From Improving the Old System to Building the New
As 2025 comes to a close, it’s clear that this has not been a year of incremental growth for the Academy of Life Planning — it has been a year of structural change.
Rather than scaling the old financial planning model, we made a conscious decision to pivot toward a parallel, empowerment-led system — one designed to work even when traditional institutions fail.
This review reflects what changed, what we learned, and what that unlocks for 2026.
2025 at a Glance: The Signals That Matter
Community & Reach
- 853 Academy members — +36% year-on-year
- Active practitioners: 62 (stable vs prior year)
- LinkedIn followers: 6,686 (+32.3%)
- LinkedIn impressions: 844,187 (+159%)
These figures tell an important story:
interest in empowerment-based life and wealth planning is growing faster than the traditional profession itself.
That divergence is not a weakness — it’s a sign of transition.
Thought Leadership Has Begun to Compound
In 2025, our content shifted from “output” to authority.
Publishing & Dialogue
- Asset Strategies Newsletter:
- 675 editions published
- 1,776 subscribers (+27%)
- Steve’s Blog (last 12 months):
- 50,200 views (+199%)
- 31,200 visitors (+193%)
- Comments up 592%
The sharp rise in comments, saves, and reposts shows something deeper than reach:
people are using these spaces to think, question, and re-orient.
Communities with Purpose
Our LinkedIn groups continued to grow where identity and agency are central:
- Total Wealth Planners: +21%
- D2C Platforms: +28%
- Get SAFE (launched 2025):
- 23 core members
- 5,096 active participants
This contrast matters. Get SAFE has a small coordinating core and a large affected population — exactly what an early-stage support and advocacy ecosystem looks like.
What We Did Not Optimise For in 2025
Some metrics remained intentionally flat:
- CPD Masterclasses: 13 (unchanged)
- New adviser e-commerce sites: 1
This was a strategic choice, not a slowdown.
We deliberately reduced dependence on:
- Linear, time-intensive delivery
- Adviser-centric scaling
- Models that require permission from legacy systems
And focused instead on leverage, accessibility, and resilience.
The Defining Shift of 2025: AI + Agency
In 2025, the Academy fully embraced the AI GAME Plan as its primary engine.
Today, it is:
- Available in 100+ languages and currencies
- Adapted to local market and country contexts
- Delivered on a done-by-you, low-cost basis
- Designed to scale globally in support of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #1: No Poverty
This marks a decisive move:
- From advice to self-direction
- From intermediation to empowerment
- From scarcity to mass accessibility
At the same time, our focus expanded to explicitly support those harmed by structurally untrustworthy systems, through Get SAFE — helping people recover, regroup, and reclaim agency.
What 2025 Taught Us
Five lessons stand out:
- Demand for empowerment vastly exceeds the supply of traditional advisers
- AI is no longer a tool in the system — it is the system
- Narrative clarity outperforms feature complexity
- Prevention and recovery must coexist
- The bridge matters more than the destination
By the end of 2025, it became clear:
we are no longer inviting people into a better model —
we are helping them cross out of a failing one.
Our Direction for 2026: Structural Consolidation
2026 is not about doing more.
It’s about doing what matters — coherently.
You can expect:
- Fewer programmes, clearer pathways
- AI GAME Plan as the default entry point
- Practitioners as guides and mentors, not gatekeepers
- Get SAFE evolving as a recognised pre-legal, pre-regulatory support layer
- The Academy positioned as a bridge authority between extractive legacy systems and empowerment-era planning
What We Are No Longer Optimising For
- Adviser headcount
- Geography-bound growth
- Compliance-led legitimacy
- Platform dependency
What We Are Optimising For
- Human agency at scale
- Structural trustworthiness
- Global accessibility
- Dignity before sophistication
A Closing Reflection
2025 was the year the Academy of Life Planning stopped trying to improve the old system — and began quietly replacing it.
As we move into 2026, our commitment is simple and unwavering:
to help individuals and professionals cross the bridge from extraction to empowerment — and to make sure no one has to do it alone.
If you’re walking that bridge, you’re already in the right place.
If This Resonates…
If you’re a financial planner who’s beginning to sense that
products, portfolios, and performance alone no longer tell the whole story,
you’re not alone.
Many capable, ethical advisers reach a point where they start asking quieter questions:
- Is this really the best way to serve people?
- Why do some clients thrive — while others, given the same advice, don’t?
- What sits beneath money that actually shapes outcomes?
Exploring Total Wealth Planning isn’t about rejecting your past experience.
It’s about building on it — by placing human capital, agency, and life design at the centre of your work.
The Academy of Life Planning exists for advisers in that in-between space:
- those transitioning from traditional financial planning
- those curious about empowerment-led, product-free models
- those wanting to serve clients more deeply, without ideology or pressure
You don’t need to commit to anything.
You don’t need to “switch sides”.
You’re simply invited to explore, learn, and see whether this approach aligns with how you want to practise in the next chapter.
Explore the Academy and the Total Wealth Planning pathway
Sometimes the most important shift isn’t a leap —
it’s a gentle crossing.
Academy of Life Planning 