In pension planning, we call it lifestyling.
As clients approach retirement, we gradually reduce portfolio volatility.
Not because growth was wrong.
Because stage of life changes the objective.
At 40, accumulation dominates.
At 60, preservation matters.
It’s prudent.
It’s structured.
It’s normal.
Yet many of us run our own careers permanently allocated to 100% intensity.
Full regulatory exposure.
Full sales pressure.
Full compliance load.
Full responsibility.
For decades.
The Uncomfortable Question
If nothing changed in your current model for the next five years, would that feel entirely sustainable?
Not financially.
Personally.
As financial advisers, we are trained to manage concentration risk.
But how often do we examine our own professional allocation?
The Vehicle That Got You Here
For many advisers, the product-led model built a strong career:
- Growing assets
- Serving clients well
- Navigating regulation
- Building reputation
It worked.
But the vehicle that built your career does not have to be the vehicle that carries you through your final working chapter.
At some stage, the objective shifts.
From expansion
to sustainability.
From growth
to balance.
From intensity
to stewardship.
Living Longer — But Carrying More Strain
Healthy life expectancy in the UK has declined in recent years.
More people are living longer while managing chronic conditions or reduced functioning.
This is not about alarmism.
It is about realism.
Within the Academy, several senior advisers reached personal turning points.
One developed debilitating arthritis.
Two experienced cardiac events.
None blamed their profession.
But each reassessed sustainability.
Medical care addressed their conditions.
Alongside that, they reviewed lifestyle variables — including workload, pace, regulatory intensity and sustained pressure.
Today, they still serve clients.
They still earn.
But they operate with:
- Smaller, planning-focused books
- Reduced volatility
- AI-supported workflows
- Greater control over pace
- Lower sustained pressure
Their health journeys are personal.
What changed was their professional structure.
And that mattered.
This Isn’t About Quitting
It’s about rebalancing.
In pensions, a 100% growth allocation is rarely appropriate as crystallisation approaches.
In careers, a 100% allocation to intensity may also become misaligned in later stages.
Rebalancing is not retreat.
It is intelligent lifecycle design.
A Structured Glidepath
For advisers aged roughly 55–65 who are quietly reflecting on sustainability rather than expansion, we’ve created a confidential 90-day transition pathway.
Delivered 1-to-1.
No cohort announcements.
No public repositioning.
No reputational risk.
The focus is simple:
- Design a lower-volatility income bridge
- Reduce sustained regulatory intensity
- Reshape workload
- Integrate AI efficiencies
- Create a phased glidepath before pension age
Not reinvention.
Not panic.
Just deliberate rebalancing.
This Is Not a Health Programme
It does not provide medical advice.
It does not promise health outcomes.
It focuses solely on professional and income structure.
But for many advisers, work structure is part of the broader lifestyle equation.
And lifestyle design is legitimate stewardship.
The Real Question
We routinely lifestyle client portfolios as retirement approaches.
Have you consciously lifestyle-adjusted your own career?
If that question feels worth exploring, you can read more about the 90-Day Private Career Glidepath here:
👉 Rebalance Your Final Working Chapter
Delivered personally.
Limited to six professionals at any one time.
Confidential.
Sometimes the most professional move is not acceleration.
It’s rebalancing.
Academy of Life Planning 