What the New Reforms Mean for Citizen Investigators When someone experiences financial harm, the journey to justice is rarely straightforward. For many people in the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has been the main place to seek independent resolution. It exists to provide a free, accessible alternative to the courts for disputes between consumers … Continue reading The Changing Rules at the Financial Ombudsman Service
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Why Financial Harm Keeps Happening — and What People Can Do Before It Does
A new report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services has triggered an important national conversation. The report — “Why Our Financial Conduct Regulation Needs Reforming” — brings together years of evidence suggesting that the UK’s financial conduct regulation system may not be working as well as it … Continue reading Why Financial Harm Keeps Happening — and What People Can Do Before It Does
AI in Financial Planning: The Debate Is Missing the Most Important Question
The financial services industry is entering a period of rapid technological change. Artificial intelligence is now capable of analysing complex scenarios, modelling financial outcomes, and interacting conversationally with users in ways that were impossible even a few years ago. As a result, an increasingly lively debate has emerged across the profession about what AI will … Continue reading AI in Financial Planning: The Debate Is Missing the Most Important Question
The Shift No One in Financial Planning Is Talking About
Agency Now Sits With People — Not Experts For most of the past century, financial planning has operated on a simple assumption: Experts decide. Clients follow. The adviser analysed the numbers, produced the recommendation, and the client implemented it. But quietly — and very rapidly — that assumption is breaking down. Not because expertise has … Continue reading The Shift No One in Financial Planning Is Talking About
The Asset Most Financial Planners Still Ignore: Human Capital
For decades, financial planning has been dominated by a simple idea: Build financial capital so you can eventually stop working. Portfolios.Pensions.Assets under management. But something profound is changing. In the age of artificial intelligence, automation, and longer working lives, the real driver of prosperity is no longer financial capital alone. It is human capital. And … Continue reading The Asset Most Financial Planners Still Ignore: Human Capital
When Clients Become Capable: What the Latest SJP Results Reveal About the Future of Advice
For years, the advice industry believed its greatest risk was regulation. Then came fee transparency. Now a deeper shift is underway. Clients are becoming capable. Artificial intelligence is quietly redistributing power in financial decision-making. Clients can now analyse portfolios, run retirement scenarios, compare products, and test planning assumptions in minutes. This does not eliminate advisers. … Continue reading When Clients Become Capable: What the Latest SJP Results Reveal About the Future of Advice
Clients Are Already Using AI. Many Advisers Haven’t Noticed Yet.
The Perception Gap in Financial Planning Two pieces of evidence landed this week. Individually they are interesting. Together they reveal something much bigger. 1️⃣ What investors are saying A new industry study reported in Financial Planning Today (12 March 2026) found growing openness to AI tools among investors. The numbers are striking: 63% of investors … Continue reading Clients Are Already Using AI. Many Advisers Haven’t Noticed Yet.
The Pension Gap Panic: Why Gen X Is Being Scared About Retirement — and Why the Story Is Incomplete
Half of Gen X savers now say they fear running out of money in retirement. That statistic has been widely reported across financial media. But something important is missing from the conversation. The narrative assumes that retirement security depends almost entirely on financial capital — the size of your pension pot. For millions of people … Continue reading The Pension Gap Panic: Why Gen X Is Being Scared About Retirement — and Why the Story Is Incomplete
Is Money a Proxy for Human Agency?
The short answer is: yes — but only partially.Money is often used as a proxy for agency, but it is a very imperfect one. Understanding that distinction is actually central to what we've been building with the GAME Plan. Let’s unpack it. 1. Why Money Looks Like Agency Money expands the range of choices a … Continue reading Is Money a Proxy for Human Agency?
Why “Agency” Is Becoming One of the Most Important Ideas in Economics, Psychology, and Governance
For more than a decade, the Academy of Life Planning has focused on a simple but powerful principle: Human agency. The ability of individuals to consciously design their lives, make meaningful choices, and shape their own futures. At first glance, this might appear to be a philosophical idea. But over the past twenty to thirty … Continue reading Why “Agency” Is Becoming One of the Most Important Ideas in Economics, Psychology, and Governance
Academy of Life Planning 