I got rid of my student loan I lacked a lot of confidence. Going through every single one of my questions with Barney not only improved my knowledge but, perhaps most importantly, taught me that I have been overthinking a lot of stuff. I personally find it hard to separate what I need to know and do when there is simply so much information out there and after talking to Barney I can see why it’s important to focus on what’s most reliable and aim to ignore the rest.
Furthermore, since our meeting I find that I am not thinking purely about investing but also overall life improvement.
Barney has a way with words that gets straight to the point whilst also being quite humorous. I have recommended him to my friends and look forward to speaking with him for our review.
It was fantastic to have my first coaching session with Barney. He got me thinking deeply about things that I was otherwise blind to. So much more than just money and finances.
I am looking forward to more guidance as my plan progresses.
I highly recommend everyone try it. If you want to grow, have goals you want to reach, want to be successful (in however you define success), then you want a coach as part of your journey.
I worked with Barney . I agree with others comments that this is something that will likely save you a lot of money and wasted effort/time. Barney is able to flush out a LOT of things during the calls and gives you many strategies/avenues to pursue that you would likely not uncover on your own (or it would take you a significant amount of time). I found I was able to get significant value in just one call with Barney, but expect to do follow ups down the road. Definitely worth the money and felt more grounded after working with him.
Also, despite his witty humor in his writing style, he can be surprisingly serious (which is good when you want sound advice)!!! Really enjoyed working with him and highly recommend, if you’re thinking about it.
Thanks Again Barney!
Matt
Having had two coaching sessions with TEA, I’m once more feeling inspired and hopeful about reaching financial independence- something I’d lost amid the daily grind. Crucially, he has helped me refocus on the journey and not just the destination. Within a month of my first coaching session I’d already made some long overdue changes to my investments, changes which I had been procrastinating about. It also shook me out of complacency about my spending habits and I’m saving more. The sessions have given me peace of mind about my strategy for reaching financial independence- I know it’s going to work- so I can stop worrying, relax and get on with enjoying life. I highly recommend seeing TEA for a different perspective and fresh pair of eyes on your investment (and life) strategy. He’s insightful and open and understands that money is part of a holistic whole.
Following much research and a warm recommendation from a colleague, I took the leap, and scheduled some coaching with TEA. Without hesitation, i can confirm that the coaching with Barney was excellent – very practical, impartial and pragmatic. He provided the clarity and reassurance for me to feel comfortable with my financial decisions, and finally to take action and ‘push the button’. Highly recommended.
I’ve just had my second meeting with Barney and I highly recommend it. I wasn’t sure I really needed any help at first, I knew what I wanted to do, I had a plan, I did my research. But there’s nothing like the reassurance of getting support that is tailored to your own particular situation. He took into account not just my financial situation, but my personality, my own personal priorities, and got me focused on making the most of my advantages. We discussed much more than finance too. If you’re on the fence, I’d say go for it.
Stumbled across this blog and Barney after a Google search on UK FI. Having spent the last 6 years as an expat living in the USA and starting my FI journey over there reading the various popular blogs ie MMM, jlcollins etc it was great to see a UK version of the same thing after coming back to the UK.
Noticed that Barney offered coaching. I have reached at a point where I need some assistance/further understanding on the UK view of things and also had some ideas/questions I needed someone to bounce off. I pretty much immediately contacted Barney and we met up last Friday. Money very well spent: don’t hesitate to use his service. I am slightly late to the game so right now everything is urgent in the quest to reach FIRE, the discussion I had with Barney helps and reassures me that I am on the right path. I am looking forward to Part II follow up 🙂 Nuff said.
I just wanted to say that Barney is providing such a great service. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the coaching session, but he helped cut through the BS and asked some very practical and thought provoking questions (without judgement) that totally framed things in a way that made sense. Barney has a talent for helping people become the best that they can be and that is a fantastic thing. Thank you and keep up the great work.
Thank you for our coaching session. Our session was really fantastic – You helped us see things through a different lens and I will not sugar coat it, it did give me an unsettling feeling for a few days (or weeks…) afterwards because it challenged some very long held beliefs but I really feel that if we pursue this approach we will be in a much stronger position (and much happier!) in the long run.
Thank you Barney
Having discovered and cribbed a lot on FI through 2019, I finally booked a session with Barney last month. It was a great conversation, I took my homework away, and am very happy with the encouragement and follow-up. Do your research and pull the trigger when you are ready. Recommended!