The two biggest impacts, by far, on my financial life have been financial counseling and estate planning. I’ve spent over two decades of my career in corporate and commercial finance and I enjoy personal finance, but I was following a rather basic approach with my paychecks for many years.

In 2020, like many people, I took inventory of my life and how I wanted to spend my time. I concluded that working a corporate job until traditional retirement age was not what I wanted, but I had become very reliant on the steady paycheck and benefits. It was extremely hard to envision a change.

I met with two financial advisors who focused on investing and insurance and spoke primarily about the expected returns they could provide over 10-20 years, if they were to manage my money. Interesting, but didn’t feel like a great fit because my goals weren’t exclusive to financial returns.

I changed my approach and met with a financial counselor instead. I always thought financial counselors were just for debt management or financial basics, and while they absolutely can help with those topics, they also cover the full range of personal finance. The counselor I met took an educational approach and spent time understanding my money goals and how they intertwined with my life goals. Together we built an actionable financial plan and monthly financial routines, and she set me up so that I could manage my own money long after our sessions concluded. What a gift that was.

Fast forward to 2025, after following the plan we created just five years earlier. I hit the three goals that were needed for me to resign from my corporate role and start my own business. For me these were:

• Emergency savings equaling at least 12 months of living expenses at our current lifestyle
• Investment accounts that can “coast” to retirement, meaning even if I don’t add another dollar to them while I am working, I can still live off them when I retire
• Mortgage is paid off. (This one is controversial and mathematically many advisors will say your money is better off invested if your interest rate is low. Let’s come back to this topic in a future article, it’s more than I can cover here).

These three goals are all centered on the idea that I can maintain my lifestyle while earning less, therefore breaking my dependence on a high-earning corporate salary. My intention is for my new business to surpass what I made in corporate employment, but for at least a year or two I needed to set myself up for less income and less expenses.

Financial counseling is a wonderful blend of coaching and financial planning and has the potential to provide education and systems that empower people to manage their own money. This saves costs in the long run (money management fees stack up!) and puts you in the driver’s seat of your financial future.

Some people prefer to hand it over and have the brain space back to think about other things and that’s where a financial advisor or certified financial planner can be a fantastic idea. They can make decisions about your money and actively invest or manage it for you.

The “right” fit for you simply depends on your goals and your personal finance preferences. Don’t be afraid to explore options and find the best fit for you.