Financial advisers – your jobs have gone.You and your clients just don’t know it yet. That’s the uncomfortable starting point for this piece. Mind the gap? What gap? For years, the UK financial services industry and its regulators have talked about the advice gap – the millions who “need advice” but don’t get it. The … Continue reading Financial advisers – your jobs have gone.You and your clients just don’t know it yet.
Tag: artificial-intelligence
When “Independent” Advice Firms Disappear — The Plot Twist No One Saw Coming
Why the decline in regulated advice firms is not a crisis, but a turning point for Holistic Wealth Planners The headlines are alarming:“Number of independent advice firms continues to fall.”Commentators talk of consolidation, capacity issues, and the supposed “advice gap.” But the industry’s story is only half the truth. What’s collapsing is the old model … Continue reading When “Independent” Advice Firms Disappear — The Plot Twist No One Saw Coming
The 95% Myth: How the Advice Industry Manufactures Trust While Silencing the Truth
Why a single headline tells you everything about the system we are fighting to change This week, a new claim appeared across the trade press: “95% say financial advice helps them hit financial goals.”(Opinium survey of 8,000 UK adults, commissioned by St. James’s Place.) To the casual observer, it reads like a national truth.To those … Continue reading The 95% Myth: How the Advice Industry Manufactures Trust While Silencing the Truth
When Bureaucracy Forgets Its Purpose: How AI Helps Citizens Stand Tall Again
Across the country, thousands of ordinary people are discovering the same uncomfortable truth: the systems designed to protect us are often the very systems that overwhelm us. Recent events shared by members of our community highlight the widening gap between process and people inside major public institutions. When a frail 94-year-old lifelong resident receives a … Continue reading When Bureaucracy Forgets Its Purpose: How AI Helps Citizens Stand Tall Again
Fee-for-No-Service: The Hidden Consumer Duty Crisis — and the Rise of AI-Empowered Financial Planning
By Steve Conley, Academy of Life Planning For the first time since records began, the number of clients receiving ongoing financial advice in the UK has fallen.According to new FCA data, advisers switched off ongoing services for 335,286 clients in 2024, a dramatic spike from the previous year. Headlines attribute this to the Consumer Duty.But … Continue reading Fee-for-No-Service: The Hidden Consumer Duty Crisis — and the Rise of AI-Empowered Financial Planning
The Moore Doctrine: What HBOS Taught Us About Structural Untrustworthiness
By the Academy of Life Planning Paul Russell Moore (1958–2020) was the former Head of Group Regulatory Risk at HBOS and the whistleblower who warned, years before the 2008 crash, that the bank’s aggressive sales culture and weak controls posed a serious risk to customers and financial stability. For speaking up, he lost his job, … Continue reading The Moore Doctrine: What HBOS Taught Us About Structural Untrustworthiness
When the Public “Plays Lawyer”: What the Legal Sector Isn’t Seeing — and Why Independent AI Is Now Essential
By Steve ConleyFounder, Get SAFE – Support After Financial ExploitationAcademy of Life Planning Across the legal profession, there is growing frustration with clients who arrive to meetings armed with AI-generated analysis. Blog posts worry about “AI hallucinations,” “scope creep,” and clients who “second-guess” professional advice. See: When clients play lawyer: the hidden cost of AI-assisted … Continue reading When the Public “Plays Lawyer”: What the Legal Sector Isn’t Seeing — and Why Independent AI Is Now Essential
When AI Becomes a Weapon — and When It Becomes a Lifeline
A conversation with whistleblower Artur Nadolny One of the most revealing exchanges this week came from Artur Nadolny, whose long-running case exposes many of the quiet behaviours that lie beneath the surface of UK financial services. His observation cuts to the heart of the AI debate: “I already see signs in my own case of … Continue reading When AI Becomes a Weapon — and When It Becomes a Lifeline
Rebuilding Structural Integrity in Finance: Protecting Consumers Through Open AI, Independent Planning, and Systemic Reform
Written Testimony for the APPG on Investment Fraud & Fairer Financial ServicesSubmitted by: Steve Conley, Founder – Academy of Life Planning (AoLP) & Get SAFEDate: 13 November 2025 1. Background I am the Founder of the Academy of Life Planning (AoLP), an international network of non-intermediating Holistic Wealth Planners, and the Founder of Get SAFE … Continue reading Rebuilding Structural Integrity in Finance: Protecting Consumers Through Open AI, Independent Planning, and Systemic Reform
Why Independent AI Has Become the Most Important Tool in the Fight for Financial Justice
By John Galajsza — with contributions from APPG whistleblowers and campaigners Over the past year, we have seen something remarkable happening across the UK financial justice landscape. Victims, once isolated and overwhelmed by the complexity of their cases, are suddenly discovering the ability to analyse their own financial documents, reconstruct timelines, expose hidden liabilities, and … Continue reading Why Independent AI Has Become the Most Important Tool in the Fight for Financial Justice
Academy of Life Planning 