About Us
About the Academy of Life Planning™
Redefining financial planning — so professionals can practise with conscience, competence, and confidence.
To understand why the Academy exists — and the full ecosystem we have built — read Our Story.
WHY WE EXIST
Financial services is one of the least-trusted industries in the world.
Since the Global Financial Crisis, research has consistently shown the same gap — trust matters most to clients, but is least rewarded by prevailing industry models.
Many capable financial planners find themselves caught between what they know is right for clients and what the system rewards them for doing.
That tension does not come from a lack of professionalism. It comes from structural design.
In 2012, the Academy of Life Planning was founded to address that design problem — by creating a life-first planning profession rooted in trust, empowerment, and transparency.
At the Academy, planning means treating clients as people not products, drawing a clear line between planning and selling, and equipping professionals to put life before money — without abandoning income, standards, or credibility.
WHAT WE DO
The Academy is the professional home of Total Wealth Planners™ — practitioners who want to practise beyond extraction, without stepping outside legitimacy.
We train and support planners in applying the GAME Plan™ — a structured, life-first methodology that helps clients before, during, and after their interaction with financial systems.
Four pathways to Total Wealth Planner accreditation:
FULL-TIME
90-Day Glidepath™ — £3,995
Accredited, live, and trading as a Total Wealth Planner within 90 days. Followed by 9 months of monthly mentorship as your practice grows. Everything included — course, CPD masterclasses, PMC membership, and a cloned practice website launched by day 90.
PART-TIME
Standard Pathway™ — £2,995/year
Personal monthly mentorship with Steve Conley over 12 months. Practice website cloned and launched early in the pathway. Full course, CPD masterclasses, and PMC membership included.
COMMUNITY
Community Pathway™ — £1,250/year
Learn through weekly peer group sessions and shared practice.
Four live Practice Management Circle sessions every month, full course and CPD masterclasses, and a growing VOD library now in its third year.
SELF-PACED
Remote Pathway™ — £545/year
Independent study at your own pace, from anywhere in the world.
Full GAME Plan Practitioner course, CPD Masterclass Series, and Academy membership included.
All pathways include the GAME Plan Practitioner Online Course, CPD Masterclass Series — 12+ sessions per year now in its third year — Total Wealth Planner accreditation on completion, and unlimited email Q&A support.
THE REGULATORY POSITION
One of the most consistent concerns we hear from advisers considering this transition is regulatory anxiety. It is worth addressing directly.
Financial planning — when it involves plans rather than products, and when it does not involve touching client money or recommending regulated investments — is classified as generic advice. In the UK, PERG 8.26 is explicit on this. It sits outside the regulatory perimeter by design.
This means operating as a Total Wealth Planner is regulatory light, conflict-free, and — in the experience of over 60 practitioners who have made the transition through the Academy — significantly more trusted by clients than the product-led model.
The barrier most advisers imagine is considerably larger than the one that actually exists.
OUR VISION
We are building a global community of Total Wealth Planners™ who place empowerment before exploitation, operate independently of product sales, integrate human and financial capital, and use modern tools — including AI — responsibly.
Our long-term goals include recognition as a professional education body, accreditation of the GAME Plan™ programme, a searchable global register of Total Wealth Planners™, and expansion of the empowerment movement worldwide.
WHAT IS TOTAL WEALTH PLANNING?
The 90/10 model sits at the heart of everything we do.
90% of people, 90% of the time, are capable of managing their own financial lives with the right tools and the right support. The Total Wealth Plan — available free at totalwealthplans.com — gives individuals the AI-enabled framework to do exactly that.
It is only in moments of genuine complexity, significant stress, or major life change that most people need an expert working alongside them.
That is where the Total Wealth Planner operates. On the client's side of the table. Hourly paid. Conflict-free. Trusted.
AI is accelerating this shift — transferring agency from expert to individual at a pace the traditional advice model was never designed to withstand. The profession is moving toward this model whether individual advisers choose to lead that movement or follow it.
The Difference We Are Making
Not through hype. Through quiet, competent professionals choosing to practise differently.
The GAME Plan™ — Our Signature Framework
At the heart of the Academy is the GAME Plan™ — a practical methodology for planning life before money.
