🧇 The Weekly Waffle - This Week's Highlights at the Academy Town Hall - Friday Lunch Bunch, February 16th, 2024 📅
Hello, Dear Lamplighter, 🌟
Convene for the most recent tittle-tattle from the Friday Lunch Bunch 🍽️ at the Academy of Life Planning’s illustrious Town Hall. Here’s the lowdown, served with a side of wit.
Meeting Notes: A Digital Epoch 🚀
In today’s episode of 'Modern Marvels', we introduce Krisp.ai , the AI scribe that transcribes our verbal jousts faster than you can utter “automation”. Post-call, these transcripts undergo a metamorphosis through the alchemy of Chat GPT, emerging as sardonic-journalistic prose, replete with annotations and hyperlinks, all within the span of a tea break. The price for this sorcery? A paltry £8 monthly, post a complimentary 7-day trial where you're free to dissect its worth.
Linguistic Gems of the Week 📚
Dive into the lexicon with “Khidmat”, an Arabic homage to altruism, celebrating the joy of aiding sans anticipation of reciprocation, juxtaposed against “Ikigai’s” profit-centric mantra. Today's moral? Leveraging one's aptitudes for the greater good, irrespective of the financial incentives. Enlightenment awaits.
Furthermore, we dabble in “Reflexivity”, a notion advocating for a harmony between today’s fiscal prudence and tomorrow’s bliss. Post-pandemic, this philosophical gem has found its disciples, championing enduring happiness over ephemeral monetary satisfaction.
The Draconian Dance of Web 2.0 🚫
Behold, Meta and the FCA’s unholy alliance, ushering in an era of censorship under the guise of regulation. This cabal's decree mandates all financial services adverts receive FCA's blessing, a move that stirs the pot within the UK's financial sanctum, especially for those unaffiliated with collective investment charades. The discord among the kingdom's professional guilds and associations is palpable, with cries for uniformity in accountability falling on deaf ears. A saga of regulatory intrigue and defiance unfolds.
Diving into "Murky Waters" 🌊📰
Behold, the “Murky Waters” narrative, where the FCA, in a move of questionable nobility, eases the reins for corporate behemoths to peddle dreams to the less fortunate, ostensibly filling the chasmic 'advice gap'.
A Beacon in the Financial Fog 💸
In a twist of fate, an article surfaces, shedding light on the shadowy domain of financial abuse within the sanctity of relationships. Enter the Financial Abuse Certificate by Standards International, a beacon for those navigating the treacherous waters of matrimonial finance. At £600, this parchment demands allegiance, requiring its bearers to renew their vows either yearly or bi-yearly in their crusade against fiscal villainy.
Navigating the Financial Wild West 🌵💼
In the grand theatre of financial services, our troupe has danced with clients ensnared by the siren songs of unregulated investments—think hotel rooms and car park spaces masquerading as golden geese 🏨🚗. One brave soul from our ranks dedicated eight long years to untangling this Gordian knot across 75 countries and a quartet of business lines.
A Rose by Any Other Name 🌹❓
The saga thickens as we ponder the Shakespearean dilemma of titles within our realm. "Advisers" and "Planners" they are called, yet the lines blur between guiding lights and mere merchants of dreams. We cast our gaze afar to lands like India, where titles wield the power of clarity or confusion, enforcing a strict demarcation between those who advise and those who distribute. Yet, here and there, the waters remain muddied. Is it fair play, we ask, to don the adviser's cloak when one is but a peddler?
The Price of Wisdom 💸🤔
Talk turned to the alchemy of fees—fixed versus percentage-based—the eternal debate. We explored the noble quest of divorcing advice from sales, aiming for a transparency so pure it would make crystal blush.
A Probe into the Abyss 🔍🕳
The FCA, ever the vigilant guardian, launched an “ongoing advice probe”, mirroring a scandal from the lands Down Under known as the "fee for no service" fiasco. A shiver runs through the ranks of the regulated, as old ghosts whisper warnings of repercussions yet to come.
The Crumbling Pillars of Fees 🏛💔
We observed the cracks forming in the venerable asset-fee model, a tale of a consolidator, bolstered by Private Equity, teetering on the edge of financial propriety due to borrowed fortunes.
The Unbothered Masses 🙈💰
A discourse on the curious case of St. James's Place and its patrons, blissfully indifferent to the weight of fees for the luxury of abdicating financial control. A fascinating study in apathy, indeed.
Alliances in the Shadows 🤝💼 Our narrative weaves through the chambers of local solicitors, allies in our quest to navigate the financial thickets of divorce without the lure of products.
