Become a financial mentor

The role of a financial mentor is to build the financial capability and resilience of people, families and whānau experiencing financial hardship.

Financial mentors do this by:

  • imparting financial management skills and knowledge
  • applying appropriate financial management tools with clients to reach goals
  • using a strengths-based approach to find long-term solutions
  • journeying with whānau/clients as they move towards becoming financially self-supporting
  • identifying appropriate advocacy actions.

If you’re interested in becoming a financial mentor, you will need one of our service providers to help you on your journey.

You can get in touch with the BFC service providers in your region to find out more about them and to express your interest in becoming a mentor.

Once you’ve joined an organisation, you’ll be able to access all of our training opportunities — including our Financial Mentor Introductory Course (FMIC) and other professional development.

Connect with a FinCap recognised financial mentoring service

MoneyTalks is FinCap’s remote free service that connects people and whānau with their local foodbanks and financial mentoring services, helps them find their way through Work and Income processes and entitlements, and supports people to manage their money. Anybody can get in touch with our MoneyTalks team if they need help with day-to-day money matters like budgeting and debt management.

To find a financial mentoring service near you.

Find help now

Once you find a service in your location that you think you would like to work with, get in touch to make an appointment to meet with them. If you do join the service, the manager will organise your training.

What is the provisional period?

The provisional period is when new financial mentors, having successfully completed FMIC, embed the knowledge, skills, and strategies of financial mentoring into their practice. The provisional financial mentor’s journey is supported by an assigned trained supervisor. This process can take 3-12 months to complete.  Once deemed competent by your manager and supervisor, (meaning you can now work autonomously with your own clients), you will be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, and gain ‘recognised financial mentor’ status.

The provisional period represents 10 of the 16 FMIC micro-credential credits, accounting for at least 100 hours of learning.

Is a financial mentor different from a financial advisor?

About the only thing financial advisors and financial mentors have in common is the word “financial” at the start. Financial advice focuses on a client’s investment portfolio by providing recommendations of specific products and securities, and investment advice.

Financial mentoring focuses on the education, growth, and the decision-making processes, so that clients obtain and master financial management skills for themselves. The mentoring model is all about helping them build knowledge. As a financial mentor you are guiding them to manage their money smarter, and how to make better informed financial decisions.

Ideally, to be a great financial mentor you will be confident working with people from all walks of life, and have a good grasp of numbers.