Personal Finance Coaching for EAs: Call for Applicants

By Rebecca Herbst @ 2023-03-22T23:22 (+32)

We’re excited to announce the launch of Yield & Spread’s free 1:1 Coaching Program, designed to help people with their financial plans for giving. We are looking for applicants familiar with the Effective Altruism movement to help us trial this program, and give us their feedback. 

You can apply for the coaching program here.

Coaching Program Rationale 

Yield & Spread is a nonprofit whose mission is to promote personal finance as a force for good. We believe that increasing financial literacy creates more opportunities for people to give back; when we can better optimize our own finances, we are in a much better position to help others. We have educational materials, free resources, and tools that are accessible to those outside the EA community, but our coaching program is specifically designed to help “do-gooders” do better with their finances and give them peace of mind.

We intend to measure our impact by evaluating how users have made significant changes to their financial plans and donation strategy after coaching sessions. 

Who Should Apply

We're best prepared to help people who:​​

• Are considering taking a donation pledge for the first time, or have taken a donation pledge and want to evaluate their pledge amount
• Have a baseline understanding of financial planning and are familiar with the building blocks of financial independence (for more information, see “How Much Do I Need to Know About Finances” below) 
• Are located in the U.S.; at this time we only work with people in-country due to our unique investment and tax structures

​If you’re not sure about whether to apply, we recommend that you do!

What to Expect

• Fill out our brief application form. It should take about 10 minutes. Give us a sense of your goals and where you need financial guidance. If we are a match, we will reach out to book a one hour video call with you.
• Prepare for the meeting. If you are accepted, we'll ask you to gather all your financial information into one place so we can have an effective discussion based on real numbers. The more prepared you are, the more impactful our meeting will be. Your information will not be shared with anyone. 
• Get together: We'll have a 1:1 video call where you can speak with us about your goals and main concerns. If appropriate, we may recommend you to other advisors or point you to additional resources. We may point you in the direction of a financial or tax advisor if we see fit (for more information, see "Things We Cannot Help With" below)
• Follow Up: In some cases, we may propose another video call if additional support is needed. 

If accepted, we will ask you to fill out a before and after survey. 
 

How We Can Help

Possible items we might work on together:

• Review checking, savings, and investments accounts and see if you can consolidate or optimize 
• Evaluate current investments (stocks, bonds, and funds only) and see if they meet the needs of your overall financial plan
• Analyze income, expenses, and assets to determine how much you need to save to meet your retirement or financial independence goals
• Explore how donating fits into your financial plan and identify tax-efficient ways to donate
• Discuss career goals and life plans and explore the scenarios in which they impact your financial plans

Things We Cannot Help With

• Assessing the promise of alternative or complex investment options outside of traditional stocks, bonds, and funds (e.g. you want to invest in a company that you think has the promise of doing X)
• Equity compensation (e.g. stock units, RSUs), beyond the basics
• Estate planning, beyond the basics
• Complex tax advice

Please note, Yield & Spread is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or a broker/dealer. Our services are not intended to substitute for obtaining accounting, tax, or financial advice, and may not be suitable for every individual. You can read more about our terms of use and disclosures here.

How Much Do I Need to Know About Finances 

We believe the most fruitful coaching sessions are those where we are on the same page. This means we want to have a similar baseline understanding of investing and money management. If you have taken Yield & Spread’s Learn to Invest & Build Wealth course, we will much more easily have a mutual understanding for how to discuss finances. Else, if you are far along on your finance journey, we'd be happy to meet. We are best aligned with those that follow and understand the Bogleheads investment framework encouraged by the Financial Independence movement. If you are accepted as an applicant, but we determine more financial education is needed before coaching can commence, we may recommend you go back and take the Learn To Invest course. 

About Me

Outside of my involvement in EA, I am a member of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence Retire Early).  At the age of 32, I left my full-time job in corporate real estate and became an "early retiree". This has allowed me to dedicate my  time to founding and running Yield & Spread, where 100% of our profits go to The Life You Can Save.