Some stories mark a shift in the landscape — and last night’s session delivered another one. John stood up and shared something remarkable. Just four weeks ago he was overwhelmed. Thirty-five years’ worth of paperwork, emails, and documents sat in boxes, impossible to decipher, impossible to articulate. He knew he was right, but like so … Continue reading AI, Evidence, and the Turning Tide: How Ordinary People Are Finally Winning Against Extraordinary Power
Tag: health
🧭 Affordability or Opportunity? Rethinking Why Older Workers Keep Working
By Steve Conley – Academy of Life Planning When new research tells us that “older Londoners can’t afford to retire,” it’s worth pausing to ask: is that really the full story? According to data analysed by Bower Home Finance, seven of the UK’s top ten areas where people over 65 remain in work are in … Continue reading 🧭 Affordability or Opportunity? Rethinking Why Older Workers Keep Working
🌱 Lessons for Holistic Wealth Planners from the Science of Spiritual Well-Being
By Steve Conley, Academy of Life Planning In the quest to understand what truly makes life fulfilling, psychology has long focused on the concept of subjective well-being — how people evaluate the quality of their own lives. For decades, this field has measured happiness through domains such as health, relationships, safety, and community connection. But … Continue reading 🌱 Lessons for Holistic Wealth Planners from the Science of Spiritual Well-Being
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
When Oversight Becomes Obstruction: What Evidence Suggests About the Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) was created to be the independent referee — the place where consumers could seek justice when financial firms failed them. Its role is vital: to provide fairness, transparency, and accountability in a sector where trust is already fragile. Yet evidence suggests a troubling pattern of behaviour inside the organisation. Instead … Continue reading When Oversight Becomes Obstruction: What Evidence Suggests About the Financial Ombudsman Service
Building Futures in El Salvador: How Life Planning is Driving Social Transformation
In late 2023, the government of El Salvador created a new national institution — the Dirección de Integración — with a bold mission: to strengthen social inclusion, reduce poverty, and foster a culture of integration across the country. At the heart of this initiative is the ADN Program on Poverty and the Culture of Integration, … Continue reading Building Futures in El Salvador: How Life Planning is Driving Social Transformation
🎓 Generation Jobless? Or Generation Genius in Waiting?
We’ve all seen the headlines. 📰 “GENERATION JOBLESS”📉 100,000 young adults aged 16–24 in the UK are not in education, employment or training.🧠 Many cite mental health as a barrier — caught in a cycle of rejection, disillusionment, and self-doubt. Meanwhile, AI takes the jobs they were promised.Retail shrinks.Hospitality automates.And entry-level roles vanish in a … Continue reading 🎓 Generation Jobless? Or Generation Genius in Waiting?
How Britain Outsourced Its Way Into Failure
Sam Freedman’s new book Failed State: Why Britain Doesn’t Work and How We Fix It offers a sobering diagnosis of Britain’s broken governance. His central claim: decades of over-centralisation and reckless outsourcing have hollowed out the state, leaving public services expensive, inefficient, and unaccountable. The centralisation problem – Successive governments stripped local councils of powers … Continue reading How Britain Outsourced Its Way Into Failure
Imagine If Ofwat Had a Growth Mandate — We’d Need Snorkels by Now
Inspired by Dan Cooper’s thought-provoking piece in Money Marketing, which asks, “Who’d want to be a regulator, eh?” — I couldn’t help but reflect on our own well-chlorinated experiences with the FCA. Dan’s article dives into Ofwat’s spectacular collapse under the weight of its own inaction, drawing a tidy line between regulatory oversight and public … Continue reading Imagine If Ofwat Had a Growth Mandate — We’d Need Snorkels by Now
Reawakening the Inner Eye: The Pineal Gland, Cognitive Sovereignty & the Reversal of Calcification
For over 2,000 years, institutions thrived by controlling access to truth—religious, political, financial, and even biological. The Age of Pisces was the age of intermediaries: gatekeepers of knowledge, divinity, and health. But now, in the Age of Aquarius, the gate is dissolving—and at the centre of this awakening is the pineal gland. Often dismissed as … Continue reading Reawakening the Inner Eye: The Pineal Gland, Cognitive Sovereignty & the Reversal of Calcification
Academy of Life Planning 