Online Financial Coaching Frequently Asked Questions
Where are you located?
Pacific Stoa, LLC is a proud woman-owned, Oregon Company.
I (Hanna) live in the Eugene area where I grew up and returned to after 30 years in Salem to be closer to my family. I have family in Welches as well.
The Apprentice Coaches are in Salem, Dallas, and Astoria.
What are you drinking in the big cup?
Coffee or tea. Occasionally club soda if it’s hot out.
Where are your testimonials?
Confidentiality is something I take seriously. The stories you see on the home page and other pages are composites with stock photos and fictional names. I do ask my clients for their feedback regularly and you can see some below, in the footer!
Are you a current or past client looking to leave a testimonial? Yay! Thank you! You’re welcome to leave a review on my google my business profile.
What if my pet or child interrupts our session?
Bring it on! Rabbits, cat butts, dog barks, snakes, naked toddlers, naked housemates… I’ve seen it all.
AND I also routinely knock things off my desk and injure myself in dumb ways during sessions. I’ll try not to make this apparent to you.
Do you ever get tired of talking about money all day?
Nope! Depending on what my clients need, we are likely not talking about money EVERY session, so really, I don’t get burned out on that. I’ll never tire of watching you change your life. People are so amazing!
What is your refund policy?
We offer a free info session and a no-pressure, test-drive coaching session before any commitment is made. That way, you can decide if coaching with me is the right fit — no strings attached.
If you choose to move forward, you can pay per session or purchase a prepaid bundle at a discounted rate. I deeply value integrity in this work, so I do offer refunds for any unused sessions in your bundle, with the following guidelines:
- Refunds are issued at the bundle’s per-session rate (e.g., if you purchased a 10-session bundle, each session is valued at 1/10 of the total price).
- Used sessions will not be refunded.
- A $25 processing fee will be deducted from the refund total.
- Refunds must be requested within 60 days of our most recent session.
- In rare situations where I determine that coaching is no longer a good fit, I reserve the right to end the coaching relationship and will refund any remaining, unused sessions (minus the processing fee).
Is swearing allowed?
Oh it’s allowed. I am a sweary person, but if you aren’t, no worries, I can behave myself.
What if I cry?
I’ll cry with you!
Ok, what’s with the red lipstick?
I went 99% virtual during the pandemic. During my online meetings, I noticed that the combination of my grey/blonde hair, my complexion, and the white wall behind kind of made me disappear. So, I started wearing the most atrocious red lipstick I could find – just to “show up” on the screen.
Well, I’ve since grown to love it, and it’s weirdly become part of my “brand.” I’ve had several regular clients refuse to start the meeting until I put it on, so… red lipstick it is.
Are you (Hanna) the only coach?
At the moment, yes. I do have three absolutely amazing Apprentice Coaches who are in training.
How many sessions will I/ we need?
There is not a prescriptive number of sessions. On average, my clients have 12-19 meetings with me. Some have many more; some have less. Altogether this work usually takes about 6-8 months.
Let’s find out together!
Do you offer in-person sessions?
Rarely! But if you live in or are visiting the Willamette Valley of Oregon, let’s find a time to meet in person!
What is the Pacific Stoa curriculum?
I began building the Pacific Stoa Curriculum more than 10 years ago because I saw a huge gap between the fundamental mechanics of money (financial literacy) and soft skills practices. Over time it’s been stitched together with mechanical money strategies with the behavioral/emotional tools of disciplines like Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Psychology, Motivational Interviewing, philosophy, and Behavioral Economics. By blending these varied fields of study, the curriculum has grown into an adaptive, living, “choose-your-own-journey” style program that evolves all the time. Your path through the curriculum will be very different from anyone else’s!
What does "trauma-informed" mean?
Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) works from the assumption that everyone has experienced trauma at some point in their lives. Because talking about finances has the potential to traumatize (and re-traumatize) you, I am always aware of and respectful of the six guiding principles of TIC: safety, trustworthiness, transparency, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment, and gender/cultural/historical concerns.
