Over the years, I have come to realise that the Academy of Life Planning has never really been a place. It has been a series of bridges. When I first started this journey, I thought I was helping planners cross a single divide. On one side stood financial advice. On the other stood financial planning … Continue reading Three Bridges, Three Islands, One Journey
Tag: writing
How Many Ordinary People Could Realistically Navigate a System This Complex Without Assistance?
Imagine you discover something has gone badly wrong. Perhaps a financial institution has made a mistake. Perhaps an insurer has refused a claim. Perhaps you believe you have been misled, treated unfairly, or suffered a significant financial loss. You decide to do what responsible citizens are told to do. You gather evidence. You write letters. … Continue reading How Many Ordinary People Could Realistically Navigate a System This Complex Without Assistance?
Imagine Being a Total Wealth Planner — With Total Wealth OS Beside You
You are sitting with a client. They are not here because they need a product. They are not here because they need someone to take over. They arrive because life has become complicated — a retirement decision, a business sale, a redundancy, an inheritance, a divorce, a fraud they are only beginning to understand, an … Continue reading Imagine Being a Total Wealth Planner — With Total Wealth OS Beside You
The Trusted Agency-Restoration Layer: Helping People Use AI Without Being Used by AI
Financial services is entering a new phase. For decades, the industry has been organised around products, advice, distribution, regulation, platforms, documentation, and disclosure. The consumer has usually sat at the end of that chain: informed, nudged, sold to, advised, protected, categorised, risk-rated, and asked to consent. But something deeper is now changing. Artificial intelligence is … Continue reading The Trusted Agency-Restoration Layer: Helping People Use AI Without Being Used by AI
The Real Fourth Pillar Is Not Later-Life Lending. It Is Restored Human Agency.
The Financial Conduct Authority has put later-life lending firmly into the retirement planning debate. In a speech to the Later Life Lending Summit, Emad Aladhal, the FCA’s director of retail banking, suggested that later-life lending has the potential to become the “fourth pillar” of retirement provision. The familiar three pillars are the state pension, workplace … Continue reading The Real Fourth Pillar Is Not Later-Life Lending. It Is Restored Human Agency.
SJP’s £220bn Question: What Happens When Clients and Advisers Stop Deferring?
The old wealth model depended on two quiet forms of deference. Clients deferred to advisers. Advisers deferred to institutions. That was the bargain beneath much of modern wealth management. The client was asked to trust the adviser. The adviser was asked to trust the firm. The firm provided the brand, proposition, investment architecture, supervision, process, … Continue reading SJP’s £220bn Question: What Happens When Clients and Advisers Stop Deferring?
Before You Join a Financial Adviser Academy: The Questions Every Career Changer Should Ask
A recent career-change newsletter from St. James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy uses the idea of “learned helplessness” to speak to people who feel stuck, frustrated, or uncertain about their working lives. On one level, this is understandable. Many people do feel trapped in careers that no longer fit. Mid-life career dissatisfaction is real. So is … Continue reading Before You Join a Financial Adviser Academy: The Questions Every Career Changer Should Ask
Bill Gates on an AI bubble
This interview is “Bill Gates on an AI bubble and eradicating polio” on CNBC International / YouTube. It was filmed at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, with CNBC’s Tania Bryer interviewing Bill Gates. The description says Gates discusses how “deeply profound” AI is, the AI bubble debate, and polio eradication. AI is not an overhyped fad … Continue reading Bill Gates on an AI bubble
Should clients use AI to check a financial adviser’s suitability report?
A financial adviser may object to The Leveller being used on a suitability report for several overlapping reasons. Some are legitimate. Some are defensive. The fair version is this: a suitability report is a regulated artefact. It is meant to evidence the adviser’s professional judgement, the client’s circumstances, the rationale for the recommendation, the risks, … Continue reading Should clients use AI to check a financial adviser’s suitability report?
The Advice Diaspora: Why the Future of Planning May Belong to Those Who Leave the Old System Behind
For years, the financial advice industry has told itself a comforting story. That story says the public needs advice because money is complex, regulation is difficult, products are technical, and ordinary people cannot be expected to make good decisions without professional guidance. There is some truth in that. Money decisions can be complex. Pensions, tax, … Continue reading The Advice Diaspora: Why the Future of Planning May Belong to Those Who Leave the Old System Behind
