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 … Continue reading From Human Capital to Human Capability
Author: Steve Conley
Steve Conley brings over four decades of innovation and expertise to the forefront of financial planning. As the founder and driving force behind the Academy of Life Planning and HapNav Ltd, Steve has been a pivotal figure in transforming financial services to be more democratic and decentralised. His role as a Game Plan Practitioner, Coach, Mentor, Speaker, and Author of "Your Money or Your Life: Unmask the Highway Robbers - Enjoy Wealth in Every Area of Your Life" underlines his comprehensive approach to financial education.
The Academy of Life Planning, hailed as the "Most Pioneering Financial Planner Network," reflects Steve's commitment to fostering transparency, integrity, and accessibility. This institution serves as a testament to his dedication to enhancing the financial planning landscape.
Under Steve's innovative leadership, HapNav Ltd has launched groundbreaking advancements, including the first end-user financial planning app integrated with open banking. This app guides users towards achieving 'Kokoro'—a life rich in financial, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual abundance.
Recently, Steve introduced "Planning My Life" and "Financial Life Coach"—services that extend his ethos into practical, impactful tools for financial autonomy. "Planning My Life" offers an affordable subscription model, giving members access to an AI Life Planner, comprehensive resources, and expert insights. These initiatives epitomise Steve’s commitment to empowering individuals, nurturing community growth, and contributing significantly to global efforts to eradicate poverty.
Steve's journey is more than a career; it's a steadfast crusade to revolutionise financial education and planning, creating a world where financial wellbeing is not just attainable, but enriches every aspect of our lives. Contact steve.conley@aolp.co.uk.
Why Aspiration Alone Fails
And What Total Wealth Planners Must Do Instead For decades, policymakers and educators have believed that the key to social mobility lies in raising aspirations. If people can just see a better future, surely they will find a way to reach it. A major UK-based body of economic research tells a more uncomfortable truth. Aspirations … Continue reading Why Aspiration Alone Fails
From Human Capital to Human Flourishing
Why Total Wealth Planning Must Replace Individualised Finance For decades, mainstream economics — and by extension much of financial planning — has rested on a deceptively simple idea: People earn what they are worth because they are productive. This belief, known as human capital theory, is so embedded in modern thinking that it often goes … Continue reading From Human Capital to Human Flourishing
Total Wealth Planning™ Is No Longer a Fringe Idea
“Moving from restricted planning to whole-of-wealth planning isn’t a change of tools —it’s a change of allegiance: from products to people.” Steve ConleyAcademy of Life Planning Why 2026 Is the Year the Profession Must Change By Steve Conley | Academy of Life Planning | December 2025 For more than a decade, the Academy of Life … Continue reading Total Wealth Planning™ Is No Longer a Fringe Idea
From Personal Significance to Collective Well-being
Why the Future of Prosperity Begins with How We Define a “Life Well Lived” For decades, society has measured success with blunt instruments. GDP.Asset values.Productivity metrics. Yet none of these tell us whether people are well, whether communities are coherent, or whether our systems are helping human potential unfold—or quietly exhausting it. A growing global … Continue reading From Personal Significance to Collective Well-being
When Emails Are Diverted, People Are Disappeared
How administrative silence turns evidence into isolation — and why communication method matters What Really Happens to “Vexatious” Emails — and How Citizen Investigators Can Be Heard By Steve Conley, Founder of the Academy of Life Planning & Get SAFE Many people assume that if they keep emailing a regulator — copying more people, sending … Continue reading When Emails Are Diverted, People Are Disappeared
Litigation Funding, Access to Justice, and the Risk of a False Binary
Why “David vs Goliath” Framing Is Not Enough By Steve ConleyAcademy of Life Planning When governments speak about access to justice, they often reach for a familiar story. David versus Goliath.Ordinary people versus powerful institutions.The little person finally getting their day in court. The government’s decision to reverse the impact of the PACCAR judgment has … Continue reading Litigation Funding, Access to Justice, and the Risk of a False Binary
When Flexibility Becomes Forgetting: Removing Annual Suitability
Why Removing Annual Suitability Risks Burying the UK’s Fee-for-No-Service Reckoning By Steve ConleyAcademy of Life Planning A trustworthy regulator does not erase the audit trail when the bill is about to fall due. A quiet proposal with loud consequences The Financial Conduct Authority is consulting on removing the requirement for annual suitability reviews for advisers, … Continue reading When Flexibility Becomes Forgetting: Removing Annual Suitability
Leaving Eden: Not a Fall, but an Initiation
Why the Birth of Consciousness Was Never a Punishment By Steve Conley | Academy of Life Planning What if one of our most familiar stories has been quietly misunderstood—not out of malice, but out of fear? The story of Eden is often told as a moral failure: disobedience, punishment, exile. Yet across psychology, philosophy, and … Continue reading Leaving Eden: Not a Fall, but an Initiation
💉 “New Blood” or Old Habits? Why a £1 Million Recruitment Drive Risks Solving Yesterday’s Problem
Steve ConleyDecember 15, 2025 The Personal Finance Society (PFS) has recently announced that more than 400 people have expressed interest in its new Pathway to the Profession initiative — a £1 million recruitment campaign designed to attract and nurture new entrants into financial planning. On the surface, this is welcome news. A profession that genuinely … Continue reading 💉 “New Blood” or Old Habits? Why a £1 Million Recruitment Drive Risks Solving Yesterday’s Problem
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