The FCA wants people to navigate their financial lives. What would it take to put the person, rather than the adviser, at the wheel? Someone sits down with a folder of pension statements, an insurance renewal and a list of questions about work. They have been told to seek financial advice. Yet their first question … Continue reading The missing measure is consumer agency
Tag: mental-health
30 Academy OS Fun Facts
30 Academy OS Fun Facts You already have a life operating system.If it is scattered across emails, apps, folders and other people’s systems, you may simply not control it yet. If your plan only works when your adviser is present, your adviser has become the operating system.Academy OS puts the individual back at the centre. … Continue reading 30 Academy OS Fun Facts
When Justice Expires Before the Harm Does
The banks did not prove the customers were wrong. They proved the complaints came too late. Four people complained that their banks had trapped them in unfair and unaffordable credit relationships. The banks fought back. Not merely against the complaints, but against the Financial Ombudsman Service's power to hear them. They won. Now the Ombudsman … Continue reading When Justice Expires Before the Harm Does
Can Banks Prevent Suicide Without Examining Their Own Conduct?
"A "groundbreaking" new project to help tackle suicide has been launched today (10 September) by The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) – the charity founded by MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis. It brings five major banks together in a bid to find the gaps and test new ways to identify and support people in … Continue reading Can Banks Prevent Suicide Without Examining Their Own Conduct?
The Man in the Suit Was Me. But He Is Not Me Now.
Why Total Wealth Planner now reflects the person—and the proposition—you can experience today For years, the Total Wealth Planner website featured a photograph of me in a suit. I looked younger. Successful. Confident. Prosperous. It was a professional photograph of the sort commonly used throughout financial services. It conveyed experience, authority and achievement. The photograph … Continue reading The Man in the Suit Was Me. But He Is Not Me Now.
When Human Agency Looks Like Sales Resistance
Why the “DIY client” may be the future of financial planning, not a prospect to defeat I recently read a sales article about how advisers should handle people who prefer to manage their own finances. It described the “DIY prospect” as a battle. Advisers were told to weed such people out before they wasted time, … Continue reading When Human Agency Looks Like Sales Resistance
Different Tradition. Same Human Journey: What The Four Agreements Reveals About the GAME Plan
Yesterday, a conversation among Academy members began with a book recommendation. Geoff Dyckes had just finished The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz, which presents what Ruiz describes as Toltec wisdom as a practical route towards personal freedom. That prompted an interesting discussion. The language was different. But the journey felt remarkably familiar. Ruiz talks … Continue reading Different Tradition. Same Human Journey: What The Four Agreements Reveals About the GAME Plan
The Most Important Outcome of Financial Planning Is Not the Money
It Is When the Light Comes Back On There is an idea that has run through the Academy of Life Planning for years. The purpose of life planning is to light the lamp within. That is why I call Total Wealth Planners Lamplighters. I have always understood the metaphor intellectually. This week, I think I … Continue reading The Most Important Outcome of Financial Planning Is Not the Money
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
Your Future Financial Life Cannot Be Separated From the Future World in Which You Will Live
What might the future require of me — and what forms of wealth will help me meet it? Most financial plans make forecasts. They forecast your pension. Your investments. Your income. Your expenditure. Inflation. Investment returns. Perhaps your life expectancy. Then they project those numbers twenty, thirty or forty years into the future. But there … Continue reading Your Future Financial Life Cannot Be Separated From the Future World in Which You Will Live
