Bringing back bancassurance will not, by itself, rebalance power towards ordinary people. Banks should be judged by the agency they build, not just the assets they gather. By Steve Conley, Founder, Academy of Life Planning30 September 2026 A bank announces that it wants to return to advice in a “massive way”. Its executive tells Labour … Continue reading Labour Must Recognise the Old Market Mantra—Even When It Calls Itself “Holistic Planning”
Tag: finance
From advice to agency: are investors signalling a bigger shift?
Direct investment platforms are growing faster than the advised market. Is this simply a story about apps and advertising—or an early signal that people are changing the kind of help they want? By Steve Conley, Founder, Academy of Life Planning30 September 2026 For years, the familiar message has been: financial decisions are complicated, so find … Continue reading From advice to agency: are investors signalling a bigger shift?
Your experience is not behind you. It is your most valuable asset.
Introducing Get ICE: I Continue Earning There is a familiar script for later life. Work hard, save enough, reach a certain age, and stop earning. For many people, that script no longer fits. Some want to keep contributing. Some need more income than their savings will provide. Many feel both things at once. Yet the … Continue reading Your experience is not behind you. It is your most valuable asset.
An FCA Check Is Only the Start: Investigate Before You Invest
A firm appears on the FCA Firm Checker. You breathe a little easier. But what, exactly, have you checked? You have checked something important: whether the firm is authorised and has permission to provide the service you want. You have not established that the person contacting you works for that firm, that this particular investment … Continue reading An FCA Check Is Only the Start: Investigate Before You Invest
The life plan is yours. Who owns the assets?
A question for life planners working inside regulated firms You sit with someone and ask what matters. You help them see the life they want, the trade-offs they face and the choices they can make. It is the most human part of planning. Then the commercial machinery starts. The plan identifies assets. The firm brings … Continue reading The life plan is yours. Who owns the assets?
The missing measure is consumer agency
The FCA wants people to navigate their financial lives. What would it take to put the person, rather than the adviser, at the wheel? Someone sits down with a folder of pension statements, an insurance renewal and a list of questions about work. They have been told to seek financial advice. Yet their first question … Continue reading The missing measure is consumer agency
The Most Important Expertise Is Knowing Where Your Expertise Ends
Why every professional needs boundary literacy—and why regulated status is not the same as whole-person competence An FCA-regulated retail investment adviser is often assumed to sit above a financial planner in some informal hierarchy of professional importance. The adviser is regulated. The planner may not be. Therefore, the thinking goes, the adviser must be the … Continue reading The Most Important Expertise Is Knowing Where Your Expertise Ends
The Planner of the Future Will Not Be the Client’s Operating System
Discover the professional pathways at the Academy of Life Planning Information is no longer scarce. Agency still is. Artificial intelligence can explain concepts, organise information, model possibilities and answer questions at any hour of the day. That changes what people can do for themselves. It also changes what they need from a professional. The future … Continue reading The Planner of the Future Will Not Be the Client’s Operating System
Institutions May Divide the Case Between Themselves. Academy OS Gives the Individual a Complete View of the System.
A scam rarely happens in one place. A fraudulent advert may appear on Facebook. The conversation moves to WhatsApp. A convincing phone call follows. Money leaves a bank account, passes through another institution and eventually reaches a cryptocurrency platform. The criminal sees the entire journey. Each institution sees only its own part. And the victim … Continue reading Institutions May Divide the Case Between Themselves. Academy OS Gives the Individual a Complete View of the System.
How to Stop Making Scams So Easy
In response to the collapse of Woodville Consultants and a challenge from The Times, we have updated Investigator™—because government should close the loophole, but people need protection while it remains open A form is placed in front of an investor. It asks them to confirm that they are “high net worth” or a “sophisticated investor”. … Continue reading How to Stop Making Scams So Easy
