Raising the Standard for Non-Intermediating Financial Planning

If financial planning is to become independent of product intermediation, it must become more accountable — not less There is a saying often attributed to Gandhi: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” There is no reliable evidence that Gandhi actually said it. But the sentiment … Continue reading Raising the Standard for Non-Intermediating Financial Planning →

When the Badge Becomes the Blindfold

Before You Trust the Badge, Use Intelligence A difficult conversation with QROPS victims forced me to revisit what regulation actually does, what it does not do, and why understanding should come before intermediation. It also reminded me that the people trying to help have feelings too. It is after three in the morning as I … Continue reading When the Badge Becomes the Blindfold →

Britain’s Biggest Untapped Asset Is Its People

How AI could convert dormant human capital into sustainable livelihoods, economic growth and higher tax revenues Abstract The United Kingdom faces an unusual labour-market problem at both ends of the working-age spectrum. In early 2026, approximately 1.012 million people aged 16–24 were not in education, employment or training (NEET), equivalent to 13.5% of the age … Continue reading Britain’s Biggest Untapped Asset Is Its People →

Permission Is Not Protection: What British Expats Need to Know Before Trusting a “Locally Regulated” Financial Adviser

If you are a British expatriate with a UK pension, “find someone regulated where you live” sounds like sensible consumer protection. It may not be enough. Imagine you spent your working life in Britain. Perhaps you worked for the NHS, a local authority, the armed forces or a private employer. You built up a valuable … Continue reading Permission Is Not Protection: What British Expats Need to Know Before Trusting a “Locally Regulated” Financial Adviser →

Your Future Financial Life Cannot Be Separated From the Future World in Which You Will Live

What might the future require of me — and what forms of wealth will help me meet it? Most financial plans make forecasts. They forecast your pension. Your investments. Your income. Your expenditure. Inflation. Investment returns. Perhaps your life expectancy. Then they project those numbers twenty, thirty or forty years into the future. But there … Continue reading Your Future Financial Life Cannot Be Separated From the Future World in Which You Will Live →

Two Ways to Delegate Your Wealth: Bundled Advice or Specialist Delegation?

If you have accumulated significant wealth, who should you delegate it to? For many people, the conventional answer is simple: Find a good Independent Financial Adviser and let them look after it. There is another way. Instead of asking one advisory relationship to encompass planning, investments, products and ongoing oversight, you can separate the jobs: … Continue reading Two Ways to Delegate Your Wealth: Bundled Advice or Specialist Delegation? →

Why Does a Three-Hour Problem Lead Naturally to a Thirty-Year Commercial Relationship?

Why Does a Three-Hour Problem Lead Naturally to a Thirty-Year Commercial Relationship? If you can now earn a good living solving people's financial problems without capturing their assets, why are you still making surrender of the assets a condition of helping them? A person walks into a financial planner's office with a problem. Perhaps they … Continue reading Why Does a Three-Hour Problem Lead Naturally to a Thirty-Year Commercial Relationship? →

Before You Plan Your Money, Find the Direction of Your Life

I’ve built a new app. But this one begins with no money at all. No pensions.No investments.No budgets.No retirement calculators. Just four questions: What are you good at?What do you love?What does the world need?What could you be paid for? Those four questions sit at the heart of the Japanese idea of Ikigai — often … Continue reading Before You Plan Your Money, Find the Direction of Your Life →

When Trust Breaks, Fraud Finds the Gap

What this case reveals about investment-fraud grooming, the failure of financial services to support victims, and why evidence restores agency where warnings often fail. By the time the police arrived at his home, the warnings were no longer coming from one direction. His wife believed the investment was a scam. His father had become sufficiently … Continue reading When Trust Breaks, Fraud Finds the Gap →

I Was Wrong About the Financial Concierge

The professional’s job is not to occupy the pathway between the client and their money, but to keep that pathway clear. Why a Total Wealth Planner should be at reception, not permanently in your room For several years, I have described the emerging role of the holistic financial planner as a financial concierge. I still … Continue reading I Was Wrong About the Financial Concierge →