Kakeibo Ledger™: A Free Budgeting Tool Built for Human Agency

Kakeibo Ledger™: Sometimes the Best Technology Gets Out of Your Way I have been fascinated by Japanese approaches to money, life and human flourishing for a long time. I use Ikigai in life planning. I use Kokoro as a way of thinking about alignment between mind, body, heart and spirit. Even the Academy’s GAME Plan … Continue reading Kakeibo Ledger™: A Free Budgeting Tool Built for Human Agency →

Wake Up, Consumers: Stop Sleepwalking Through Your Financial Future

What if financial planning started with your life, rather than your investments? I recently joined Kevin Whelan on the WealthBuilders WealthTalk podcast for a conversation about something much bigger than pensions, investments or financial products. It was about who should ultimately be in control of your financial life. The answer sounds obvious. You should. Yet … Continue reading Wake Up, Consumers: Stop Sleepwalking Through Your Financial Future →

Are You Being Treated Like an Item of Inventory by Your Adviser?

How do you feel about your adviser relationship being sold to another firm? You probably thought you had a relationship with your financial adviser. Perhaps you thought it was a relationship of stewardship. You own your money. You own your life. You make the decisions. Your adviser brings expertise, experience and perspective to help you … Continue reading Are You Being Treated Like an Item of Inventory by Your Adviser? →

The Recoverer™ Is Now Live on Academy OS – FREE

Do everything you can, yourself, before you hand this to anyone else. When someone loses money to investment fraud, the first instinct is often to find an expert. A solicitor. A recovery firm. A claims company. Someone who knows what to do. Sometimes that support is necessary. But there is an important question that should … Continue reading The Recoverer™ Is Now Live on Academy OS – FREE →

Vulnerability Should Trigger Support, Not Dependency

What disability rights, FCA regulation and financial planning can teach us about restoring human agency Most people, some of the time, will struggle to make an important decision. Not because they are incapable. Because life happens. Bereavement. Illness. Divorce. Redundancy. Scam victimisation. Retirement. Debt. Cognitive overload. A complex pension decision. A court dispute. A financial … Continue reading Vulnerability Should Trigger Support, Not Dependency →

The Right to Cognitive Assistance

Why the principle of supported decision-making should not stop at disability — or at AI We already accept a remarkable principle in law. When somebody may struggle to make an important decision, the first response should not necessarily be: “Someone else should decide for you.” It should be: “What support would help you decide for … Continue reading The Right to Cognitive Assistance →

Know What You’re Receiving Before You Act on It

We regulate the difference between information, education, guidance, promotion and financial advice. Perhaps it is time we taught the public the difference too. BIG Checker doesn’t just ask “Is this true?”It asks “What is this, who benefits, and why should you believe it?” More than half of people who acted on financial advice they encountered … Continue reading Know What You’re Receiving Before You Act on It →

The Financial Planning Business Model Parliament Could Imagine — But Not Believe Would Work

Non-intermediating financial planning is older than my career. AI may finally make it economically obvious. I joined Refuge Assurance as an actuarial student in 1982. At the time, Professor Laurence Gower was already conducting the Review of Investor Protection that would help reshape British financial regulation. So there is an irony I had never appreciated … Continue reading The Financial Planning Business Model Parliament Could Imagine — But Not Believe Would Work →

The Asset You Live Inside

From Earning Capacity to Human Possibility: Human Capital Lessons for the Total Wealth Planner The central argument is that conventional financial planning tends to treat human capital as an assumption behind the cashflow forecast—salary, retirement age and perhaps future earnings growth. The literature we have reviewed suggests something much richer. Human capital is an asset … Continue reading The Asset You Live Inside →

Who Said Financial Planning Needed a Product Licence?

Why the trailblazers of financial planning are moving from the regulated 1% to the human 100% Most financial planners did not enter the profession because they wanted a licence to sell products. They entered because they wanted to help people. They wanted to help people make better decisions, avoid costly mistakes, prepare for uncertainty and … Continue reading Who Said Financial Planning Needed a Product Licence? →