Human Capital, Finology, and the Human-to-Human Economy

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Extending the Vision of Financial Planning 3.0

“AI won’t replace planners. But planners who embrace AI — and truly understand human beings — will replace those who don’t.”

Partha Iyengar recently left a comment on LinkedIn that stopped me in my tracks.

He celebrated Human Capital and Human-to-Human Connections as the real drivers of progress — with AI as the enabling tool, not the enemy. He spoke about a “Fourth Revolution: the Human-to-Human Economy,” and reminded us that modern advisers must wear many hats: planner, counsellor, coach, life guide, sometimes even therapist and philanthropist.

That comment sits squarely in the tradition of Richard B. Wagner, JD, CFP® — the late pioneer who argued that money is the “most powerful and pervasive secular force on the planet,” and that financial planning could become the most important profession of the 21st century if we step into our true role (1).

This article is about that bridge:

  • From money management to human development
  • From industry sales to authentic profession
  • From Financial Planning 3.0 to the Human-to-Human Economy

1. Money Is Weird Stuff – and That’s Our Territory

In Financial Planning 3.0: Evolving Our Relationships with Money, Wagner describes money as “weird stuff” — unavoidable, mysterious, and deeply emotional. Most people are not just bad with money; they’re bewildered by it. They need a guide who understands both how money works and how humans work around money (2).

He argues that:

  • Money has no intrinsic value; it’s a social agreement that shapes almost every aspect of modern life (3).
  • Because of this, the people who help others navigate money can, and should, form a true profession, on a par with medicine or law (1).
  • That profession must be built on human flourishing, not product distribution.

Partha’s “Human-to-Human Economy” is exactly this: an economy where the primary unit of value isn’t a product, a fund, or a balance sheet — it’s a person and their potential.

2. From Financial Planning 1.0 and 2.0 to 3.0

Wagner saw financial planning evolving through distinct eras (4):

  • Planning 1.0 – Product-Centred:
    Advice is a thin wrapper around sales. The “plan” is there to justify a transaction.
  • Planning 2.0 – Comprehensive, But Still Captive:
    We start talking about holistic planning, life goals, cashflows, and risk mapping. But the profession remains heavily entangled with the financial services industry — platforms, providers, and product manufacturers still set the commercial agenda.
  • Planning 3.0 – The Human Profession:
    Planning matures into a distinct profession, separate from manufacturing and distribution. Wagner insisted that manufacturing, sales, and advice are all honourable, but must not be mixed if we are to act as true fiduciaries (5).

This is precisely the battle line many of us stand on today:
Are we an arm of an industry, or are we the guardians of the public’s relationship with money?

3. Finology: The Missing Liberal Art

Wagner coined the term Finology — the study of how human beings experience and exchange value through money (3).

Finology treats money not just as:

  • A unit of account,
  • A store of value,
  • A medium of exchange,

…but as a psychological, cultural, and spiritual force.

In Financial Planning 3.0, Wagner even proposes a Finology curriculum — a liberal arts approach to money that blends economics, psychology, sociology, history, ethics, and philosophy.

That dovetails directly with what Partha observes:

  • Clients aren’t just asking “How much do I need?”
  • They’re asking “Who do I want to become?”, “How do I live meaningfully?”, and “How does money fit inside my life — not the other way round?”

In other words, they want Total Wealth, not just financial wealth.

4. Human Capital: The Core Asset in a Human-to-Human Economy

Human Capital is the capacity of a person — their skills, health, creativity, relationships, and ability to adapt. It’s what enables income, innovation, resilience, and contribution.

Traditional planning treats Human Capital as a footnote:

  • A line in a cashflow assumption,
  • A discount rate on future earnings,
  • A risk factor for insurance.

But in a Human-to-Human Economy, Human Capital is the starting point:

  • Can this person learn new skills as technology evolves?
  • Do they have the emotional resilience to navigate volatility and loss?
  • Are they embedded in supportive relationships and communities?
  • Do they have a sense of purpose that can sustain their efforts?

Partha is absolutely right: to support clients in this transition, we must help them upskill and reskill, not just “optimise their portfolio”. Our role shifts from product selector to Human Capital strategist.

At the Academy of Life Planning, we call this Total Wealth Planning — placing human, social, and spiritual wealth at the centre, with financial capital as the servant, not the master.

5. AI as an Enabling Tool, Not a Threat

Many advisers fear that AI will replace them.

Wagner, writing before the current AI wave, already saw that money is too deep, too weird, too existential to be left to machines alone. Money sits at the intersection of:

  • Fear and aspiration
  • Status and belonging
  • Survival and meaning

AI and the GAME Plan: Technology with a Soul

The truth is, AI doesn’t need to feel to be profoundly helpful.
It needs to listen, clarify, and illuminate — which is exactly what the AoLP AI GAME Plan achieves.

AI can model numbers, but it cannot (yet) integrate a lifetime of stories, trauma, culture, hope, and relational nuance in the way a skilled human can. Yet when guided by a conscious framework like the GAME Plan, it becomes a tool of deep reflection — expanding awareness and accelerating clarity.

