By Steve Conley, Founder, Academy of Life Planning
When Sarah Pritchard, Deputy CEO at the Financial Conduct Authority, called targeted support “revolutionary and quite radical,” she wasn’t wrong — but the revolution may not be the one consumers need.
The FCA’s new targeted support framework promises to close the advice gap by allowing firms to offer “actionable suggestions” to defined groups of consumers without crossing the line into regulated advice. On the surface, it sounds like progress: a modernised middle ground between guidance and advice. In practice, it risks resurrecting the very product-led culture that caused so much consumer harm in the first place.
A Return to Distribution, Not Empowerment
With a £500,000 minimum capital adequacy requirement, the model immediately excludes the small, community-based advisers and educators who truly bridge the advice gap. Only large institutions — insurers, banks, and platforms — can afford to play.
The result? The very same institutions that dominate the product marketplace now gain a new, regulatory-blessed pathway to recommendation without responsibility.
There’s no suitability duty, no FOS recourse, and no personalised accountability. Just grouped nudges toward in-house solutions under the banner of “consumer best interest.” It’s a marketer’s dream — and a policymaker’s quick fix — but not a structural solution.
A Step Back in Time
For those who remember the home service insurance and bancassurance eras, this feels like déjà vu. “Guidance” dressed as advice, consumers segmented by product, and sales driven by institutional incentives. We rebranded it once as “simplified advice,” and now as “targeted support.” The labels evolve; the power dynamics do not.
The FCA’s ambition is genuine — to make help accessible to millions. But accessibility without accountability simply opens the door to new forms of exploitation under a softer name.
The Real Revolution: Empowerment over Intermediation
At the Academy of Life Planning, we propose a different revolution.
Rather than building another product funnel, we’re building an empowerment ecosystem — one where individuals plan their lives before their money, guided by mentors not intermediaries, and measured not by assets under management but by well-being, resilience, and purpose.
We call this the Open Holistic Wealth Architecture — a citizen-first framework that restores self-agency, transparency, and structural trust. It’s a model designed with consumers, not for them. One where “support” means education, not persuasion.
An Invitation to Regulators and Innovators
We invite the FCA — and the institutions adopting targeted support — to engage with communities like ours. Let’s redefine what consumer help looks like in the Age of Empowerment.
True progress won’t come from targeting consumers; it will come from liberating them.
Steve Conley
Founder, Academy of Life Planning
Promoting transparency, integrity, and accessibility in financial planning.
Academy of Life Planning 