Financial Capability Coaching Course Module 5: Case Study 1: Creating the budget and debt schedule

© 2026 National Building Financial Capability Charitable Trust (known as FinCap). All rights reserved.

This document and its contents are the intellectual property of FinCap and are protected under the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand) and applicable international copyright laws.

No part of this document may be reproduced, distributed, modified, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of FinCap.

This document is intended solely for the use of the recipient and must not be disclosed to any third party without express authorisation. Any unauthorised use, disclosure, or reproduction may result in legal action.

For permission requests or inquiries regarding copyright, please contact: kiaora@fincap.org.nz

The Financial Capability Coaching Course is for those wanting to learn the skills and knowledge required to serve their community as an effective financial coach.

This is Module 5.

Aim of Module

The aim of this module is to help you develop a greater understanding in how to use budget worksheets and debt schedules, to help a client understand their financial position.  You will also be introduced to the client lifecycle and what might be expected in the initial steps.

What will you learn?

At the completion of this module you will understand:

• the typical client lifecycle
• what information must be obtained from clients and how it should be recorded
• how to analyse a client’s financial position:
  • income and expenses
  • debts and arrears; and
  • immediate financial problems.

Module timeframe

It is expected that this module will take three to five hours to complete depending on your individual pace and which topics you find challenging. There is also assignments to complete that will take approximately two hours. If you have any questions regarding the content of this module or the course, please contact your facilitator.

Module prerequisites and resources

Prior to starting this module, you must have completed the following modules and their associated Assignment questions.  You must have had your Assignment questions marked by your course facilitator (and completed any follow up actions) prior to moving onto the next module:

• Module 1 – All about financial coaching
• Module 2 – Financial coaching tools
• Module 3 – Understanding clients
• Module 4 – Strengths-based approach