By Steve Conley | Academy of Life Planning There are moments in financial services where a regulatory shift appears incremental on the surface, yet signals something far more profound beneath. The FCA’s introduction of Targeted Support is one of those moments. With firms such as Quilter and Royal London already moving at pace, the industry … Continue reading Targeted Support and the Quiet Rewiring of Financial Advice
Tag: finance
Evidence vs Narrative Investing: What Vanguard’s latest move reveals about the future of financial advice
For decades, one firm stood apart. Not because it promised more. But because it promised less. Less cost.Less intervention.Less story. Vanguard was built on a simple, almost uncomfortable truth: The more you do, the more you tend to take.And the more you take, the less the investor keeps. At the heart of that philosophy was … Continue reading Evidence vs Narrative Investing: What Vanguard’s latest move reveals about the future of financial advice
When Trust Becomes the Weakness: Why Financial Advice Must Return Agency to the Client
A former financial adviser is jailed. £45,000 is taken from a vulnerable client. The regulator bans him—years after the damage is done. And the industry response is predictable: “A bad actor. An isolated case. The system worked.” But it didn’t. Because the real question is not who committed the fraud. It is this: Why was … Continue reading When Trust Becomes the Weakness: Why Financial Advice Must Return Agency to the Client
A Venture into the World of Decision Capital
“I can choose. I can choose well. I act on my choices.” There is a quiet assumption underpinning modern life. That if people are given enough information…enough access…enough choice… They will make good decisions. It is an assumption that sits beneath financial planning, public policy, education, and now—artificial intelligence. And yet, the evidence of lived … Continue reading A Venture into the World of Decision Capital
Human Capital Is Not a Side Note — It Is the Plan
The industry still treats human capital as background noise.The evidence shows it is the signal. For decades, financial planning has been built on a narrow premise:optimise financial capital, and outcomes will follow. But the data tells a different story. The study provides a clear, empirical foundation for what Total Wealth Planners already intuitively understand: Economic … Continue reading Human Capital Is Not a Side Note — It Is the Plan
The Problem Isn’t the Words. It’s What Sits Behind Them.
By Steve Conley Recent research from Oxford Risk and NextWealth has drawn attention to a growing unease among retirement clients. The conclusion is clear enough: the language advisers use—phrases intended to reassure, guide, or inform—is too often doing the opposite. It is creating anxiety, eroding trust, and disengaging the very people it is meant to … Continue reading The Problem Isn’t the Words. It’s What Sits Behind Them.
The Future of Wealth Planning Isn’t Financial—It’s Human
Why Total Wealth Planners must integrate Human Capital Plans with Financial Capital Plans to create true Total Capital For decades, financial planning has been built on a narrow premise: 👉 Optimise the money. Assets. Portfolios. Tax wrappers. Withdrawal strategies. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: That’s only half the equation. Because the largest, most dynamic, and … Continue reading The Future of Wealth Planning Isn’t Financial—It’s Human
The Six Traits That Determine Whether You’re Ready to Become a Total Wealth Planner
“Financial planning is not being disrupted by technology.It is being exposed by it.” There’s a growing conversation in financial services about skills. Assessments.Frameworks.Competency models. They all ask a version of the same question: “Do you have what it takes to become a financial adviser?” But this question belongs to an old world. Because it assumes: … Continue reading The Six Traits That Determine Whether You’re Ready to Become a Total Wealth Planner
Why Every Total Wealth Plan Must Start with Human Capital
Because without it, you’re not planning wealth—you’re managing decline. For decades, financial planning has focused on one narrow question: “How do we allocate financial capital?” But the research is unequivocal: The primary driver of economic growth, income, and long-term prosperity is not financial capital—it is human capital. And yet… Most financial plans barely acknowledge it. … Continue reading Why Every Total Wealth Plan Must Start with Human Capital
The BSPS Scandal Wasn’t a Failure. It Was a Warning Ignored.
And the system still hasn’t learned the lesson. The FCA says the system worked.The Commissioner says it failed. Both can’t be true. For over 20 years, the UK regulator has known there is a problem in the defined benefit (DB) pension transfer market. Not suspected.Not emerging.Known. The original pension mis-selling scandal of the 1990s exposed … Continue reading The BSPS Scandal Wasn’t a Failure. It Was a Warning Ignored.
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