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.
During lockdown I’ve 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 in Farnham, Surrey.
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.
There are lots of different areas where I can help. The coaching is holistic in the sense that money issues are personal, they depend on an individual’s values and unique circumstances and they overlap with career, health and wellness.
We can focus on what is most important to you but here are some of the things that I have helped people with:
- learning about investing
- moving country (many clients are internationally mobile)
- career change / transitioning to freelancing / self-employment
- slashing investing fees and costs
- how to spend smarter and make your money go further
- how to start & grow an online business or lifestyle business
- how to deal with stress at work or 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
Everyone is different and has 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.
To ensure you get best value from the time and to structure the conversation, I ask clients to email me beforehand with a list of discussion topics that we can use as an agenda.
Financial Coaching plus Escape Manual subscription
This is an annual subscription and the cost is £420 per year. This includes 2 hours of one to one coaching time over Zoom plus access to all of the articles, spreadsheets and charts on The Escape Manual.
I’m flexible how you take the 2 hours (e.g. 1 x 2hr session or 2 x 1hr sessions or 4 x 30m) and when you take it within the subscription period.
I do most sessions over Zoom but am happy to do one of the sessions in London face to face. Or, if you can come to Farnham Surrey, I can do one or both of the sessions face to face.
Your subscription will renew automatically each year until cancelled. There is no long-term contract and you can cancel the auto-renew yourself anytime via your Paypal account.
Once you are a member, you can then buy extra coaching time (at a reduced rate of £120 per hour) if you need it.
You can pay securely by Paypal. To pay, click here or on the Paypal button below:
Alternatively, you can pay securely by debit or credit card (processed via Stripe) using the button below:
I can also design tailored packages for those that want a bespoke coaching programme for their particular circumstances. I’m also happy to meet face to face in central London (Portman Square W1) or in Farnham, Surrey.
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 from me. Some want a sanity check on their Financial Independence spreadsheet, 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.
Most of my financial coaching clients are high-performers and / or people who want to achieve their full potential.
I have a holistic approach to wealth and so I am interested in health, happiness, wellness and the science of high performance as well as helping you get richer.
If you have any questions, please email me on barney.whiter@gmail.com
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 
Had our first online chat with Barney a couple of weeks ago. Friendly, informative and has got our boat steering in the right direction.Looking forward to the follow up.
Had my first session with Barney yesterday and it was incredibly useful to talk through FI with someone as knowledgeable as him. Being able to tailor the conversation and FI ‘techniques’ to an individual’s situation is the most valuable thing you will get out of this coaching session. Highly recommended!
We had a coaching session 2 years ago. It was really impactful. I took your guidance and implemented it. At the time I was not very happy in my job and knew I could earn more. You were the positive voice I needed to hear. There’s been ups and downs but I have focused on creating value for my company and “playing a different game” as you called it. I have had two pay rises and a promotion to associate director since then!
I have now had my initial 2 hour coaching session with Barney followed a few weeks later with a 1 hour follow up. I am a layman investor with an interest in personal finance but an inherent distrust of the financial services advisory sector. I am not a FI devotee.
I came into the session wanting guidance on how my investments were split between asset classes and my approach to investing. I asked Barney to give challenges to my thinking and for any personal observations or suggestions he may have.
What followed were a very insightful set of discussions that I have found personally extremely useful. Barney probed my thinking on several areas, tried to understand where I was in my life plan and then challenged where I was in my approach to investments in light of this. Topics included replacing complexity with simplicity, reducing stress and being more efficient financially. Wide-ranging and thought provoking.
Within these debates Barney had a large number of simple practical suggestions around reducing tax exposure, minimising costs and reducing types of risk in my portfolio. Between sessions 1 & 2 he gave me a list of homework including tasks around categorising my investments and a significant reading list based post on his own blogs and other interesting sites. Barney was clear, to the point and challenging in his guidance (as I’d requested). He gave me feedback that only an experienced impartial observer could deliver. He provided an excellent reading list and, for me, some very helpful investment insights.