The Pacific Stoa curriculum has been built with TIC at its foundation.
Trauma-informed does not mean trauma-focused.
What should I/ we do to get the most out of coaching with you?
Some of the tools, strategies, and games I’ll teach you may seem like they’re coming out of left field. I know you have no reason to, but I ask that you give me a few minutes of trust – trust that I’m going somewhere with whatever I’m bringing up.
Often, the weirdest, smallest, most oblique interventions are the ones that I get the most pushback on (and they’re always the most effective). Ask me why everyone hates the “Did I die?” game!
Ok, but the single biggest thing you can do if you want to move quickly and easily through this process is probably the hardest thing I could ask of you, and that’s to be gentle with yourself.
Do you offer free info sessions?
Absolutely! Ready to schedule? Let’s find a time next week!
What happens if we see each other outside of a session?
It doesn’t happen very often, but I’ll wait for you to greet me if we happen to meet out of session. I won’t bring up anything we’ve talked about or that I’m your financial coach.
BUT, if you want to talk shop, let’s talk! You will be in control of that conversation.
Will there be homework?
Most likely, yes. But you’ll be assigning yourself homework most of the time. I may offer suggestions, but you can tell me to kick rocks if you like. Most homework should take about 5 minutes a day to complete.
Homework isn’t based in compliance, only practicing skills and concepts!
What do you (Hanna) do in the session? What does a "normal" session look like?
You’ll catch me asking a lot of questions and taking a bunch of notes.
Our time together will NOT be an interrogation. A session is a conversation, and you are the boss of that conversation!
My job is to listen, offer tools and strategies, and reflect to you.
How do I/ we set up an info session?
Rather than have you fill out some generic intake form, I like to get to know my potential clients a little before our first “official” coaching session. These info sessions are fairly quick (about an hour), so we’re not taking up a whole bunch of your time!
I’ll ask you a few questions to get to know you and your situation a bit to make sure I can help you. Of course, we’ll take all the time we need for you to ask questions, too! From there, if you’re also feeling good about working with me, we can schedule the first actual financial coaching session.
You can call or text me at (503) 908-3425.
Or if you’re ready right now, you can schedule here:
Do you have evening and weekend appointments?
Evenings… certainly. Most of my clients have “normal people” jobs and are all over the country, so I’m pretty comfortable with evenings.
Saturdays are pretty hit or miss. If Saturdays are your best/only time, please let me know!
What is your cancellation/ rescheduling policy?
We do not charge for missed/rescheduled appointments, as it feels punitive and counters my coaching philosophy.
If you purchase a discounted bundle missed/rescheduled appointments do not count towards your remaining sessions.
Bundled sessions never expire.
How often will we meet?
At first we’ll probably meet every week (if it works for both of our calendars), but that streteched out to every two weeks after just a few sessions. The sessions tend to find their own rhythm based on our schedules and what we’re working on. The “normal” rhythm is about every two weeks. That stretches out about once a month as we are beginning to develop your customized, adaptive budget (oh ya we’re going there).
I typically don’t offer standing appointments, but we can schedule out several sessions to make pre-planning easier on everyone!
Clients who have “graduated” typically meet with me every six months.
What do you mean by "graduated"?
My job is to be out of a job eventually! I aim to get you to the point where you don’t need me. Here’s what I say to my clients: When you start thinking, “Huh… Hanna isn’t as clever as I once thought,” then you’re getting close to the point where you no longer need me!
There is no expectation for when that should happen.
Graduated clients typically still meet with me every six months or so to check in, set new goals, and head off any concerns for the future. These check ins are never charged for.
Very rarely, (about 3% of the time) my clients will restart coaching for a short run. This typically happens if there’s been a big disruption or big opportunity!
How long are sessions?
Most sessions are an hour long.
If our session runs a little long and we both have time in our schedules to continue… no problem!
What is blue and smells like red paint?
Blue paint