Simonne Gnessen

This time of year can stir up a mix of joy, pressure and money worries - and so much of it comes from the stories we absorbed growing up about love, giving and “getting it right”. I recently spoke to Money Ready about the emotional side of festive spending, and it reminded me how often I see this in coaching sessions too. So many people feel torn between wanting to make things special and wanting to stay financially grounded. I’ve shared some thoughts on this - from consumer pressure to love languages to the fear of breaking long-held traditions - in a new blog. If this season is feeling heavy, or you’re craving a calmer, more intentional approach, I hope these pieces offer a little gentleness and perspective. ✨ Read more: 👉 Money Ready article: /update/healthy-festive-money-mindset 👉 My blog: /blog/post/rethinking-festive-spending #festivemindset #moneywellbeing #financialcoaching #moneymindset #intentionalspending #emotionalwellbeing

Gorgeous walk with a gorgeous friend ❤️

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Professor George Callaghan and Dr Martin Higginson for their The Financial Five a Day Podcast Series. Just like the five a day fruit and veg helped shift people's habits when it comes to nutrition, this podcast aims to improve listeners financial nutrition and inspire listeners to think more purposefully about their personal finance and money habits. With a beautiful interviewing style, George and Martin draw out money stories and tips on how to develop positive money habits from all their guests and lots of nuggets of wisdom are shared. I also love how they chat about the insights and takeaways from the interview at the end. Definitely worth a listen. My interview focuses on understanding how emotions influence our money choices. It was such a privilege to contribute to this podcast series amongst a group of inspiring personal finance experts, including George Kinder, Alvin Hall, Claudia Hammond, Barney Whitee, Jonquil Lowe and others. Hope you enjoy the podcast series. Link to my interview in bio. Podcast series: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-business/economics/the-financial-five-day-podcast-series My interview: /episode/1Wfcd6yyv4LGLZtkELwICQ #financialwellbeing #financialeducation #personalfinance #personalfinances

Our Financial Coach training attracts all sorts of different people. And I'm always so thrilled to hear what they got out of it, and the impact it’s had on their work and lives. In recent years, we're attracting more and more Financial Planners, as well as people switching from traditional financial services or from completely different careers... Check out the article [link in bio] to read some of their stories... Our next 10-week Financial Coach Practitioner Certificate Training starts on 15th April 2024. Only one week left to grab our Early Bird price for deposits paid by 31st January! /blog/beyond_numbers

Many of us are panicking at the start of the year because we haven't yet completed our tax returns. But what if you knew HRMC are likely to owe you thousands, instead of the other way round? I'm finding that most clients are completely unaware that if they're higher rate taxpayers (earning more than £50,270) and making pension contributions, the chances are that they're only getting 20% tax relief on payments they're making and entitled to another 20%. But they can only receive this by letting HMRC know! For example, if you contributed £8,000 to your pension in the 2022/23 tax year, you likely had £1,600 reclaimed at 20%. However, as a higher rate taxpayer, you're actually due £8,000 x 40% = £3,200 in tax relief. Failing to submit your tax return means missing out on this £1,600 refund each year. If no-one has asked you to complete a tax return, you need to get onto HMRC yourself. I know this goes against the grain to voluntarily request a tax return from HMRC, but this could be worth thousands to you! You can also go 4 years and reclaim anything you've missed in the past. This could amount to a significant sum! I've written much more about this in my latest blog. /blog/post/you-may-be-missing-out-on-thousands

