For decades, Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) have sat quietly in the background of organisational life. Originally designed as counselling and crisis-support services, they were often associated with stress, addiction, bereavement, or workplace difficulties — a safety net for people under pressure. But something is changing. Modern EAPs are no longer simply mental health helplines. They … Continue reading From Employee Assistance to Human Agency: What Today’s Wellbeing Programmes Reveal About the Future of Planning
Tag: total-wealth-planning
Choosing AI for Your Practice: Efficiency Tool or Human Agency Operating System?
A new McKinsey study on AI competitive advantage raises important questions for financial planners choosing the next generation of technology platforms. The study makes a simple but profound point: When everyone has access to the same AI models, the real competitive advantage no longer comes from the AI itself. It comes from the operating system … Continue reading Choosing AI for Your Practice: Efficiency Tool or Human Agency Operating System?
The Trust Dividend: Why Structurally Trustworthy Financial Systems Would Create More Wealth, Not Less
For years, public debate around financial services has been framed as a battle between markets and consumers. One side argues that finance drives prosperity.The other argues that finance extracts wealth from society. But both sides may be missing something important. The real issue is not whether financial services should exist.The real issue is whether the … Continue reading The Trust Dividend: Why Structurally Trustworthy Financial Systems Would Create More Wealth, Not Less
The 90/10 Is Becoming the 99/1
What Rising Advice Thresholds Are Really Telling Us About the Future of Financial Planning The latest industry statistics may prove to be one of the clearest signals yet that financial planning is entering a structural transition. According to the latest adviser survey data [Dynamic Planner’s Advice 2026 report], the average minimum investable asset threshold has … Continue reading The 90/10 Is Becoming the 99/1
AI, Human Agency, and the Future of Life Planning
Reflections from a Transparency Task Force Discussion with the Academy of Life Planning There was a noticeable shift in tone during this recent Transparency Task Force session. For once, the conversation was not primarily about another scandal, regulatory failure, or institutional breakdown. Instead, it explored something more foundational: What happens when ordinary people gain access … Continue reading AI, Human Agency, and the Future of Life Planning
Only 7% of Advisers Fully Trust Their Technology Outputs
If Institutional Systems Are Supposed to Be More “Auditable, Accurate and Repeatable”… Why Don’t Advisers Trust Them? For years, one of the major arguments made by large financial services technology providers has been that institutional systems are inherently safer and more reliable than individuals using AI tools independently. The logic usually sounds something like this: … Continue reading Only 7% of Advisers Fully Trust Their Technology Outputs
OpenAI’s New Financial Planning Tool Raises a Bigger Question: Who Shapes the Future of Financial Planning?
This week, OpenAI announced the launch of a new personal finance experience inside ChatGPT for US Pro users. "People are already turning to ChatGPT for help: more than 200 million people come to ChatGPT every month for budgeting, questions about their investments, comparing different paths, planning for future goals, and more." The system allows users to connect financial … Continue reading OpenAI’s New Financial Planning Tool Raises a Bigger Question: Who Shapes the Future of Financial Planning?
If Institutions Have AI, Regulators Have AI, and Scammers Have AI… Then Individuals Need AI Too
For years, technology in financial services was largely discussed as a productivity tool. Faster processing.Better reporting.Lower costs.More automation. But the conversation is now shifting. This week, the Financial Conduct Authority openly discussed the possibility of “robo-regulation” — a future where AI helps monitor firms, identify risks, detect misconduct, and supervise markets in real time. At … Continue reading If Institutions Have AI, Regulators Have AI, and Scammers Have AI… Then Individuals Need AI Too
The Industry Is Starting to Move Toward Total Wealth Planning
For years, many of us inside the Academy of Life Planning have felt like we were speaking a different language from the wider financial services industry. While much of the profession focused on: products, portfolios, regulation, platforms, and accumulation models, AoLP kept returning to a simpler question: “What do human beings actually need in order … Continue reading The Industry Is Starting to Move Toward Total Wealth Planning
The Missing Asset in Britain’s Retirement Debate
Why Financial Planners Must Start Planning Human Capital — Not Just Pension Pots The Pensions Commission has warned, in the Pensions 2050: evidence and future priorities – interim report, that 15 million people are on course for inadequate retirement incomes. The proposed solutions will sound familiar: higher pension contributions, wider automatic enrolment, stronger retirement safeguards, … Continue reading The Missing Asset in Britain’s Retirement Debate
Academy of Life Planning 