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
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🧭 When Truth, Process, and the Right Tools Align — Justice Prevails
Yesterday, one of our Get SAFE members achieved something extraordinary.Facing a major financial institution in court — alone, unrepresented, and under immense pressure — this individual walked away with a decisive procedural victory. The claimant’s legal team didn’t even turn up.The hearing lasted less than ten minutes.And yet, those ten minutes changed everything. ⚖️ A … Continue reading 🧭 When Truth, Process, and the Right Tools Align — Justice Prevails
💔 When Justice Costs Too Much: The Hidden Inequality in UK Civil Law
How ordinary people are locked out of fairness in debt, eviction, and financial exploitation disputes When people think of “justice” in the United Kingdom, they often imagine a level playing field: an impartial judge, clear rules, and everyone getting a fair hearing.It’s a comforting picture — but for many facing debt collection, eviction, or financial … Continue reading 💔 When Justice Costs Too Much: The Hidden Inequality in UK Civil Law
When Oversight Becomes Theatre: What the FCA Teaches Us About True Empowerment
By Steve Conley, Academy of Life Planning “A watchdog that must keep its masters solvent cannot bite.” Britain is often praised for having one of the most tightly regulated financial systems in the world. Yet, time and again — from PPI to car-finance commissions — we witness the same grim pattern: abuse, denial, exposure, compensation, … Continue reading When Oversight Becomes Theatre: What the FCA Teaches Us About True Empowerment
Litigant in Person: How to Survive and Succeed When the System Leaves You on Your Own
By Steve Conley, Founder of the Academy of Life Planning & Get SAFE “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.”— Abraham Lincoln Perhaps that was true in the 19th century.But in 2025, with AI, open knowledge, and solidarity between citizen investigators, that saying is being rewritten. ⚖️ A David vs Goliath Battle … Continue reading Litigant in Person: How to Survive and Succeed When the System Leaves You on Your Own
From Policy to Practice: Lessons on Empowerment for Planners
When governments test education reforms, we often find lessons that resonate far beyond schools and universities. One such lesson comes from the economics of human capital research [Essays on the economics of human capital accumulation By Lucio Rizzica]: raising aspirations alone is not enough. The UK’s Widening Participation initiative in the 1990s, for example, encouraged teenagers … Continue reading From Policy to Practice: Lessons on Empowerment for Planners
Get SAFE Community Briefing: Government Review of Opt-Out Collective Actions
Open call for evidence: Opt-out collective actions regime reviewFrom: Department for Business and TradePublished: 6 August 2025Deadline for responses: 11:59pm on 14 October 2025 Why This Matters for Get SAFE For too long, victims of financial exploitation have been forced to battle alone. Individual complaints to regulators, ombudsmen, or the courts can be exhausting, expensive, … Continue reading Get SAFE Community Briefing: Government Review of Opt-Out Collective Actions
London’s Dirty Money Problem: Why Deregulation Is No Growth Strategy
For centuries, London has been the beating heart of global finance. Its history is tied to empire, trade, and innovation. But behind the gleaming towers of the City lies another story—one of greed, capture, and complicity in the flow of dirty money. A recent article by Jochen Ressel traces how London became the world’s dirty … Continue reading London’s Dirty Money Problem: Why Deregulation Is No Growth Strategy
The Hillsborough Law: What It Means for Survivors and Citizen Investigators
David Lammy told MPs yesterday that he was introducing a “groundbreaking law to ensure that victims and survivors never again have to wait decades for truth and justice” For decades, survivors of state failure—whether Hillsborough, Grenfell, the Post Office Horizon scandal, or pension fraud—have shared a common burden: being lied to, silenced, and abandoned by … Continue reading The Hillsborough Law: What It Means for Survivors and Citizen Investigators
🌱 Introducing The Empowerment Cohort: Turning Human Capital into Sovereign Living
At the Academy of Life Planning, we’ve always believed that real wealth is not measured in money alone, but in human capital — our skills, passions, networks, creativity, and purpose. Yet too often, financial systems and even “planning” conversations strip people of agency, leaving them dependent, isolated, or defined by what they lack. It doesn’t … Continue reading 🌱 Introducing The Empowerment Cohort: Turning Human Capital into Sovereign Living
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