I've got some exciting updates to share about our Financial Coach training... Accreditation, coaching qualifications, a thriving community, a formalised code of ethics, and a new addition to our training team – it's all happening! ✔️ Our training has earned accreditation from The Institute for Financial Wellbeing (IFW) ✔️ We've created an opportunity for our alumni to elevate their coaching skills and earn a nationally recognised coaching and mentoring qualification.  ✔️Our exclusive Wise Monkey community provides ongoing support and growth.  ✔️ We've created a new 'Code of Ethics,' reflecting our core values.  ✔️ We've welcomed a fabulous new trainer into our team! Ready to embark on a transformative journey? Click the link in the bio to read the full blog post and find out more about joining our thriving community of passionate financial coaches! Doors are open for our next 10-week Wise Monkey Financial Coach Training, starting on 2nd October 2023 – small groups and high trainer-to-participant ratio to develop skills with plenty of practise! "I can honestly say it was the most professionally, smooth running, interactive and engaging course I have been on" Financial coaching is a rapidly developing field in the UK and Wise Monkey continues to grow and be at the forefront of this exciting movement. Our aim is to help you develop the highest level of quality and professional standards for your clients. We look forward to supporting anyone ready to begin the journey to becoming a Financial Coach! /our-training #WiseMonkeyTraining #FinancialCoaching #CodeofEthics #AccreditedTraining #CoachingCommunity #JoinTheJourney #FinancialWellbeing

Wonderful trip to the Isle of Wight for the first time since my geography field trip with school, erm... 🤔 44 years ago 😊

I loved this opportunity to chat to @moneymarketingmag  about my passion for Financial Coaching and why I launched Wise Monkey Financial Coaching; how it all began for me 21 years ago after 10 years working as an independent financial adviser. We talked about the critical role of money coaches in helping clients achieve financial wellness. And the work of the Institute for Financial Wellbeing in bringing together financial planners and coaches, who are all driven towards a shared passion of helping clients navigate their financial lives in a way that supports them to become happier, rather than just wealthier. See link in bio for access to the recording. /podcast/in-conversation-with-simonne-gnessen-founder-wise-monkey-financial-coaching/ #InConversationWith  #FinancialWellbeing  #FinancialCoaching #Podcast

As well as today being the #SpringBudget, it's also International Long Covid Awareness Day. My partner was infected in April 2020, like many other NHS staff. She's just lost the job and career she loved due to Long Covid. While everyone gets back to normal, the new pandemic of Long Covid sadly is still growing and impacting millions of lives. Long Covid is an umbrella term - symptoms are many and varied. Patient-led research has driven forward understanding from the earliest days. This paper provides an excellent summary if you'd like to know more. /articles/s41579-022-00846-2 #LongCovidAwarenessDay #LongCovid

Curious about training to become a Financial Coach? There are still a few places left on our Spring 2023 Financial Coach Practitioner Certificate Training: 17 April to 21 June 2023. Our training puts coaching at the heart of everything we do. We guide you through the skills to help clients transform the financial side of their lives and create habits and behaviours aligned to their desired outcomes. One of my clients wrote this about the genius of working with money as a medium to help transform lives: "Money touches everyone. In money we instil hope, dreams and fears. How we hold shame can be seen by our relation to money as well as that in which we hold pride. Working through the medium of money enables you to access clients behaviour, emotion, to the unconscious workings of belief, value and trust. You can work as deep or as superficially as the relationship allows"  Wise Monkey is the UK’s pioneer in Financial Coach training. We've also now created a pathway to a nationally recognised coaching and mentoring qualification following the successful completion of the course. Small group sizes are guaranteed, to ensure a high trainer-to-participant ratio, with plenty of opportunity and feedback for you to practise and perfect the skills and tools you learn during the live sessions. ✅ 54 hours of live online, fully interactive, training sessions ✅ Extensive training in coaching skills ✅ Gain knowledge to guide clients through their personal financial challenges ✅ Acquire an invaluable toolkit of resources ✅ Fully interactive and blended learning approach ✅ Expert training team ✅ Full training manual by post + online learning platform ✅ Full session recordings ✅ Comprehensive range of resources to use with your own clients   Register today! We keep our course numbers low to make sure you gain the most from a focused learning experience - this also means places are limited. So don't miss your opportunity to join us on 17th April. Link in bio for more details. Or check out: