Trust, Curiosity and Optimism in the Age of AI

The qualities that help leaders reimagine institutions can also prevent them from seeing what their institutions have become Trust, curiosity and optimism sound like exactly the qualities leaders need in the age of AI. Charlie Nunn, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, recently discussed all three in a McKinsey interview about institutional longevity, technological change … Continue reading Trust, Curiosity and Optimism in the Age of AI →

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 →

The Establishment Is Defended. The Market Keeps Moving. The Profession Is Left Looking Backwards.

A professional body may believe it is protecting financial planning by excluding challenges to the established model. It may actually be protecting its members from the very ideas they most need to hear. I was scrolling through the programme for this year’s Festival of Financial Planning when the pattern became difficult to ignore. There were … Continue reading The Establishment Is Defended. The Market Keeps Moving. The Profession Is Left Looking Backwards. →

The Future Isn’t Trusted AI. It’s Capable Humans Using AI.

People are already asking AI what to buy, what to invest in, what something means and what they should do next. There is just one problem. They do not necessarily trust the answers. Recent McKinsey research found significant scepticism towards algorithm-driven sources of information, with trust in generative AI below 40 per cent. Yet consumers … Continue reading The Future Isn’t Trusted AI. It’s Capable Humans Using AI. →

The Age of Aquarius Is Not Something That Happens to Us. It Is Something We Build.

Restoring human agency in the age of AI For most of human history, power has followed scarcity. If knowledge was scarce, those who possessed knowledge held power. If capital was scarce, those who controlled capital held power. If access to markets, institutions, law, medicine, education or professional expertise was scarce, the organisations controlling that access … Continue reading The Age of Aquarius Is Not Something That Happens to Us. It Is Something We Build. →

The First Dividend From AI May Be an Agency Dividend Before It Becomes a Financial Dividend

On 25 August 2026, McKinsey published two complementary pieces on the next stage of artificial intelligence: its global survey, The State of AI in 2026: On the Road to ROI, and a shorter commentary, Four Perspectives on What Matters Now in AI. Together, they reveal an important tension. AI adoption is accelerating, individual productivity and … Continue reading The First Dividend From AI May Be an Agency Dividend Before It Becomes a Financial Dividend →

Use AI at Your Own Risk? What About the Risk of Having No Help at All?

City AM reports that the FCA has warned consumers using AI for investment decisions that they may have little or no regulatory protection if things go wrong. That is an important point. But it also raises a bigger question that the warning itself does not really answer: what is the realistic alternative for people who … Continue reading Use AI at Your Own Risk? What About the Risk of Having No Help at All? →

Who Gets the Decision Dividend? AI Is Making Intelligence Cheap. Financial Services Has Not Yet Passed the Saving to the Customer.

McKinsey’s 26 August 2026 article, “The decision dividend: How AI creates economic value,” caught my attention because it describes, in corporate terms, something very close to the shift we have been exploring in financial planning. Its central argument is that AI’s biggest economic gains may not come from replacing labour, but from making better decisions … Continue reading Who Gets the Decision Dividend? AI Is Making Intelligence Cheap. Financial Services Has Not Yet Passed the Saving to the Customer. →

The Next Financial Platform Won’t Own Your Money. It Will Help You Understand Your Life.

On 26 August 2026, two headlines appeared that seem to contradict each other. Citywire reported: “Platform acquisitions are dead, CEOs say.” On the same day, the Wall Street Journal reported: “Vanguard Buys Wealth Management Platform Altruist in $4 Billion Deal.” Platforms are dead. Vanguard has just spent roughly $4 billion buying one. Both things can … Continue reading The Next Financial Platform Won’t Own Your Money. It Will Help You Understand Your Life. →

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 →