M-POWERMENT: The Money Empowerment Movement
Steve Conley
Founder of the Academy of Life Planning & Planning My Life | Championing Values-Driven Financial Planning | Mentor to Independent Planners | Author and Advocate for Meaningful Change
When it comes to money, the best place to find helping hands you can trust is at the end of your own arms.
That's right, folk! I'm finally calling it out.
The word's out. The Financial Services Industry is the least trusted of all industries globally (source Edelman Trust Barometer, world's largest PR company). It has been for some time.
That's because money is power in today's society. And the unaccountable hierarchies of profit and power want your money. Like a hungry ghost, there is never enough. They want more and more until they have all of it.
It's little use lobbying newly appointed MPs eager to please following the election (see below). They will be told in no uncertain terms that they can't jeopardise the City as the Financial Services industry is 12% of UK GDP. We are plying for the financial capital of the world. And clamping down on the greedy bankers would make us anti-competitive.
Have you not heard of trickle-down economics? It is apparently OK for the rich to get richer, as they will pass that wealth down to the rest of us. In your dreams! Have you not heard of the wealth divide? Can you not see the chasm getting bigger?
And let's not tax them as they will go and live abroad. And we will lose their wealth to other countries.
Sounds compelling, doesn't it? It is meant to.
How about the regulators? Won't they protect us? Protect us! They attack us. They are even on the victim's list of scammers, see HMRC.
And as for the FCA! They are mandated to a) protect consumers and b) but not at the expense of the City. Anti-competitiveness and all that do-dah.
So here is what we do and how we handle it to bring about change now.
1) Encourage entrepreneurial innovation to meet mass market demand for a fairer society. As Margaret Mead said:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
2) Financial empowerment!!!
That's right. Take ownership of the placement of your own money. Stop trusting others to do it for you!!!
There's something called financial asymmetry. That's where the public knows little and remains in the dark. And you have to delegate financial decision-making to others.
Here's the thing.
Never delegate a decision of what to do with your money to someone else.
If you do, guess what they are going to do with it! That's right. They are going to take ownership of it and tap into it for fees.
Stop delegating.
Instead, learn about money. Take counsel from impartial counsel. Those fiduciaries who have no agency on your cash.
As my good friend and founder of the life planning movement, George Kinder, once said:
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"There should be a wall, between advice and products, between advice and large institutions, and between our regulators and large institutions. We need impeccable integrity. Until we actually institute a way of bringing a good heart, great integrity, and a fiduciary relationship that is sustainable into the industry, we are going to fail. We have to make this change, and we have to make it now."
Why listen to me?
Here is a list of those trusted institutions people delegated to in Britain.
Project Parliament is a new initiative by the Transparency Taskforce (TTF) aimed at mobilising their members in the UK to engage constructively with their MPs. This action is a crucial opportunity to leverage the post-election "window of opportunity" to address widespread issues of trust and confidence in politics and politicians.??
The initiative focuses on optimising how to engage with your MP by capitalising on the fact that your elected representative, having won their seat due to constituent support, may be especially receptive to constituents explaining their problems. It provides MPs with an excellent opportunity to win your trust and confidence, especially if the MP is new, though this applies regardless of their tenure.?
The initiative is applicable to anybody who can identify with one or more of these situations or anything similar:
Do you get it yet?
Learn about money. I'll show you how with Planning My Life.
1. Measure your financial activation score for what we measure, we manage.
2. Complete lessons in our comprehensive financial education library.
3. Utilise our world-first end-user financial planning tool integrated to open banking, and be bank agnostic.
4. Do our empowering Game Plan for your life and money.
5. Bottomless email Q&A with impartial experts.
All for less than the price of that extra weekly Latte!
Proper coaching, in its purest form, results in the coached doing the work, engaging with themselves, and discovering their path. This journey fosters self-awareness, paving the way for self-agency, self-competence, and self-confidence.
Clarity is crucial in this process. It helps in understanding intention and attention, which then leads to action. The internal work synthesises and integrates the various aspects of our internal apparatus. When these new behaviours are repeated, change transforms into tangible results in the physical domain.
Hope that resonates with you!
Why M-POWERMENT?
Our holistic approach is the future of financial planning. It's about empowering you, not taking control away from you. It's about education, not delegation. We believe in giving you the tools and knowledge you need to manage your own finances and make informed decisions.
So, if you're tired of the old model and ready to take control of your financial future, consider the holistic financial planning approach. We're here to guide you, educate you, and empower you to run the show. Because, at the end of the day, who really wants to hand over their money to someone else?
Join the revolution. Be your own financial planner. Take the reins and steer your financial future with confidence. The era of the holistic financial planner is here—and it's about time.
Read more by following this blog. See also The Dawn of the Holistic Financial Planner: Because Who Really Wants to Hand Over Their Money to Someone Else?