Understand what you pay. Test what you receive. Decide what you need. By Steve Conley | Academy of Life PlanningUK consumer guide | 24 October 2026 You do not need to become a financial expert to ask better questions of one. Your adviser may provide valuable expertise, reassurance and practical support. You are entitled to … Continue reading Top Ten AI Prompts to Use on Your Financial Adviser
Tag: investing
Bring Me Your Problem, Not Your Portfolio
Why you might need to talk to a different kind of financial professional A woman approaching retirement asks for “professional financial advice”. She is 63, earns around £50,000 a year and hopes to retire at 67. She has several pensions from different jobs, including an NHS pension, but no cash savings or investments outside them. … Continue reading Bring Me Your Problem, Not Your Portfolio
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?
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
Interactive Investor Has Broken One Link. Now Let’s Break the Other.
If the price of advice need not rise with your wealth, why should the duration of advice rise with your lifetime? Something important happened in financial advice this week. Interactive Investor launched an ongoing financial advice service for £100 a month for an individual and £150 a month for a couple. There are no initial … Continue reading Interactive Investor Has Broken One Link. Now Let’s Break the Other.
When the Badge Becomes the Blindfold
Before You Trust the Badge, Use Intelligence A difficult conversation with QROPS victims forced me to revisit what regulation actually does, what it does not do, and why understanding should come before intermediation. It also reminded me that the people trying to help have feelings too. It is after three in the morning as I … Continue reading When the Badge Becomes the Blindfold
Permission Is Not Protection: What British Expats Need to Know Before Trusting a “Locally Regulated” Financial Adviser
If you are a British expatriate with a UK pension, “find someone regulated where you live” sounds like sensible consumer protection. It may not be enough. Imagine you spent your working life in Britain. Perhaps you worked for the NHS, a local authority, the armed forces or a private employer. You built up a valuable … Continue reading Permission Is Not Protection: What British Expats Need to Know Before Trusting a “Locally Regulated” Financial Adviser