G — Goals: Clarify goals grounded in values
A — Actions: Translate intent into structured action
M — Means: Align financial and human resources
E — Execution: Execute, review, and renew over time.
It is not a product. It is a planning discipline — and a pathway from extraction to empowerment.
About Steve Conley, BSc FCII
The common thread across all my work is restoring human agency — helping people design their lives, build sustainable livelihoods, and navigate complex financial systems.
Steve Conley founded the Academy of Life Planning in 2012 after stepping away from senior corporate roles in banking and financial services, including serving as Head of Investments within HSBC Bank plc's UK Retail Investment Business alongside leadership positions at RBS Group and Santander.
With over 40 years of experience, Steve has worked alongside thousands of planners and industry leaders. His work bridges deep technical expertise across investments, pensions, and risk with a consistent commitment to ethics, professionalism, and systemic reform.
Qualifications:
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Chartered Financial Planner
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Chartered Insurer — Pensions Route
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Registered Life Planner
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Mathematics Graduate BSc
Recognition:
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British Insurance & Investment Brokers' Association Prize
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Jubilee Prize of the Insurance Institute of Manchester
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Transparency Trophy 2017 — advancing trust in financial services
Steve serves as a Global Ambassador for the Transparency Task Force and a member of its Advisory Group.
Why Chartered Standards Still Matter
Chartered status remains the gold standard in UK financial services — representing advanced technical competence, ethical accountability, and professional credibility.
At the Academy, Chartered standards inform everything we do — even where planning is delivered outside product-led models. Around three in four of our members are professionally qualified to Chartered standard or higher.
This is not about lowering standards. It is about redirecting them toward empowerment.
A Note on Transparency
The Academy has received recognition across a range of industry award programmes over the years. We choose to be transparent about what that means.
Some industry awards — particularly those issued by marketing-led publishers — involve opaque judging criteria and commercial incentives. We acknowledge this openly.
Our true benchmarks are the trust of our members, the empowerment of those they serve, and the growth of a global professional community committed to structural change.
That is the standard by which we hold ourselves accountable.
About Our Tone
The Academy supports people at different stages of their professional journey — some just beginning to question how they practise, others who have already lived through harm, injustice, or deep disillusionment.
In public spaces we aim to be calm, respectful, and exploratory — creating a safe place to think and ask honest questions without pressure or judgement. In member and closed spaces our language can be more direct.
This is intentional. Truth lands best when safety comes first.
More Than Training. A Professional Home.
The Academy of Life Planning is not just a course provider. It is a movement replacing extraction with empowerment.
As a member you gain GAME Plan™ tools and training, a global peer network of values-led professionals, a clear ethical pathway into Total Wealth Planning, and a place to practise with conscience — and still make a living.
Our true benchmarks are not awards
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Over the years, the Academy of Life Planning has been recognised across a range of industry award programmes, including:
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Finance UK Lawyer International – Legal 100 Awards (2022–2024)
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UK Corporate America Today Awards (2022–2025)
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Global 100 – Top 100 Firms & Individuals (2022–2025)
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M&A Today Global Awards (2024–2025)
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SME News Finance Awards – SME500 UK (2024–2025)
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Most Pioneering Financial Planner Network — AI Worldwide Finance Awards (2022–2024)
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Financial Adviser Support Network of the Year — Corporate LiveWire Innovation & Excellence Awards (2022–2024)
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Best Financial Adviser Support Network — SME News Finance Awards (2020–2022)
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Outstanding Contribution to Finance — SME News Finance Awards (2020–2022)
We want to be honest about what these mean.
In 2022 and 2023 we paid to participate in some of these programmes, not fully understanding at the time that many industry awards operate as commercial publishing ventures rather than independent recognition of merit.
When we understood what vanity awards were, we stopped paying.
The programmes have continued to list us as recipients ever since — without payment from us.
We are sharing this because transparency is not selective. If we ask the financial services industry to be honest about its conflicts of interest, we must apply the same standard to ourselves.
Our true benchmarks are not awards. They are the trust of our members, the empowerment of those they serve, and the growth of a global professional community committed to structural change.
That is the standard by which we hold ourselves accountable.