There’s a moment in many professional careers when everything looks right on paper. The opportunity is exciting.The numbers work.The future feels secure. And yet, years later, some advisers find themselves asking a very different question: “How did I end up here?” This article is not about blame.It’s about understanding power, contracts, and timing — before … Continue reading Before You Sign / Before You Leave: The Hidden Risk in Adviser Contracts Nobody Explains
Tag: financial-services
Two Worlds. One Bridge.
Why the Academy of Life Planning Exists There are two worlds living side by side. Most of us were born into the first. The Old World: Structurally Untrustworthy Systems The world we inherited is shaped by financial services, economics, politics, and religion built on intermediation. It is a world organised around power over people. Here, … Continue reading Two Worlds. One Bridge.
Lessons for Citizen Investigators: What the Psychology of Scams Really Teaches Us
Why understanding harm matters more than spotting tricks. In 2009, the Office of Fair Trading commissioned a major piece of research into the psychology of scams. It was rigorous, humane, and ahead of its time. It also quietly disappeared. Not because it was wrong — but because it was inconvenient. For anyone involved in Get … Continue reading Lessons for Citizen Investigators: What the Psychology of Scams Really Teaches Us
Are We Educating the Next Generation — or Recruiting Them Into a Broken System?
When a profession celebrates widening access, it must also ask a harder question: access to what? This week, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and Personal Finance Society (PFS) announced that over 6,600 young people have taken part in their virtual work experience programmes since 2023. The story is being framed as a success: Diverse participation … Continue reading Are We Educating the Next Generation — or Recruiting Them Into a Broken System?
Confidential Settlements, Tomlin Orders, and What They Mean for Victims
For many people harmed by financial misconduct, a settlement can feel like the end of a long and exhausting journey. The letters stop. The court process pauses. There is, at last, some financial relief. But for many victims, settlement is not the end of the story.It is simply a quieter chapter—often one marked by confusion, … Continue reading Confidential Settlements, Tomlin Orders, and What They Mean for Victims
Why It’s Worth Challenging Initial FOS Decisions
How AI checks can help consumers reclaim fairness — not just faster closure By Get SAFE – Support After Financial Exploitation A new industry briefing reports that the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) intends to resolve 80% of cases within six months, processing up to 245,000 cases in 2026/27. On the surface, that sounds like progress. … Continue reading Why It’s Worth Challenging Initial FOS Decisions
Adviser Bridge: Why the Academy of Life Planning Supports Advisers Before Lawyers Get Involved
Transitions are part of modern financial advice. Yet for many regulated advisers, leaving a firm or changing structure has become one of the most stressful and disempowering moments of their professional lives. Exit conditions, repayment demands, Business Start-Up or support arrangements, restrictive correspondence, and unclear obligations often surface all at once — frequently accompanied by … Continue reading Adviser Bridge: Why the Academy of Life Planning Supports Advisers Before Lawyers Get Involved
Litigants in Person: Practical Lessons for Citizen Investigators
How Davids Can Still Stand Against Goliaths Transparency Task Force recently hosted a powerful session on one of the hardest realities in modern justice:what it is really like to go to court alone against banks, regulators, or large institutions. For many people, this is not a choice.It is what happens after money runs out, lawyers … Continue reading Litigants in Person: Practical Lessons for Citizen Investigators
When Emails Are Diverted, People Are Disappeared
How administrative silence turns evidence into isolation — and why communication method matters What Really Happens to “Vexatious” Emails — and How Citizen Investigators Can Be Heard By Steve Conley, Founder of the Academy of Life Planning & Get SAFE Many people assume that if they keep emailing a regulator — copying more people, sending … Continue reading When Emails Are Diverted, People Are Disappeared
The Exploiters’ Playbook
How UK borrowers’ payments are routed through a web of orphan companies in London and offshore SPVs — tax-written to minimise leakage and shield investors from insolvency, while borrowers are kept in the dark Banks tell customers: “We’re still your lender.” Behind the scenes the credit has already been sliced, shipped and securitised. The industry … Continue reading The Exploiters’ Playbook
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