After a decade as an IFA, Simonne Gnessen stripped away the products and intermediation (including the regulatory burdens) to help clients plan their futures and control their money.

Now, having been a finance coach since 2002, she is looking to spread the word and believes advisers themselves could offer what she does, helping clients at a fraction of the cost of full-blown advice.

So what exactly does a finance coach do? In her own words, it is about “supporting people with their finances and helping them congruently move towards their goals”. She adds: “It is also about helping them with their emotional relationships with money.”

Gnessen spent more than a decade working as an IFA, including a stint at Fiona Price & Partners, a firm which notably focused on serving female clients.

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However, she did not particularly enjoy the product side of the work and never identified herself as a “sales person”.

So, in 2002, she made the big leap and, for almost ten years now, Gnessen has been working as a financial coach with Wise Monkey Financial Coaching.

While the term ‘finance coach’ is well used in the US, Gnessen insists she developed her own version of it through her experiences as a financial adviser and personal development, including the Kinder Institute EVOKE life planning course and neuro-linguistic programming training.

Now a registered life planner, she explains how her typical client might be a woman in her late 40s who realises something doesn’t quite add up on her bank statements.

“They might have a good income but they do not feel like they have anything to show for it. They might have a lot of debt.

“They have tried things before and not succeeded. They recognise there is something not working and they want to shift some unconscious behaviour as well as finding some practical solutions.”

Although an initial 30-minute phone call is free, Gnessen charges £85 an hour, with the first meeting usually lasting two hours. To complement the time she spends with clients, she has also created a raft of spreadsheets to help them control their spending.

While a lot of her work might cross over with the sort of things financial advisers deal with, there are many aspects which are clearly far removed.

One client she is dealing with at the moment in Dubai – she has a number of long-distance clients, who she interacts with via Skype – was spending all his money on an expensive lifestyle and impressing women.

“He went out there to make money but he is caught up in a system where he earns good money but also spends a lot of it,” she said.

“We are looking at the unconscious stuff: you are here for a reason, to save money, but you are not doing that. What is this all about trying to impress women? The whole thing is about shifting behaviour.”

Although she left the profession a decade ago, Gnessen shares many IFAs’ concerns about the impact the retail distribution review will have on access to financial advice.

“I am worried from the consumers perspective that once it becomes fee-based there will be even less consumers who will feel they can get full, impartial advice.

“I am in favour of enhanced professionalism and fees, but not all consumers will understand that.”

While Gnessen has carved out her own little niche, the recent rollout of the Money Advice Service appears to be treading on some of her ground. So does she feel at all threatened by it?

“I think it as great the service is out there and I talked to them. It looks like it is going to be mainly focused on disadvantaged communities and you probably won’t get that regular connection with somebody like I’m offering,” she explains.

“If I have clients who would be better off served with any free service, I would definitely tell them to use that.”

Gnessen cites names such as Maria Nemeth and George Kinder when discussing some of her influences, and it is easy to see why as she passionately expounds on her work.

“I really do care and I’m not doing this for any other reason,” she said. “I want to make a difference in the world and this is my way of doing it. Sometimes it can be magical the shifts I see in clients.

“I am with the client and this is a collaborative thing. I motivate and inspire people.

“Ideally we should all take responsibility for our life. Sometimes I am saying really obvious things to people, but sometimes you need someone in your life, holding you to account and gunning for you.”

Gnessen has also penned a book with psychologist Dr Karen Pine called ‘Sheconomics’, drawing on her extensive work with female clients and helping them master their money.

Having created her very own model of financial coaching, she has now begun teaching others to do the same and will run a course later this year, hoping to even attract some IFAs.

Gnessen will be delivering her next five-day Financial Coach Practitioner Certificate Training at the Umi Hotel, Brighton from 17 to 21 October. For more details, and to book, visit www.financial-coaching.co.uk.

How it works – Free 30 minute conversation over phone – get idea of what client wants and whether another service (including IFA) might be better. – Send client questionnaires and worksheets to get better idea of client’s situation – includes details on assets and liabilities, monthly income and spending. – Initial two-hour meeting at £85 per hour – Work out what ongoing support they might need and a plan for action. – Regular sessions can be arranged – once a month for example – or the initial meeting might be enough. Either way, there is no commitment needed. – Clients are billed at the end of every session and the fees go down to £75 per hour for a six-hour price plan.