The March of Time ⏳🔮
A prophetic discussion emerged on the horizon of 2050, with the state pension age potentially ascending to 71, casting long shadows on millennials and their descendants. A clarion call for alternative strategies, championing the virtues of long-term savings and economic industriousness.
The Road Less Travelled 🛣🚶♂️
A tale of a 45-year-old voyager , embarking on a quest to carve out a retirement oasis with but £4,000 in their pension coffer. A narrative of resilience, seeking out the sunlit paths of alternative retirement planning in a landscape often shadowed by inadequacy.
Scam Savviness and the Art of Vigilance 🕵️♂️💸
As financial trickery flourishes, our gallant assembly embarked on a quest to dissect the burgeoning menace of scams, spotlighting the sly allure of duplicitous adverts that part fools from their finances. A clarion call was made for the wide dissemination of scam busters, arming the masses against deceit.
Navigating the Twilight with Grace ⚰️🌅
The dialogue took a poignant turn as we recounted the odyssey of aiding a terminally ill soul in charting their final chapter, including a narrative twist of travel tiffs over revisiting past locales.
The Great Travel Compromise ✈️💔
Our discourse ventured into the treacherous terrain of marital navigation, where the compasses of wanderlust point in divergent directions. Here, the art of compromise was heralded as the linchpin in harmonising the itineraries of hearts intertwined.
Marital Finance: The Rock and the Hard Place 💍🔨 Tales of fiscal friction tearing asunder unions of decades emerged, alongside sagas where financial planning morphed from foe to saviour in matrimonial bonds.
The Bereavement Bind 🖤📋
Our chronicle deepened with the challenges of engaging the bereaved in financial foresight, alongside the poignant plight of a soul staring down their own demise, fretful over fiscal matters.
The Estate Conundrum 🏰🔐
Our expedition waded through the murky waters of estate strategy, touching upon the intricacies of wills, the stewardship of assets, and the digital afterlife of social media, underscoring the necessity for plans as nimble as they are robust.
The Quagmire of Cluttered Coffers 💼🌀
We delved into the labyrinth of clients' dishevelled finances, from the pandemonium of scattered investments to the domestic dramas spawned by clandestine credit card escapades.
The BBC Beacon 📻🎙
Sir Muir Gray’s foray onto the BBC airwaves, pontificating on longevity strategies, was spotlighted as a beacon of wisdom for the inheritance tax navigators.
The CPD Odyssey: 'The Proposition Architect' 🏛📚
Become a Game Plan expert! Announced was the masterclass to end all masterclasses, poised to unfurl a tapestry of wealth creation and revenue stream revelations on Tuesday, the 20th at 2:00 p.m., promising enlightenment for the financial security architects. Buy your CPD tickets here! Or 4 with a discount!!
HAPNAV’s Rebirth 🔄📈
March heralds the evolution of HAPNAV , with promised enhancements to squash bugs and amplify its prowess, a beacon of hope for the comprehensive financial planning crusaders.
The Parting Glass 🍷🚪
As we drew the curtain on this gathering, gratitude was lavished upon all souls present, with a rallying cry to reconvene posthaste, continuing our quest armed with newfound sagacity and camaraderie, before parting with wishes of a weekend replete with merriment and reflection. And thus, the chronicle of another convocation in the annals of the Academy’s Friday Lunch Bunch was inscribed, a testament to our perpetual journey through the realms of finance and beyond.
🔚 And That’s a Wrap 🎬
So that's your follow-up actions and a barrage of links. Because what’s a meeting without homework?
That's all for this week's waffle stack, folks! For a trip down memory lane, check out our old waffles or snag an invite to our next lunch bunch (Feb 23rd, 2024 12:00 PM London ) for some real-time natter.
There you have it, the latest from our gabfest. Until next time, keep waffling 🧇.
Steve Conley
Founder, Academy of Life Planning
email: steve.conley@aolp.co.uk
P.S. If you know anyone who would like to be added to our mailing list, please share this link.
Websites: Academy of Life Planning, Planning My Life, Financial Life Coach, Steve's Blog.
Copyright the Academy of Life Planning Limited 2023. Contact us by email at info@aolp.co. The Academy of Life Planning Limited is a service sector trading company regulated by the Competition and Markets Authority and Registered in England and Wales number 8016568. Registered office address 9 Franklin Way, Spilsby, Lincolnshire, PE23 5GG, United Kingdom. Information Commissioner's Office reference number ZA502687.