I’ve only seen it happen twice in 15 years.
A client sits down. I show them the numbers. They look at the spreadsheet, make a decision, and execute. Cold. Logical. Done.
One of those clients? He realized the math didn’t work. He was living in a country where taxes were too high, pay was too low, and his dream lifestyle was a pipe dream.
So, he got a new job. In a different country. Within two weeks.
Six weeks later, he and his family had relocated. Hundreds of thousands of dollars gained. No hand-wringing. No “let me think about it.” Just: this is the logical move, so I’m making it.
His family followed. That was it.
I sat there thinking: That’s how it’s supposed to work, right? See the numbers. Make the change.
But here’s the thing: that’s not how it works. Not for most people. Not even for me.
When I started as a financial coach 15 years ago, I came from the financial advisor world. I believed the answer was tools. Systems. Tracking.
Show people where their money is going, and they’ll fix it.
So, I built an app.
Not just any app — a 12-month projection tool. Most budgeting apps look backward. They show you what already happened. That’s not planning. That’s an autopsy.
I wanted something that looked forward. Something where you could create scenarios. What if you bought that house? Sold that house? Took that dream trip?
I called it the Financial Clarity Workbook. It lets you create up to 99 different “what if” scenarios.
It cost me $20,000. And countless hours. Building it. Rebuilding it. Adding features. Fixing bugs.
I think it’s one of the best budgeting tools out there. I really do.
And it doesn’t fix a thing.
Here’s what I’ve learned — the hard way, over 15 years:
The app shows you the numbers. But the numbers aren’t the problem.
It’s the 80/20 rule, flipped.
20% of your financial life is math. The spreadsheet. The projections. The tracking. I’m not saying it doesn’t matter — it does. You need to see where you are.
But 80%? That’s you.
The emotions. The habits. The patterns. The feeling that you deserve to order Skip the Dishes after a brutal day because you work hard and support a family. You earned it.
The app can’t touch that.
Here’s the frustrating part — and I’ll be honest, I still fight this myself:
The belief that if I just see the numbers, I’ll be able to fix the problem.
It’s seductive. It feels true. It’s also almost never true.
In 15 years, I’ve had exactly two clients who saw the numbers and changed course. Both were executives at massive corporations. Both operated from logic over emotion. Cold, hard decisions — that’s how they led. That’s how they lived.
That’s not me. That’s probably not you either.
For the rest of us, it’s like dieting without doing the inner work. You can count every calorie. You can track every macro. But if you don’t understand why you reach for the chips at 10pm, the tracking doesn’t matter.
I’m the guy who spent $20,000 building a budgeting app.
I believe in cash flow. I believe in the 20%.
But that’s not where the change happens.
What’s a Financial Coach?
Not an advisor. Not a planner. I don’t manage your investments or sell you anything.
Yes, you need to know your numbers — that’s the 20%. I do that. But more importantly, I work on the 80%: the patterns, the emotions, the habits that drive every financial decision you make. The stuff the spreadsheet can’t fix.
Want to work on the 80%?
That’s what I actually do.
Avraham
Your Financial Coach
P.S. The app is still great. I still use it with clients. But the app is the scorecard, not the game.
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