Most financial innovation cycles follow a familiar pattern. New ideas emerge.Confidence rises.Education accelerates.Narratives spread faster than understanding. This is not a criticism. It’s how progress has always unfolded — from railways to dot-coms to structured finance to today’s digital assets and alternative investments. The problem isn’t innovation. The problem is what happens after the confidence … Continue reading When Financial Education Stops — and Responsibility Begins
Tag: mental-health
Crossing the Bridge — Without Burning the Shore Behind You
There comes a moment in many professional lives when nothing is wrong—yet something no longer fits. The clients still value you.Your competence hasn’t diminished.The practice still works—on paper. And yet, beneath the surface, the model begins to feel misaligned. Not broken.Just… no longer true. At the Academy of Life Planning, we’ve spent more than a … Continue reading Crossing the Bridge — Without Burning the Shore Behind You
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
“I Didn’t Have a Mental Health Problem. I Had a Lloyds Problem.”
There is a crucial truth that almost no safeguarding framework, regulator, or victim support service is willing to name. Most victims of financial wrongdoing do not develop suicidal thoughts because they are mentally ill. They develop them because they are being actively crushed by an unresolved injustice that will not stop. As one survivor put … Continue reading “I Didn’t Have a Mental Health Problem. I Had a Lloyds Problem.”
Why the System Tries to Erase Victims — and Why Get SAFE Exists to Keep Them Alive Long Enough to Turn the Tables
There is a pattern that almost no one names, but every long-term victim of financial wrongdoing eventually feels in their bones. When an institution knows it has caused serious harm — and knows that fully acknowledging it would expose regulatory failure, legal liability, or reputational collapse — it does not rush to correct the wrong. … Continue reading Why the System Tries to Erase Victims — and Why Get SAFE Exists to Keep Them Alive Long Enough to Turn the Tables
PMC Member Showcase
Geoff Dyckes RLP®, GAME Plan AccreditedLife-Centred Financial Planner Peer Practice Sharing — Learn What’s Really Working Most advisers don’t need more theory.They need to see how real people are actually building real practices — in the messy middle. That’s exactly what the Practice Management Circle (PMC) is for. PMC is the Academy’s peer learning space … Continue reading PMC Member Showcase
Why Total Wealth Planning Isn’t a Lifestyle Add-On — It’s a Correction of a Category Error
What a landmark human capital study reveals about the future of financial planning Introduction: A Quiet Problem No One in Advice Talks About Most financial planners were trained inside a narrow frame: Learn the technical rules Model the money Optimise the investments Manage the risks Assume the client behaves “rationally” It’s a neat system.It’s also … Continue reading Why Total Wealth Planning Isn’t a Lifestyle Add-On — It’s a Correction of a Category Error
The Significant S.T.O.R.I.E.S. System™
Hi Steve, I asked your GPT tool this: Can you give me some text that introduces the 8 steps to your Plan B, also known as the Significant S.T.O.R.I.E.S. system, explain the outcome for the user, and the power of it in someone’s life? But the answer it gave me wasn’t quite right. It leaned … Continue reading The Significant S.T.O.R.I.E.S. System™
The Bridge: Who you are on the other side
Where you are now (Before the Bridge) People arrive at the bridge carrying some combination of: exhaustion from systems that take more than they give a sense of having been used, overlooked, or misled skills and experience that no longer fit the roles available a quiet knowing that this chapter is over They often describe … Continue reading The Bridge: Who you are on the other side
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
