How should we understand the emerging shift from dependency to agency in the financial advice market, particularly as AI reduces information asymmetry and increases consumers’ ability to understand, model and challenge financial decisions for themselves? My working hypothesis is that the supply side of the market remains relatively rigid and anchored in the traditional dependency … Continue reading The Financial Advice Market Is Still Selling Dependency. Consumers Are Moving Towards Agency.
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The Pie Gets Bigger. The Pieces Don’t Redistribute on Their Own.
There are two easy stories about AI and jobs. The first says everything will be fine. Technology makes work cheaper, the economy grows, people move into better roles, and the disruption eventually settles into progress. The second says the opposite. AI will wipe out millions of jobs, hollow out professions, and leave people stranded before … Continue reading The Pie Gets Bigger. The Pieces Don’t Redistribute on Their Own.
How can an adviser provide ongoing advice to someone who has died?
Following reports that the FCA has asked advice firms whether they continue to charge ongoing fees after a client has died, the central question is simple: what service is actually being provided, and to whom? Ongoing advice fees are only defensible where there is an ongoing service, such as suitability reviews or active support, and … Continue reading How can an adviser provide ongoing advice to someone who has died?
AoLP as an Agency-Restoration Ecosystem
How do we restore human agency in the age of AI and institutional power asymmetry? The defining question of the AI age may not be whether machines become more intelligent. It may be whether human beings become less capable of acting for themselves. For decades, individuals have lived with a growing power asymmetry between themselves … Continue reading AoLP as an Agency-Restoration Ecosystem
What Should I Do When I Get a Legal Demand Letter in the Post?
A legal demand letter can change the atmosphere in a home. One moment you are getting on with your day. The next, an envelope lands on the mat carrying unfamiliar words, formal deadlines, reference numbers, threats of action, and an amount of money you may or may not understand. For many people, the first reaction … Continue reading What Should I Do When I Get a Legal Demand Letter in the Post?
Total Wealth Planner™: For Capable People Who Want Clarity Without Handing Over Control
Most financially capable people manage their own money successfully. You pay the bills. You run the household. You make sensible choices. You understand your income, pensions, savings, mortgage, family responsibilities, and future hopes well enough to get through ordinary life. But some moments are not ordinary. Retirement. Pension drawdown. Inheritance. Tax. Divorce. Bereavement. Later-life planning. … Continue reading Total Wealth Planner™: For Capable People Who Want Clarity Without Handing Over Control
Get Secure Has Launched: The Bridge to Freedom for People Living with Financial Insecurity
Get Secure Has Launched: The Bridge to Freedom for People Living with Financial Insecurity Financial planning has a problem. The people who most need help navigating financial insecurity are often the people least likely to receive meaningful planning support. Not because they lack ability. Not because they lack potential. But because the traditional financial advice … Continue reading Get Secure Has Launched: The Bridge to Freedom for People Living with Financial Insecurity
AI Does Not Just Need a Pause. It Needs a Purpose: Restoring Human Agency Before Power Concentrates Beyond Reach
Anthropic, the company behind Claude, has reportedly called for the option of a global pause or slowdown in frontier AI development. Its argument is stark. If the development of more powerful AI systems could be slowed effectively, the world would have more time to understand and manage the consequences. The concern is not simply that … Continue reading AI Does Not Just Need a Pause. It Needs a Purpose: Restoring Human Agency Before Power Concentrates Beyond Reach
AI or Nothing: The Missing Question in the Financial Advice Debate
When most people cannot access financial advice, should we be asking whether AI threatens advisers — or whether it finally gives the unsupported majority a first step back to agency? Source: 9 in 10 advisers expect AI to affect client relationships, Financial Planning Today, 5th June 2026. The story says 68% of advisers are concerned … Continue reading AI or Nothing: The Missing Question in the Financial Advice Debate
Why Are We Teaching Children About Financial Capital Before Human Capital?
The missing asset in school financial education There is a strange imbalance at the heart of financial education. Children are taught about money. They may learn about budgeting, saving, spending, borrowing, interest, pensions, and perhaps investing. These are useful topics. Nobody serious would argue that young people should leave school unable to understand debt, savings, … Continue reading Why Are We Teaching Children About Financial Capital Before Human Capital?
Academy of Life Planning 