Annuities, drawdown, collective pensions and guided retirement: why understanding the whole person matters more than choosing the pension product Academy of Life Planning | 11 November 2026 The government wants to give people their pensions back. After decades in which defined contribution pension savers have accumulated individual retirement pots, ministers are proposing a return to … Continue reading Your Pension Is Not Your Retirement Plan
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BREATHING SPACE FOR TODAY: FRESH HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Budget 2026: what changes when we plan for a whole life? The key points for Total Wealth Planners are: Budget measurePlanning relevanceState Pension uprating changes from April 2030Revisit retirement forecasts that assume the existing Triple Lock continues indefinitely.Future National Care Service in EnglandMonitor developments, while retaining care-cost assumptions until entitlements and implementation are clear.Pension Tax … Continue reading BREATHING SPACE FOR TODAY: FRESH HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
The Missing Citizen Layer in Financial Crime Prevention
The UK is preparing to prove that its institutions can fight financial crime. But who is helping the citizen? The UK is preparing for its 2027 evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force—the global body that assesses how effectively countries combat money laundering and terrorist financing. A July 2026 report from the RUSI UK FATF … Continue reading The Missing Citizen Layer in Financial Crime Prevention
The Planner of the Future Will Not Be the Client’s Operating System
Discover the professional pathways at the Academy of Life Planning Information is no longer scarce. Agency still is. Artificial intelligence can explain concepts, organise information, model possibilities and answer questions at any hour of the day. That changes what people can do for themselves. It also changes what they need from a professional. The future … Continue reading The Planner of the Future Will Not Be the Client’s Operating System
Can Banks Prevent Suicide Without Examining Their Own Conduct?
"A "groundbreaking" new project to help tackle suicide has been launched today (10 September) by The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) – the charity founded by MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis. It brings five major banks together in a bid to find the gaps and test new ways to identify and support people in … Continue reading Can Banks Prevent Suicide Without Examining Their Own Conduct?
Institutions May Divide the Case Between Themselves. Academy OS Gives the Individual a Complete View of the System.
A scam rarely happens in one place. A fraudulent advert may appear on Facebook. The conversation moves to WhatsApp. A convincing phone call follows. Money leaves a bank account, passes through another institution and eventually reaches a cryptocurrency platform. The criminal sees the entire journey. Each institution sees only its own part. And the victim … Continue reading Institutions May Divide the Case Between Themselves. Academy OS Gives the Individual a Complete View of the System.
Before asking whether AI gives the wrong financial advice, we should ask whether the industry has been measuring the right kind of wealth
A striking headline appeared in Financial Reporter: “AI models give wrong financial advice 57% of the time.” The claim came from research commissioned by financial technology company Saturn. It reportedly tested 18 AI models using 121 financial questions, repeated five times, producing more than 10,000 responses. Across those responses, 57% were classified as wrong. On … Continue reading Before asking whether AI gives the wrong financial advice, we should ask whether the industry has been measuring the right kind of wealth
How to Stop Making Scams So Easy
In response to the collapse of Woodville Consultants and a challenge from The Times, we have updated Investigator™—because government should close the loophole, but people need protection while it remains open A form is placed in front of an investor. It asks them to confirm that they are “high net worth” or a “sophisticated investor”. … Continue reading How to Stop Making Scams So Easy
When Fake Pharmacies Look Real, “Does This Look Professional?” Is the Wrong Question
Check before the sales journey becomes a medical decision Today, The Times reports that British regulators are playing “whack-a-mole” against organised criminals selling counterfeit weight-loss medicines through fake online pharmacies. According to the investigation, UK consumers accessed around 5,000 suspected fake-pharmacy websites during 2025. Regulators have disrupted more than 1,500 illegal sites, but new ones … Continue reading When Fake Pharmacies Look Real, “Does This Look Professional?” Is the Wrong Question
The Man in the Suit Was Me. But He Is Not Me Now.
Why Total Wealth Planner now reflects the person—and the proposition—you can experience today For years, the Total Wealth Planner website featured a photograph of me in a suit. I looked younger. Successful. Confident. Prosperous. It was a professional photograph of the sort commonly used throughout financial services. It conveyed experience, authority and achievement. The photograph … Continue reading The Man in the Suit Was Me. But He Is Not Me Now.
