“We cannot transform a system unless we transform the consciousness of the people within it.”
— Otto Scharmer
I hear the cries from within the financial advice industry.
Cries echoed by trade press journalists keen to stay in favour.
Echoed by product manufacturers, trade bodies posing as regulators, and government agencies eager to tap the public’s assets for fees and taxes.
“Look what this red tape has done to us,” they say.
“It’s stopped the people from getting our services — and they’re all the worse for it.”
But let’s be honest.
This narrative is built on a myth:
That total wealth is financial capital, and that human capital — the source of all value — is some inconvenient afterthought.
The truth?
It’s not advice that has been lost.
It’s intermediation.
That term “advice” merely disguises what most of the regulated sector still is: a sales channel.
📉 The Rise and Fall of the Intermediary
In the 20th century, financial intermediaries thrived —
Agents of insurance companies in their hundreds of thousands, under the banner of home service.
The man from the Pru. A household figure.
But change came.
- Janet Walford shone a light on the true cost of intermediation.
- Endowment mis-selling and pension scandals followed.
- Regulation swept in. The man from the Pru was swept away.
Then came bancassurance — flogging products in banking halls.
Then came the Retail Distribution Review, exposing commission structures and prompting a new wave of industry contraction.
And now?
The remaining independent financial advisers and vertically integrated agents present themselves as superior to one another. But make no mistake — both are still intermediaries.
Their value is still measured by assets under management — a model born in the Piscean age of extraction, not the Aquarian age of empowerment.
🧠The Overton Window Has Shifted
What society deems acceptable — what sits inside the Overton Window — is changing.
Once, it was acceptable to:
- Charge layers of hidden fees
- Withhold education under the guise of complexity
- Claim regulation as proof of virtue, while operating under conflicted incentives
But consciousness is rising.
The public now questions. Learns. Builds. Shares.
They’re embracing human capital strategies — skills, income streams, collaborations, peer learning, AI tools — and moving beyond the need for expensive middlemen.
And so, the institutions panic.
Trade bodies — now indistinguishable from lobbying arms — release “targeted support” proposals under the banner of consumer help. The so-called Financial Growth Authority lobbies not for the public good, but for continued access to their capital.
They lament an “advice gap.”
But what they fear is a flogging gap.
And what they fail to see is this:
People are doing just fine without them.
🌀 The Age of Empowerment
A new generation is rising:
- They follow finfluencers and life planners — not fund salesmen.
- They subscribe to knowledge — not portfolios.
- They build resilience through self-agency — not hand-holding.
This isn’t neglect. It’s evolution.
FCA, FOS and FSCS — once vital to protect against intermediary failings — will become relics of an age passing away. They will serve only the few remaining institutions. As agents disappear, compensation schemes become irrelevant. Self-agency does not need compensation.
And the shrinking number of intermediaries — from 250,000 to 25,000 — is not a failure.
It’s a sign of the times.
✊ A Call to the Profession
To the advisers still holding on:
The growing regulatory burden on the small firm is not a punishment.
It’s an invitation to pivot — from intermediary to educator, from gatekeeper to guide.
To the journalists echoing outdated concerns:
This isn’t a tragedy. It’s a transition.
The system is not crumbling — it’s shedding its skin.
To the regulators propping up the old world under the guise of reform:
You are no longer operating within the Overton Window.
What was once seen as protective is now perceived as restrictive. Or, even captured and exploitative.
🌱 Celebrate the Shift
The decline of financial intermediaries is not a crisis.
It is a natural, necessary transformation.
A shift from:
- Compliance to consciousness
- Control to collaboration
- Extraction to education
- Dependency to dignity
This is the Aquarian age — and empowerment sits firmly outside the regulatory perimeter.
Let us not mourn the loss of intermediaries.
Let us celebrate the rise of the sovereign individual — and the growing fellowship of life planners, professional finfluencers, and citizen educators lighting the way. And, sitting firmly on the side of the people.
Join the M-POWER Movement: From Piscean Planning to Aquarian Prosperity
We’re not just planning for retirement. We’re designing reality.
The old world extracted your time, energy, and wealth.
The new world empowers your purpose, vision, and impact.
What’s in it for you?
- Empowerment: Learn to align your money with your mission — no products, no pressure.
- Entrepreneurship: Build a purpose-driven business that transforms lives — starting with yours.
- Elevation: Shift your mindset, your model, and your movement into higher dimensional leadership.
How to Begin
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→ Free access to resources, events, and peers redefining the future of planning.
→ Community Link
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→ One-to-one support to map your next step toward freedom and flow.
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