Location: UK: Remote
Programme: 6-week retraining programme into self-employment
Start Date: 7 June 2022
Apply by: ASAP
Do you want to have a positive societal impact? How about helping people make sense of their money and make better financial decisions? What about inspiring people to take action and make meaningful changes? If you are energised by any of the above, Octopus MoneyCoach have a place for you on their journey to transform 1 million lives.
Becoming a Financial Coach with Octopus MoneyCoach is a flexible, rewarding and meaningful way to develop your self employed career whilst also helping others to achieve financial peace of mind. They’ll guide you through a 6 week training program that, upon completion, will enable you to work with them as an accredited self employed financial coach, using the support of their brand, HQ and technology to support your clients.
Their training programme is the first in the UK to be formally accredited by some of the best known external bodies in the personal finance industry including the London Institute of Banking and Finance, and the Initiative for Financial Wellbeing. Octopus MoneyCoach is also an associate member of the Personal Finance Society.
They are part of the entrepreneurial Octopus Group, and sister company of Octopus Energy. They are already making great progress on their mission to transform a million lives, they have helped thousands of people on their financial journey and they hope you can play a role in helping thousands more!
What is financial coaching?
Financial coaches help people to understand money and key financial concepts so that they are able to make better decisions that will help them to identify and progress towards their key life goals.Their powerful planning tool and bespoke services allow their coaches to show how achievable those goals could be if they managed their money more effectively. Whether it’s budgeting, savings, investments, pensions, mortgages or life insurance, you can help and empower people to tackle their personal finances in the same way a personal trainer encourages their clients to hit their physical goals. Coaches don’t recommend products nor rely on hidden commissions. They simply get paid for their time, ensuring that the interests of you and your clients are always aligned.
Like all forms of coaching, financial coaching is not a regulated activity. However, as a business they are FCA regulated and are committed to helping coaches to provide their services professionally and to the highest standard.
How will I work?
As a self employed financial coach, you will work from home, helping clients mainly via phone and video chat (including screen share). You’ll build your bank of clients from within your own community and existing personal and professional networks. In addition, you can choose to receive bookings from employees at companies where Octopus MoneyCoach is offered as an employee benefit – including Sony, Experian and MoneySuperMarket, just to name a few. Your hours and earnings will depend on your availability, your success helping your clients achieve their goals, and the level of demand you and Octopus MoneyCoach can generate.
What training do they offer?
They offer a comprehensive training, mentoring, and development programme. The training programme is fully remote and typically takes 6-8 weeks dedicating 20 hours a week. The training is a combination of online learning (all things personal finance), and practical coaching training. If accepted onto the training programme you will be assigned a mentor who will guide you through the programme, ensuring you learn all the necessary financial information and soft coaching skills to set you up for success from the start. During training you are not paid, but it doesn’t cost you anything other than time. All they require is that you can dedicate a minimum of 20 hours per week for the training programme. While you’re a trainee you’ll be able to offer clients 50% off our usual subscription fee. This allows you to sign a handful of real life clients to gain experience with, and allows you to put your training into practice immediately. Once accredited you will keep 100% of those earnings.
Requirements
You don’t need to be a financial whizz to apply to be a financial coach. They will teach you everything you need to know about personal finance – from pensions and investments, to mortgages and insurance, and anything else. However, you do need to have an inquisitive mind, you should be comfortable with numbers and have an interest in personal finance, and an exceptional desire to make a positive difference to peoples’ lives.
You will have:
- At least 4+ years experience in professional roles
- The ability to commit a minimum of 20 hours per week to training and practising as a coach once accredited
- The capacity to meet with 4 new clients per week as minimum, once accredited.
- A deep desire to make a positive impact, perhaps evidenced through voluntary work
- Exceptional empathy, communication and influencing skills
- Familiarity with investing, pensions and mortgages – or at least a strong interest in learning
- Comfort in building relationships and sourcing new clients through any media – phone, email, video chat or face to face
- Been educated to degree level, qualified through financial bodies (CeMAP, ICA etc) or equivalent experience demonstrating an ability to understand complex ideas
You must be able to work from home in a quiet environment, with good webcam, phone and internet access.
What’s in it for me?
Financial coaching allows you to develop and use a wide set of skills to change lives for the better, all the while working remotely and flexibly. As an experienced accredited financial coach you’ll have many possible future career paths – either with Octopus or elsewhere in the financial services industry. You might focus on building your coaching business, or you could transition to leadership and mentorship roles with Octopus. If you’d like to become a fully fledged financial adviser down the line, your experience working with clients would be an invaluable asset. You will be paid monthly through your own limited company or as a sole trader. Currently, average earnings for a year 1 coach working 20+ hours per week is approx. £25,000 to £30,000. Year 2 average is £30,000 to £40,000. In addition, they are looking to introduce additional opportunities for coaches to increase their earnings in the near future.
How do I get involved?
Stage 1 – Submit an application. Top tip – please ensure to state why you are interested – it’s important to show you are truly motivated in becoming a coach.
Stage 2 – The next stage is a longer, written application with some key competencies to show you have the attributes that make a great coach.
Stage 3 – If successful you will be invited to a 1:1 competency based interview and a live webinar with the coaching team where you can ask questions and get a feel for the training.
Stage 4 – Offer and contracts!
Application deadline: 17 May 2022
Expected start date: 7 June 2022
If this start date isn’t suitable, please still register your interest. They have intakes of trainee coaches every other month.
How to Apply
To apply please click here. Please state that you heard about this opportunity via Women Returners.