The Emotional Finance A-Z

A guide for financial professionals who want to work with humans, not just numbers.

What would relationally intelligent financial advice look like?

Most financial advice training focuses on the technical.

But what about the human sitting across from you? The one who's anxious about retirement, grieving a loss, or stuck in a pattern they can't quite name?

The Emotional Finance A-Z is your guide to the other half of advice work.

26 entries on the relational practices, skills and insights that make technical advice actually land; including:

  • Empathy (and what it actually is)

  • Invitation (not excavation)

  • Naming (what's not being said)

  • Owning (your part)

  • Support & Challenge (both, not either)

  • Zip It (the power of silence)

Written for financial professionals who know that great advice requires more than technical brilliance. It requires the ability to connect, to listen, to stay present when things get difficult.

Get your free copy of The Emotional Finance A-Z and discover what changes when you bring relational intelligence to your advice practice.

What People Are Saying about the Emotional Finance A-Z:

Human-centric advice moves beyond behavioural finance approaches and emphasises the importance of relational and emotional intelligence.

This A-Z guide is the 26-key code that unlocks a professional's ability to turn data into empathy, and is as important for financial advisers as it's important for kids learning the alphabet to unlock the world.

— Dr. Tom Mathar, Head of Money:Mindshift at Aegon

I absolutely love this A-Z. It has got me thinking about my own practice with clients, the things I could work on to be more effective and the best version of me for my clients. I believe we are never the finished article, there is always room for improvement and that’s where Emma’s expertise comes in!

— Carly Dunningham, Director of Financial Planning at Verso Wealth; Chair of the CISI Financial Planning Forum Committee.

More coming soon.

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  • “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

  • “Emma is exceptionally positioned to help financial advisers and firms ...

    meet Consumer Duty requirements in a way that is both fully compliant and deeply meaningful. 

    Emma ensures firms not only meet regulatory expectations but do so in a way that aligns with the true spirit of Consumer Duty. She understands vulnerability as a relational, dynamic, and deeply human aspect, not just a compliance checkbox. 

    Through her soft skills training and relational consultancy, she equips advisers to confidently recognise, respond to, and document vulnerability, fostering trusted, allied relationships with clients while satisfying regulators’ standards.

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

    Dr Thomas Mathar, Customer Experience Manager, Aegon. Author, Speaker, Podcaster

  • "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, Professional Speaker, Author, Host of The Humans vs Retirement Podcast, Financial Planner, Retirement Coach

  • Emma is truly unique person with unique insights ...

    which are valuable to anyone, paraplanner or financial planner, who has direct client contact on a day-to-day basis.  

    Let’s face it, we all have our blind spots and as planners we tend to metaphorically charge in on a white horse to rescue clients and solve their problems.  

    But in the financial planning profession, that is really the last thing we should be doing.  We need to fully understand our clients and build a collaborative working relationship with them.  

    Emma can help you do just that.

    Jacqueline Lockie, Lockie Consultants

  • “f 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.

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

    Sally Pham, IFA

Hi - I’m Emma

Founder of Emotional Finance

As a former psychotherapist now working within financial services, I translate relational intelligence into the heart of the profession.

I support financial professionals and firms to lead the industry’s shift toward more human, connected, trust-centred financial advice; strengthening client relationships and driving better outcomes for clients and businesses alike.

If this sounds like the kind of support or partnership you want in your world, get in touch — I’d love to explore how we could work together.