Case Study: When Compliance Goes Wrong — How the Academy of Life Planning Stepped In to Restore Fairness and Professional Standards

A true story (with identifiers removed) illustrating why conduct supervision and mentorship matter — both inside and outside the FCA perimeter. 1. The Background: From Adviser to Empowered Planner After years working in a traditional financial-advice firm, one planner decided to take a bold step: to leave the world of product intermediation and build a … Continue reading Case Study: When Compliance Goes Wrong — How the Academy of Life Planning Stepped In to Restore Fairness and Professional Standards →

Targeted Support or Targeted Sales? Who Really Benefits from the FCA’s ‘Radical’ Reform?

By Steve Conley, Founder, Academy of Life Planning When Sarah Pritchard, Deputy CEO at the Financial Conduct Authority, called targeted support “revolutionary and quite radical,” she wasn’t wrong — but the revolution may not be the one consumers need. The FCA’s new targeted support framework promises to close the advice gap by allowing firms to … Continue reading Targeted Support or Targeted Sales? Who Really Benefits from the FCA’s ‘Radical’ Reform? →

🌍 Beyond Robo-Advice: How Life-First AI Can Redefine Wealth for Humanity

“If we train AI on product pipelines, it will entrench dependency.If we train it on human purpose, it will amplify sovereignty.” Artificial intelligence is transforming finance — but so far, it’s been trained to think like a salesperson, not a human being. Recent moves by big tech into financial advice (see below) signal a powerful … Continue reading 🌍 Beyond Robo-Advice: How Life-First AI Can Redefine Wealth for Humanity →

⚖️ Synthesis: The Subtle Convergence of AI Adoption and Industry Capture in Financial Planning

AI adoption in financial services is being celebrated as a breakthrough in efficiency, compliance, and client experience. However, beneath the optimism lies a quieter, more consequential transformation: the fusion of automation with legacy industry assumptions. At face value, these discussions appear progressive — focused on productivity, human-AI collaboration, and ethical awareness. The rhetoric emphasises safety, … Continue reading ⚖️ Synthesis: The Subtle Convergence of AI Adoption and Industry Capture in Financial Planning →

The Birth of the Holistic Wealth Planner

The Birth of the Holistic Wealth Planner How a conversation with Don MacIntyre helped name a movement. A Profession at a Crossroads In the autumn of 2024, I reconnected with Don MacIntyre, then Chief Executive of the Personal Finance Society (PFS). The profession was in flux. Questions were rising about integrity, independence, and identity. Was … Continue reading The Birth of the Holistic Wealth Planner →

FCA Opens Door to Adviser Charging for Targeted Support – But Who Will Pay?

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has on Friday published its latest consultation paper (CP25/26), opening the door for adviser firms to charge consumers for “targeted support”. This new category of regulated activity is pitched as a middle ground between full financial advice and generic guidance, aimed at helping millions of people who may not be … Continue reading FCA Opens Door to Adviser Charging for Targeted Support – But Who Will Pay? →

The Future of AI: Lessons for Financial Planners

Every few generations, technology rewrites the rules of society. The steam engine drove the Industrial Revolution. The internet transformed communication, commerce, and culture. Now, AI is reshaping entire industries, including financial services and insurance. For planners in the Academy, the message is clear: AI isn’t optional. It’s existential. The firms and advisers who embrace it … Continue reading The Future of AI: Lessons for Financial Planners →

From Policy to Practice: Lessons on Empowerment for Planners

When governments test education reforms, we often find lessons that resonate far beyond schools and universities. One such lesson comes from the economics of human capital research [Essays on the economics of human capital accumulation By Lucio Rizzica]: raising aspirations alone is not enough. The UK’s Widening Participation initiative in the 1990s, for example, encouraged teenagers … Continue reading From Policy to Practice: Lessons on Empowerment for Planners →