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
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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
NatWest Wants 500,000 Investors. I Suggested Part of the Model Almost 20 Years Ago.
Democratising Coutts investment capability is a good idea. Calling a product-distribution pathway financial planning would not be. There is something rather familiar about NatWest's ambition to grow the number of its retail customers who invest with the bank from around 170,000 to more than 500,000. I know because, almost 20 years ago, I was sitting … Continue reading NatWest Wants 500,000 Investors. I Suggested Part of the Model Almost 20 Years Ago.
Are You Being Treated Like an Item of Inventory by Your Adviser?
How do you feel about your adviser relationship being sold to another firm? You probably thought you had a relationship with your financial adviser. Perhaps you thought it was a relationship of stewardship. You own your money. You own your life. You make the decisions. Your adviser brings expertise, experience and perspective to help you … Continue reading Are You Being Treated Like an Item of Inventory by Your Adviser?
The Recoverer™ Is Now Live on Academy OS – FREE
Do everything you can, yourself, before you hand this to anyone else. When someone loses money to investment fraud, the first instinct is often to find an expert. A solicitor. A recovery firm. A claims company. Someone who knows what to do. Sometimes that support is necessary. But there is an important question that should … Continue reading The Recoverer™ Is Now Live on Academy OS – FREE
Do You Need a Financial Adviser — Or Just Your Agency Back?
Why a temporary period of complexity should not automatically become a lifetime of advised dependency Most people do not wake up one morning and decide: “I would like to outsource my financial judgement for the rest of my life.” Something usually happens first. A bereavement. A divorce. Retirement. Redundancy. An inheritance. A pension decision. A … Continue reading Do You Need a Financial Adviser — Or Just Your Agency Back?
Why Build a Total Wealth Planning Practice Alone?
Most financial planning businesses begin with one person. One planner. One diary. One network. One set of skills. One person carrying the whole thing. That can work. But it also creates an obvious weakness. If everything depends on you, you may have created a practice — but you have not yet created much organisational resilience. … Continue reading Why Build a Total Wealth Planning Practice Alone?
Vulnerability Should Trigger Support, Not Dependency
What disability rights, FCA regulation and financial planning can teach us about restoring human agency Most people, some of the time, will struggle to make an important decision. Not because they are incapable. Because life happens. Bereavement. Illness. Divorce. Redundancy. Scam victimisation. Retirement. Debt. Cognitive overload. A complex pension decision. A court dispute. A financial … Continue reading Vulnerability Should Trigger Support, Not Dependency
The Right to Cognitive Assistance
Why the principle of supported decision-making should not stop at disability — or at AI We already accept a remarkable principle in law. When somebody may struggle to make an important decision, the first response should not necessarily be: “Someone else should decide for you.” It should be: “What support would help you decide for … Continue reading The Right to Cognitive Assistance
Do Not Protect Us From the Power to Protect Ourselves
The EU AI Act, the Right to Cognitive Assistance and why restoring human agency must not become “high-risk” Something potentially very important is happening in European AI regulation. And almost nobody outside the AI policy world appears to be talking about it. The EU AI Act is no longer a proposal. It is law. What … Continue reading Do Not Protect Us From the Power to Protect Ourselves
