Being a financial wizard is not quite the same thing as being a rocket scientist. While your objective is to build up safety and avoid any types of Three Mile Island situations, you are only working with money. It is rare that money alone causes too much harm. However, being a finance whiz for someone means more than just making sure they save a decent percentage of what they make or knowing the ins and outs of a company like Plain Green Loans. It also means you need to counsel them on keeping their credit score high and keep acting like a responsible citizen whenever possible.
For instance, a lot of people think that if something goes wrong and they are short on money, they should ignore some bills and focus on pure survival needs. While this instinct will save them some interest payments versus taking out a payday loan, the latter is generally the more viable of the two options. While in a perfect world everyone would have tons of cash at the ready, sometimes life just throws you for a loop. Taking out a loan to pay for your immediate expenses and then paying it off when you can is the best option in a lot of different situations.
First off, paying your bills keeps your credit steadily growing better. While the change is subtle enough to be invisible from things like that, the change if you get a utility shut off from nonpayment is anything but subtle. When you coach your clients, make sure they know the importance of balancing the pride of the moment against the long-term consequences of trying to make too much of pride and ending up doing worse in the long run.