What Anthropic’s culture reveals about the future of financial planning In a recent investment note, Anthropic describes its own technology in unusual terms. Its models, we are told, are “grown more than built”. It is a striking phrase. Not because it is poetic, but because it is precise. It signals a shift away from the … Continue reading Why Human Agency Must Be Grown, Not Built
Tag: technology
Targeted Support Is Not the Same as a Life Plan
Why better nudges don’t replace better thinking—and why human agency matters more than ever There is a quiet shift underway in financial services. Providers are moving from passive information delivery to something more active—what the regulator now calls “Targeted Support.” The intention is clear: use data, behavioural insight, and simplified communication to help people make … Continue reading Targeted Support Is Not the Same as a Life Plan
AI Will Not Save Financial Advice — It Will Replace the Need for It
What McKinsey gets right—and what it means for restoring human agency A recent McKinsey & Company Quarterly article makes a quietly radical point. Despite near-universal adoption of AI across business functions, most organisations are not seeing meaningful value. The reason is not technological. It is strategic. Companies are focusing on productivity. And productivity, history shows, … Continue reading AI Will Not Save Financial Advice — It Will Replace the Need for It
The Quiet Question Emerging Inside Financial Advice
There’s something shifting in the profession. Not loudly.Not in headlines or strategy decks.But in conversations — often behind closed doors, or in passing remarks that don’t quite get finished. A different kind of question is starting to surface. Not about products.Not about performance.Not even about regulation. But about role. The Question Beneath the Model Across … Continue reading The Quiet Question Emerging Inside Financial Advice
Transfers Are Regulated. Outcomes Are Not.
A quiet gap in the system—and why it matters now There is a pattern emerging in the stories we see. Different people.Different advisers.Different jurisdictions. But the structure is remarkably consistent. A pension leaves the UK system.Multiple parties are paid along the way.And when things go wrong—no one appears to own the outcome. This isn’t a … Continue reading Transfers Are Regulated. Outcomes Are Not.
Most People Don’t Read the Contracts They Sign.
Most People Don’t Read the Contracts They Sign. That’s Not a Personal Failure — It’s a System Design Problem. By the Academy of Life Planning A recent consumer survey of over 50,000 people by Survey Pop asked a simple question: How often do you read the fine print on a contract? The answers should give … Continue reading Most People Don’t Read the Contracts They Sign.
Why Local-First Financial Planning May Be Safer Than Advice-Led Data Aggregation
By the Academy of Life Planning For decades, the financial advice model has operated on a simple premise: To help you, we must first hold your data. Your financial life—income, assets, liabilities, goals, vulnerabilities—is gathered, transferred, stored, and processed across a chain of systems: adviser CRMs, platforms, providers, paraplanning tools, and increasingly, AI. This model … Continue reading Why Local-First Financial Planning May Be Safer Than Advice-Led Data Aggregation
The FCA’s Advice Market Report Reveals the Real Gap: Human Agency
By Steve Conley | Academy of Life Planning The FCA’s 2025 financial advice firms survey has been presented as a picture of a stable, resilient and evolving advice market. Look more closely, and it tells a deeper story. It reveals a market that is consolidating, digitising and preparing for AI, while still operating on an … Continue reading The FCA’s Advice Market Report Reveals the Real Gap: Human Agency
Vulnerability, Capability, and the Total Wealth Planner
Reframing financial planning beyond the regulatory perimeter The financial services industry has long organised itself around regulation. Advice, products, permissions, and compliance frameworks form the dominant architecture through which financial decisions are understood and delivered. Yet this architecture, while necessary, is partial. It governs only a small part of the reality it seeks to influence. … Continue reading Vulnerability, Capability, and the Total Wealth Planner
Trail Commission Isn’t the Problem? Good. Now Let’s Talk About What Is.
The system is asking the wrong question—again There’s a growing consensus emerging in response to the FCA’s renewed focus on trail commission: “Trail commission isn’t the real problem.” Ed Dymott is right to highlight this. He points to something many inside the system already know: Billions trapped in legacy products Structural barriers to switching Tax … Continue reading Trail Commission Isn’t the Problem? Good. Now Let’s Talk About What Is.
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