Why Total Wealth Planning Is the Next Evolution of the Profession
For decades, financial planning has rested on a deceptively simple assumption:
that if people are given the right information and the right products, good outcomes will follow.
But reality keeps proving otherwise.
Despite ever more sophisticated modelling, ever thicker reports, and ever greater volumes of “advice,” financial stress, inequality, burnout, and vulnerability continue to rise. The problem is not a lack of intelligence or effort on the part of individuals. It is a deeper conceptual flaw in how wealth itself has been understood.
A powerful academic study by Paula England and Nancy Folbre helps explain why—and, unintentionally, why Total Wealth Planning is not just an innovation, but an inevitability Reconceptualizing_human_capital.
The flaw at the heart of traditional financial planning
Classical and neoclassical economics treat human capital narrowly:
education, skills, and health that raise earnings.
This framing quietly shapes the entire financial services industry. It leads to:
- Planning that starts with money rather than life
- Behavioural models that assume “rational actors”
- Advice systems that treat preferences as fixed
- And a profession that often blames individuals when plans fail
England and Folbre show why this framing is incomplete—and why it fails in practice.
They argue that what truly matters is not human capital, but human capability.
Human capability: a broader, truer foundation for wealth
The study defines capabilities as developed states of health, skill, motivation, and care that enable people to function in ways that support wellbeing—both their own and others’.
Crucially, these capabilities are:
- Developed, not innate
- Durable, not transactional
- Socially embedded, not individually purchased
The authors identify four foundational categories of capability:
1. Physical capability
Health, energy, and functional capacity underpin everything else.
Without them, even the best financial plan collapses.
2. Cognitive capability
Reasoning, understanding cause and effect, and making sense of complexity.
Importantly, this challenges the assumption that everyone reasons equally well about risk, time, and uncertainty.
3. Self-regulation
Discipline, impulse control, and the ability to delay gratification.
These are not “personality traits” or preferences—they are trainable capabilities, more like muscles than mindsets.
4. Caring capability
The ability to provide care, empathy, and responsibility for others.
This is essential to families, communities, and society—yet systematically undervalued by markets.
Together, these form the real infrastructure of wealth.
Why this matters for Total Wealth Planners
This reconceptualisation has profound implications for the future of financial planning.
1. Rationality is not universal—and planning must adapt
If reasoning itself depends on developed cognitive capability, then one-size-fits-all advice is structurally flawed.
Total Wealth Planning recognises this by:
- Meeting people where they are
- Building understanding over time
- Designing plans that educate and empower, not overwhelm
This is why empowerment-based planning consistently outperforms transactional advice.
2. Behaviour change is developmental, not informational
The study dismantles the myth that people simply “choose badly.”
Self-regulation—saving, budgeting, staying the course—is shown to be a capability, not a moral failing.
For planners, this means:
- Plans must include rhythm, structure, and support
- Progress matters more than perfection
- Done-with-you and done-by-you models are not “soft”—they are structurally sound
3. Care is real wealth—whether markets recognise it or not
Care work keeps societies functioning, yet is consistently penalised in financial outcomes.
Traditional planning often:
- Undervalues carers
- Pushes them toward product solutions that don’t fit
- Ignores long-term vulnerability created by unpaid labour
Total Wealth Planning makes care visible—and plans accordingly.
4. Capability development is social, not solitary
Perhaps the most important insight:
most capability development happens through externalities, not deliberate investment.
People become capable because of:
- Family environments
- Role models
- Peer groups
- Communities of practice
This validates:
- Membership models
- Peer mentorship
- Learning circles
- Practitioner communities
In other words, the Academy model is not an optional extra—it is how wealth actually grows.
A profession at a crossroads
England and Folbre never mention financial planning.
Yet their work quietly exposes why the old model is reaching its limits.
If wealth is built on human capability, then:
- Planning must start with life, not products
- Advice must be developmental, not prescriptive
- Professionals must be guides, not intermediaries
This is exactly what Total Wealth Planning was designed to do.
The Academy of Life Planning perspective
At the Academy of Life Planning, we see wealth as the outcome of a coherent life—not the other way around.
We train planners to:
- Build human capability first
- Design financial architecture second
- Support people before, during, and after financial harm
- Replace extraction with empowerment
This is not a rejection of finance.
It is its maturation.
The future belongs to Total Wealth Planners
The old paradigm asked:
How much money can this person accumulate?
The new paradigm asks:
Who is this person becoming—and what kind of life does that make possible?
That is the shift from human capital to human capability.
And it is where the future of the profession is heading.
Ready to Plan for the Future of the Profession?
If this perspective resonates, you are already thinking like a Total Wealth Planner.
The Academy of Life Planning exists to support planners who know that:
- Money is a means, not the purpose
- Human capability is the real engine of wealth
- Clients don’t need more products—they need clarity, confidence, and agency
- The future of planning is empowerment, not extraction
Inside the Academy of Life Planning, you’ll find:
- A clear, human-capital-first planning framework (the GAME Plan)
- Training that integrates financial, emotional, cognitive, and social wealth
- Peer mentorship and community support from values-led practitioners worldwide
- Practical tools to build ethical, future-proof planning practices—inside and outside the regulated perimeter
Whether you’re transitioning from traditional advice, building a new values-aligned practice, or seeking deeper professional meaning, AoLP is where planners come to reclaim the soul of the profession.
👉 Explore membership and training at the Academy of Life Planning
And become part of the movement shaping the next era of wealth planning.
Academy of Life Planning 