Conley, S. (2026).Applied Institutional Economics for Personal Wealth: The Case for Personal Wealth Governance.Academy of Life Planning. The Total Wealth Planning framework synthesises insights from institutional economics, behavioural economics, human capital theory, and decision science to develop a practical governance model for personal wealth. Why Wealth Governance Is the Missing Discipline in Financial Planning For … Continue reading Applied Institutional Economics for Personal Wealth
Tag: economy
The Bridge Is Real: What the New AR Regime Signals for Financial Planners Considering Their Next Chapter
The regulatory landscape has shifted again — and this time, it’s structural. The recent announcement from HM Treasury confirming consultation on a tougher regime for 34,000 appointed representatives is not just another compliance update. It is a directional signal about where the profession is heading and what kind of planner will thrive in the next … Continue reading The Bridge Is Real: What the New AR Regime Signals for Financial Planners Considering Their Next Chapter
Banks Are Back in Advice — But Nothing Fundamental Has Changed
Why incumbents should be wary — and why citizens should be cautious In 2012, I left banking. Not because I fell out of love with financial planning — quite the opposite — but because the banks had fallen out of love with advice. The exit of the major banks from bancassurance following the Retail Distribution … Continue reading Banks Are Back in Advice — But Nothing Fundamental Has Changed
Human Capital Is Not a Soft Idea
Why Total Wealth Planners Are Closer to Economic Reality Than the Mainstream For over two centuries, economists have been telling us something the financial services industry still struggles to hear: Wealth is created by people, not products. A recent academic review of human capital theory traces this insight from Adam Smith through to modern growth … Continue reading Human Capital Is Not a Soft Idea
Human Capital Is the Missing Asset Class: What Total Wealth Planners Must Learn from the Energy Transition
What Do We Mean by the “Energy Transition”? The energy transition refers to the global shift from fossil-fuel-based energy systems (coal, oil, and gas) toward cleaner, lower-carbon sources such as renewables, electrification, and energy efficiency. At its core, it is not just a technological upgrade. It is a structural transformation of how economies produce, distribute, … Continue reading Human Capital Is the Missing Asset Class: What Total Wealth Planners Must Learn from the Energy Transition
Inequality Isn’t a Moral Failure. It’s a Design Failure.
Why Total Wealth Planners Are the Antidote — Without Ideology For decades, inequality has been argued as if it were a moral contest. One side says inequality is the price of growth.The other says inequality is proof the system is broken. Both miss the point. Inequality is not primarily a question of values.It is a … Continue reading Inequality Isn’t a Moral Failure. It’s a Design Failure.
Human Capital: The Forgotten Foundation of Total Wealth – Part 2
“A society that invests in machines but neglects its people is not advancing—it is automating its own inequality.” For decades, financial planners and policymakers alike have placed their faith in education as the great equaliser. Build skills, gain qualifications, increase productivity—and wealth will follow.Yet new research reveals a disturbing paradox: in advanced economies, human capital … Continue reading Human Capital: The Forgotten Foundation of Total Wealth – Part 2
Regulators Finally Blink: The Shadow Banking Stress Test Citizens Have Waited For
By Get SAFE – Support After Financial Exploitation For the first time, Britain’s regulators have turned their gaze toward the murky world of shadow banking.This week, the Bank of England confirmed that giants like Goldman Sachs, Oaktree, Carlyle, and ICG will take part in a system-wide “exploratory scenario” — a stress test designed to expose … Continue reading Regulators Finally Blink: The Shadow Banking Stress Test Citizens Have Waited For
💡 When the OECD Calls It a Constraint, We Call It a Recalibration
Why Britain’s New Tax Era Could Unlock Human Capital Growth “A nation can tax wealth and still grow — if it grows its people.”— Steve Conley, Academy of Life Planning ⚖️ The Headlines Mislead The OECD has warned that Rachel Reeves’s record tax rises will “constrain economic growth for years” and “deter saving.”Their logic is … Continue reading 💡 When the OECD Calls It a Constraint, We Call It a Recalibration
💣 When the Bank Runs Dry: What Lloyds’ 2011 Meltdown Reveals About the Hidden Mortgage Machine
In 2011, Lloyds Banking Group — the trusted black horse of the British high street — was secretly broke. Its CEO, António Horta-Osório, discovered too late that the bank had been surviving not on depositor cash, but on borrowed money — “hundreds of billions of pounds from other institutions,” as the Financial Times later reported. … Continue reading 💣 When the Bank Runs Dry: What Lloyds’ 2011 Meltdown Reveals About the Hidden Mortgage Machine
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