THE HUMAN SIDE OF YOUR SELF OS
The right help,
at the right time.
Your Academy OS is there for the ongoing work of understanding your life, money and choices. When a question becomes complicated, stressful or important enough to need another pair of eyes, you can bring in a Total Wealth Planner™.
Start with one focused conversation. Keep a financial lifeguard within reach. Or turn up structured support for a period of major change. Your plan and decisions remain yours at every setting.
Want to begin independently? Start your free Self OS.
GET SUPPORT
Keep your OS. Adjust your support.
90% of people, 90% of the time, can manage their own finances with the right support.
The dial is not a ladder you have to climb. Free tools may be enough for years. A single decision might call for a Second Brain Session. Lifeguard can offer reassurance in the background. Annual, Quarterly, Monthly or Unlimited support can help during periods with several connected decisions. When the work is done, turn the dial down again.
Academy OS continues at every setting. Human expertise changes with your need.
What would help today?
Free OS
For people who are comfortable planning independently.
Use Navigator™ and other Academy OS tools to organise your finances, explore scenarios and create your own plan.
Best for: ordinary planning, initial exploration and self-directed decision-making.
Cost: Free.
Lifeguard
A low-cost professional safety net for people who normally manage independently but want somewhere trusted to turn when something does not feel right.
Lifeguard support can provide reassurance, short-question support, an independent second opinion and early warning before a small concern becomes a larger problem.
Best for: capable self-planners who want professional backup without continuous financial management.
Cost: £245 per year.
Annual
A structured annual planning relationship with a Chartered Financial Planner.
Review your Total Wealth Plan, revisit key assumptions, update your financial modelling and identify decisions that may require attention during the coming year.
Best for: people whose affairs are broadly stable but who value a formal annual planning checkpoint.
Quarterly
Four structured planning meetings each year, supported by updated modelling and access to professional thinking between meetings.
Best for: retirement preparation, business or career transitions, estate planning and periods involving several connected decisions.
Monthly
Regular one-to-one planning support for periods of sustained change, uncertainty or implementation.
Best for: major transitions, complex family finances, bereavement, divorce, redundancy, retirement implementation or business exit.
Unlimited
Intensive access to a Chartered Financial Planner throughout a year in which several important decisions need to be coordinated.
Best for: unusually complex or demanding periods when close professional involvement creates significant value.
Cost: £4,995 per year.
Second Brain Session
Bring the problem, not the portfolio.
A Second Brain Session is for one question, one decision or a situation you cannot yet see clearly. You might bring a pension choice, an inheritance, a career change, a proposed financial arrangement, your Navigator model or an answer produced by AI.
We work through what you know, what you are assuming, what could go wrong and which options deserve closer attention. I will challenge an AI output where its confidence runs ahead of the evidence and help you see when a regulated adviser or another specialist is needed.
How it works
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Tell me the question. Send a short outline and any information you want me to consider. You can share relevant parts of My Life Record if you choose.
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Think it through together. Use 90 minutes of professional support, normally as three 30-minute Zoom conversations, so you have space to reflect and return with better questions.
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Leave with a next step. Receive a written summary of the key issues, assumptions, options and possible next actions. Your decision remains yours.
£297. No obligation to subscribe or buy further planning. If deeper work would help, we will discuss its scope and price separately before you choose it.
Independent Financial Lifeguard
Stay independent without feeling alone.
Most financial questions do not arrive neatly on an annual review date. The Lifeguard service gives people who normally manage for themselves a continuing human safety net. Ask an early question, sense-check your thinking or seek reassurance when something does not feel right.
£24 per month includes:
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Academy OS and My Life Record™;
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priority email support for genuine planning questions, subject to reasonable use;
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independent second opinions and early warning of issues worth investigating;
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brief check-ins when appropriate; and
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access to deeper planning sessions at a discounted member rate when separately agreed.
You might use it when a firm makes an unexpected recommendation, an inheritance creates new choices, markets unsettle you, a family member needs help or you have researched an issue with AI and want a human perspective.
Your Lifeguard does not monitor your accounts continuously, manage investments, make decisions for you or provide an emergency response. Extensive research, modelling or document analysis may require a separately agreed session. Where regulated or other specialist advice is needed, I will help you recognise the boundary.
When you need more structured planning
Turn the dial up for as long as the work requires.
Some periods bring a set of connected questions: retirement and work, a business exit, family support, bereavement, separation or a change in health. Annual, Quarterly, Monthly and Unlimited settings give you different levels of structure and access. We agree what work is needed and what it costs before it begins. Support can reduce again when you are ready.
What a Total Wealth Planner™ contributes
The value of a modern planner is in helping you see the whole system, test assumptions and AI outputs, organise complexity, navigate change, avoid costly mistakes and recognise when specialist expertise is needed.
I do that work with you, using the information and plans you choose to share. I do not need to control your record or keep you dependent on an ongoing service for the planning to be valuable.
Agency by default. Expertise by exception. Support in proportion to need.
Common questions
Do I need to complete my Self OS before asking for support?
No. Bring the question as it is. Academy OS and My Life Record can help organise the work, but they are not a condition of speaking with me.
Should I book a Second Brain Session or join Lifeguard?
Choose a Second Brain Session for a defined issue needing focused work now. Choose Lifeguard if you generally manage independently and value access to short questions and reassurance over time. You can use both when appropriate.
Can I bring my own research or an AI answer?
Yes. Bring the source, the assumptions and the question you are trying to resolve. We will test what the answer does and does not establish.
Can you recommend a particular investment or pension product?
No. The service provides planning, education and decision support. If you need a personal recommendation or implementation involving a regulated product, use an appropriately authorised adviser. Legal, tax and other specialist questions need appropriately qualified professionals.
Will you take over or hold my information?
No. Your My Life Record remains under your control. You choose what to share for the work and can change access afterwards.