Soft Skills. Stronger Relationships. Better Business.

Emotional Finance picks up where traditional training leaves off; helping financial professionals and firms build the essential soft skills that bridge the gap between technical expertise and the relational depth that translates into trust, loyalty and meaningful client action.

Because clients don’t just want rational, optimised solutions - they want to feel understood. They want advice that fits them, not just on paper, but in real life. They want trusted go-tos that they truly connect with.

And financial professionals need the support, training, and space to grow the relational capabilities they were never taught, but are now expected to deliver. Especially in a profession that’s evolving fast.

I’m Emma Boardwell, Founder of Emotional Finance

I’m a psychotherapist by training, and also a DipFA and Wise Monkey certified Financial Coach.

Before founding Emotional Finance, I spent years working as a psychotherapist, trainer, and facilitator.

Today, I bring that experience into financial services - helping firms and professionals build the emotional and relational skills that create trusted, loyal, and truly client-centred relationships. The kind that lead to better conversations, stronger outcomes, and lasting impact.

This is something genuinely different.

I’m bringing a depth of relational understanding from psychotherapy into a profession long shaped by technical expertise, buttoned-up professionalism, and a quiet discomfort with the emotional side of client work. A profession now asking more of its advisers than it has ever truly prepared them for.

Soft skills aren’t just a ‘nice to have’. They’re business critical. And they can be taught.

That’s what I’m here to do.

“Working with Emma is like putting on a new lens. She challenges assumptions, fosters empathy, and equips advisers with the tools to have more meaningful conversations… conversations that lead to better outcomes and stronger client relationships.

Emma’s work is changing the game in financial planning. If you’re serious about becoming a more emotionally aware and human-centred professional, I can’t recommend her highly enough”

- Dan Haylett, TFP Financial Planning, Host of The Humans  v Retirement Podcast

Our Services

  • The Emotional Finance Programme

    A practical, transformative training in soft skills and relational intelligence that most qualifications overlook - but that makes all the difference.

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  • The Emotional Finance Collective

    A facilitated, confidential space for financial professionals to keep developing the human side of their practice through monthly live sessions.

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  • Tailored Support and Consultancy

    Relational consultancy, client meeting reviews, 1:1 work, facilitation and workshops and more - designed with you, not just for you.

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What do we mean when we say, ‘soft skills’?

At Emotional Finance, we use the term soft skills because it’s familiar — but let’s be clear: soft doesn’t mean easy. And soft skills aren’t ‘less than’. 

We see softness as strength: fluidity over rigidity, compassion over control, open-mindedness over certainty, presence over avoidance, and leaning in over holding back.

As Brené Brown says: “If you want to call these soft skills after you’ve tried putting them into practice — go for it. I dare you.”

Trusted by:

What people say

  • "Emma is EXACTLY what the financial advice profession needs...


    From the day I met her, she’s done nothing but bring brilliant ideas to me and I’ve found myself feeling so excited about the future for advisers entering the profession, knowing there is quality training out there in the areas that are so desperately needed.

    Not only that, but she is knowledgeable, warm, kind and funny… all qualities she brings with her in her sessions which make for a truly unique experience. Emma has delivered several sessions for our organisation and each time we’ve had such positive feedback. I couldn’t recommend her more highly.”

    - Hayley Rabbets, Head of The Verve Foundation 

  • "If you’re a financial professional who wants to go beyond numbers and truly connect with clients, you need Emma in your world...


    Emma is a pioneer in helping advisers and planners understand the emotional side of money, both their clients’ and their own.

    Working with Emma is like putting on a new lens. She challenges assumptions, fosters empathy, and equips advisers with the tools to have more meaningful conversations… conversations that lead to better outcomes and stronger client relationships.

    Emma’s work is changing the game in financial planning. If you’re serious about becoming a more emotionally aware and human-centred professional, I can’t recommend her highly enough”

    - Dan Haylett, TFP Financial Planning, Host of The Humans  v Retirement Podcast

  • "Emma is exceptionally positioned to help financial advisers in specific and financial firms in general meet Consumer Duty requirements in a way that is both fully compliant and deeply meaningful...

    Her unique blend of psychotherapy expertise and financial services insight brings a fresh, human-centered perspective to the profession.

    Emma understands vulnerability as a relational, dynamic, and deeply human aspect, not just a compliance checkbox.

    For firms committed to embedding Consumer Duty in a way that raises standards and builds genuine client trust, Emma is the ideal partner.”

    - Thomas Mathar, Centre for Behavioural Research (Aegon UK)

  • "Emma created a space that felt safe, focused, and deeply insightful...


    I participated in a personal and professional development group facilitated by Emma in 2024 with an open mind —curious, but not necessarily expecting major change. However, the opportunity was transformational.

    Her facilitation helped me cut through the noise, uncover blocks I was barely aware of and gain the clarity I needed to move forward in my business with confidence.”


    - Rosie Mowat, Rosebud Financial Coaching 

  • Emma is uniquely placed to help financial professionals become truly trusted allies to their clients...

    She brings emotional depth, clarity, and relational intelligence to a field that often overlooks those things and the difference it makes is huge. These skills transform good service into fantastic service.

    I consider Emma to be a trusted counsellor; she always brings alternative views and challenges in a positive way. Emma is warm, thoughtful, and insightful. I’m excited to see the impact her work is already having, and no doubt will continue to have, across the profession.

    - Greg Morris, Director at Western Pension Solutions

  • "If you get the chance to work with Emma, take it. You’ll leave better for it

    If you're working in financial services and care about building genuine client relationships, you need to know about Emma and the work she’s doing at Emotional Finance.

    I had the chance to attend one of Emma’s in-person workshops recently. We explored some of the most important, and often overlooked, parts of financial advice - building trust, giving presence and how to support clients’ emotional experiences.

    Emma held space with so much care and thoughtfulness. The conversations were real, challenging, and full of insight. She also speaks like Elizabeth Day, I could listen to her all day! She has a beautiful way of putting things, with brevity and eloquence.

    Emma’s mission - to help shift financial services into a truly benevolent, trusted profession - is helping move the industry forward, and I’m so glad I got to be part of that space.”

    - Sally Pham, IFA

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS