Prepare to witness the collapse of many high-profile financial well-being projects, for they are doomed to fail. Their rhetoric may paint a picture of a bleak future, urging the masses to save more. However, the truth is that today is already bleak. We find ourselves amidst the most severe cost-of-living crisis in recent memory, a crisis that has left most individuals with empty pockets.
Empty pockets cannot be emptied further. The traditional players in the financial market focus on analysing needs and shortfalls, lacking the capability to provide genuine financial well-being coaching. Their approach revolves around telling you what your future looks like, what you currently possess, your shortfall, and why you should hand over your hard-earned money to large corporations. They promise to return it to you with interest in later life.
But here’s the catch: Only those rare individuals in their twenties who diligently save a significant portion of their income throughout their working lives will benefit from this approach. They possess the luxury of time and the wondrous power of compound interest. Unfortunately, this profile fits only a handful of people.
The reality is that the majority of us have empty pockets, and you cannot empty that which is already empty.
A second lie pervades the system: the notion that retiring abruptly is beneficial for your health. We know that people lead shorter and unhappier lives without a sense of eudaimonic well-being. In contrast, the oldest, happiest, and healthiest communities work well into old age, engaging in activities that don’t feel like work but provide purpose and meaning. They never wish to retire; they say, “Retire, and death soon finds you.”
Why perpetuate this lie? The bleakness of cliff-edge retirement only serves to drive people to empty their pockets and hand over more of their hard-earned money to big corporations.
However, most of us have no gain in this endeavour. In real terms, after considering fees, inflation, and taxes, we receive back only what we initially invested. The sole beneficiaries are the big corporations extracting fees from our assets and their disciples—the distributors, regulators, and intermediaries who thrive in the middle.
The United Nations has laid out a clear path to end global poverty in all its forms through Sustainable Development Goal number one. It involves identifying productive assets, leveraging entrepreneurial opportunities, and creating sustainable livelihoods. As elucidated by the London Business School, productive assets encompass intangible assets that generate future economic benefits—such as brand, networks, location, skills, and know-how. In addition, we must cultivate vitality assets to enhance the longevity of our livelihoods and transformational assets to ensure sustainability.
The mass market requires an approach that prioritises increasing cash flows, paying down debt, building emergency funds, and safeguarding income streams from life’s uncertainties. Only then, and only after the pockets have been filled, should we consider long-term security, freedom, and legacy.
Unlike big corporations, we do not waste our efforts targeting empty pockets; instead, we aim to provide game plans that fill the pockets of the masses. Will you join us in this endeavour?
Sceptics among private equity investors often dismiss conscientious projects. However this is not a not-for-profit endeavour, and research conducted by Raj Sisodia on Conscious Capitalism reveals that firms driven by purpose outperform the market 14-fold over a 15-year period. It has also been discovered that profit-seeking C-class executives who work alongside conscientious peers doom their organisations to failure, as demonstrated by Richard Barrett’s studies on the entropic failure of organizations and Stuart Woollard’s work on the Mature Corporation—a Model of Responsible Capitalism.
Trusted businesses emerge victorious. As the former head of investments at HSBC and lead proposition architect for wealth at RBS Group and Santander, I have proven this concept. The financial services sector has long been the least trusted industry globally, as indicated by Edelman’s Trust Barometer, the leader in global PR. Interestingly, what matters least to C-class executives matters most to their customers. In a pilot program, the share of wallets increased from £1 in every £8 to £8 in every £8. Conversion rates from meetings to sales skyrocketed from 1 in 4 to a perfect 4 in 4. Customers hailed it as the most meaningful financial conversation of their lives, and compliance scores were exceptional. We called it the customer relationship dividend.
The pilot was ditched, and money could be earned by the banks from unsecured lending as interest rates fell. But now ten years later the tables turn, and interest rates rise.
A decade later, this model has been successfully implemented by numerous boutique firms across six continents. Surprisingly, no big corporations have seized this opportunity, fearing the cannibalisation of their existing business.
What we need are new investors who have nothing to lose and everything to gain from liberating the masses from the shackles of funding big financial corporations. Perhaps the tier two players, embracing emerging technologies and strategies, aspire to become the tier ones of the not-so-distant future.
In the words of Stephen R. Covey in Habit #4, markets need win-win scenarios.
We agree that profit is crucial but should be on par with purpose, people, and the planet. Our 4P framework guarantees that we deliver on all fronts, leaving no returns left on the table.
For investors seeking an endearing opportunity that contributes to eradicating global poverty in all its forms, we present an investment opportunity that aligns with our programme and can fill their pockets tenfold.
Let us transform millions into billions, billions into trillions. This transformation extends beyond financial capital; it encompasses social capital, environmental capital, and spiritual capital, ultimately fostering the evolution of mankind.
We are filling pockets and hearts, souls, and minds tenfold.
Academy of Life Planning 