Become a financial mentor
Financial mentors provide a one-on-one service focusing on empowering people to get control of their money. They can make a huge difference to someone's financial affairs
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:
- sharing their financial management skills and knowledge
- applying appropriate financial management tools with clients to reach their 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 financial mentor 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
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.
Find a financial mentoring service near you
What is the provisional period?
What’s a provisional period?
After completing the FMIC, the provisional financial mentor undertakes a period of time where you're supported by the service and supervised while learning more about the role. Through NZQA, the programme as a micro-credential is worth 16 credits. This equates to six credits (60 hours) for the theory and 10 credits (100 hours) to complete the provisional period.
The 100 hours allows for anything you do which helps you meet the competencies of the role (your supervisor will have these). This could include working with the client, completing notes, following up with other agencies etc.
The 3-12 months provisional period timeframe is broad to allow the 100 hours to be reached (although these are not counted and are not logged). Most importantly this allows for the different circumstances of the individual financial mentor. These might include:
- access to clients – especially when there are no shows, or they only visit once
- the ability to work with clients over a longer term so competencies can be met
- allocated work hours – full time is likely to complete sooner than part time or volunteer
- previous experience in a similar financial or support role.
It is expected that the provisional period is completed within 12 months of completing the FMIC.
Once deemed competent by your manager and supervisor, provisional financial mentors will be awarded a certificate of achievement and are recognised as a financial mentor. There is some documentation required for us to process the certificate of achievement and these can be found here.
Is a financial mentor different from a financial advisor?
Very different. A financial advisor 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.
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.