I can’t recommend the coaching highly enough. Money very well spent. I will both recommend him and use him personally again in the future.
We’ve just done the second session with Barney and over the two sessions he has totally changed the way we think about savings, investments and pensions. We now feel like we have a plan and that we are being very deliberate in the decisions we’re making. Also, after setting things up it feels very easy and straight forward from here on in. I wish I’d had a session like this 15 years ago.
I had the first of two financial coaching sessions with Barney today. It was fantastically helpful. He was great at identifying with & empathising with my particular (fairly unusual & eccentric) situation & goals and applying his knowledge to them, rather than trying to persuade me to fit into any preconceived notions about finance or how we should live our lives. He also had very useful tips and contacts on wider life stuff & professional stuff not directly related to finance. I have come out from it with a lot of questions answered and a much clearer vision. Well worth the investment.
I am very new to all this lark so thought it was best to start out on the right foot… Had a really interesting discussion with Barney ranging from nuts and bolts of investing, to discussions on how I think about money/career and thinking about the future. I now feel confident in where I’m going and feel excited about this new approach to my future. Thank you!
I have had the 2 hour coaching session with Barney which was very helpful from my perspective.
Background – over lockdown I went down the personal finance rabbit hole and started on my investment journey. The key takeaway for me was keeping the investment simple and to love the process. I am interested in FI but I am not aggressively trying to retire young, just looking to give my family options and flexibility later in life. I didn’t have any intention of using a financial advisor or planner and was looking for a sounding board.
Immediately Barney added value way beyond his fee through talking with me about sorting my pensions and the investments within the wrapper.
His challenge to me in my approach and my conditioning towards money has been incredible and it helps having someone to ask the questions you feel guilty about talking with your friends and family.
He has provided me with a list of articles and books to read which I have completed and these for me have been the biggest game changer. I suddenly feel like I have woken up and now can start formulating a life financial plan with a good foundation of understanding and knowledge.
Thank you Barney!
My partner and I had our second coaching session with Barney today and how I wish we had scheduled the sessions earlier. We are both feeling confident and a lot more knowledgeable about pension plans, investing, how to save for financial independence and also on negotiating a better salary/package at work. Barney was straightforward, insightful and with knowledge on whatever we asked; it was great to talk to someone who tailors the discussion to your own personal circumstances and who felt genuine and able to give you new perspectives. He definitely gave us that push we needed to start working towards our goals which actually feel attainable now, sth that we are both very excited about.
Thank you Barney!
Highly recommended!!! Before meeting Barney I used to spend 90% of what I earnt each month due to my ego (going out, clothes, cars etc) but his advice and approach has changed this. Just 4 months later I have increased my saving ratio to 50%, paid off my credit card, saved 80% of my emergency fund, have a better understanding of my work pension (and how to maximise the value I get from it) and I’m about to invest my first monthly saving into stocks and shares via stocks and shares ISA. Thanks to Barney, I am now making smarter financial decisions and balancing long term investments whilst living in the here and now.
Highly recommended!!! Before meeting Barney I used to spend 90% of what I earnt each month due to my ego (going out, clothes, cars etc) but his advice and approach has changed this. Just 4 months later I have increased my saving ratio to 50%, paid off my credit card, saved 80% of my emergency fund, have a better understanding of my work pension (and how to maximise the value I get from it) and I’m about to invest my first monthly saving into stocks and shares via stocks and shares ISA. Thanks Barney, because of you I am making smarter financial decisions and balancing long term investments whilst living in the here and now.
[…] Financial Coaching […]
Just a short note to thank you for the invaluable guidance you gave to me and my partner a few years ago in our session. I cannot explain how calm and relaxed I feel after having switched my investments from shares and options to tracker funds – with better returns! I am now maximising savings – into ISA, SIPP and workplace pension – and keeping my costs down. Thanks again Barney!