🌟 Testimonial: A Quantum Leap in Clarity and Empowerment

“Completing the first section of the AI GAME Plan has been enlightening and empowering. Claude’s ability to paraphrase clearly, ask non-judgemental follow-ups, and gently challenge for accuracy is staggering.
Having experienced professional counselling, I find this process equally — if not more — powerful. The blend of AI insight and the GAME Plan framework is unique, personal, and profoundly effective.”
— Graham T., AI GAME Plan Participant

This is the Human-to-Human Economy in motion — humans supported by technology that honours their story, their agency, and their becoming.

The planner doesn’t outsource empathy to AI; they use AI to amplify empathy — giving clients space to see themselves more clearly, plan more authentically, and act with renewed confidence.

Partha’s point is the pivot:

  • Don’t be scared of AI.
  • Use it to increase your productivity, reduce admin, and open up more space for what humans do best — listening, empathising, challenging, co-creating.

In a Human-to-Human Economy:

  • AI runs the spreadsheets.
  • Humans hold the space.

For Total Wealth Planners, AI supports the GAME Plan:

  • Faster data gathering and modelling,
  • Richer scenario analysis,
  • More tailored education and resources.

But the meaning-making — the conversations about what truly matters — remain profoundly human.

6. Wearing Multiple Hats: The Planner of the 21st Century

Partha references Richard Wagner’s contemporary, Richard Wagner’s fellow-travellers, and the broader movement sometimes called Financial Life Planning.

The 21st-century planner is not just:

  • A specialist in tax wrappers and fund selection,

but also:

  • Financial Planner – structuring cashflows, assets, liabilities.
  • Financial Counsellor – unpacking beliefs, fears, and behaviours around money.
  • Financial Coach – helping clients take action and build new habits.
  • Life Coach – aligning money with identity, purpose, and relationships.
  • Therapeutic Listener – holding stories of grief, shame, and regret around money.
  • Philanthropic Guide – helping clients turn surplus into social impact.

This is the plural profession Wagner foresaw — one that cannot be reduced to a product shelf (6).

It is also the natural habitat of Total Wealth Planners and Financial Life Coaches in the AoLP ecosystem.

7. What This Means for Total Wealth Planners in Practice

If we take Partha and Wagner seriously, several practical shifts follow.

a) Redefine the Planning Question

From:

“Will your money last?”

To:

“Who do you want to become, and how can your total wealth support that transformation?”

b) Start with Human Capital

Map a client’s Human Capital Balance Sheet:

  • Skills and qualifications
  • Learning capacity and curiosity
  • Health and energy
  • Relationships and networks
  • Emotional resilience and self-awareness

Then design financial strategies that fund the growth of those assets.

c) Use AI as Leverage, Not a Crutch

  • Automate data collection, document drafting, and scenario modelling.
  • Use the time saved to deepen Human-to-Human dialogue.
  • Be transparent: show clients how AI is used, and that it serves their autonomy, not an institution’s agenda.

d) Claim the Profession, Not the Product Shelf

Following Wagner’s call to “sever our dependencies on Industry,” we need structures where (5):

  • Advice is not cross-subsidised by product commissions.
  • Planners are structurally free to put Human Capital first.
  • Education and empowerment are valued, not treated as “pre-sales”.

This is the territory where Planning My Life, Financial Life Coach, and the Academy of Life Planning operate — outside the narrow perimeter of product intermediation, inside the broader space of life planning, human development, and structural trust.

8. From Financial Planning 3.0 to the Human-to-Human Economy

Partha’s “Fourth Revolution” isn’t some distant future. It’s already here, in the tensions we feel every day:

  • Between screen time and soul time,
  • Between algorithmic nudges and human conscience,
  • Between industrial advice models and true professional vocation.

Richard Wagner gave us the language of Financial Planning 3.0 and Finology — a way of understanding money as a human, cultural, and spiritual force.

Our task now is to live into the next step:

  • A Human-to-Human Economy where the central question is not “What can we sell?” but “How can we help people become who they are capable of being?”

That is where Human Capital, AI, and Total Wealth Planning meet.

Call to Action

If Partha’s words resonate with you — if you sense that your work is about more than products and performance charts — then you’re already standing in Wagner’s 3.0 world.

Now it’s time to build the Human-to-Human Economy together.

Because the future of our profession isn’t about outsmarting AI.
It’s about honouring what only humans can do — and using every tool available to help more people live lives of dignity, purpose, and joy.

Sources:

(1): Journal of Financial Planning: May 2017 | Dick Wagner on Why Financial Planning Is the Most Important Profession of the Century.

(2): Financial Planning 3.0. Evolving Our Relationships with Money by Richard B Wagner, JD, CFP®.

(3): Finology And Finding The Higher Purpose Of The Financial Planning Profession, Kitces Values Summit 2025.

(4): What is Finology? To Move Beyond Financial Planning 2.0, Examine the Unexamined.

(5): The Institute for Fiduciary Standards.

Richard-Wagner_Chapter_6-of-3.0Download

(6): Honoring the man who forever changed the financial planning profession, by Robert Powell.

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