A week or so after the Budget and I am still grappling with one of the most baffling and possibly vindictive moves I’ve ever seen in a Budget - the attack on pension savers using salary sacrifice.

The FCA’s latest Retail Mediation Activities Report - out this week - provides an interesting snapshot of the adviser sector. It shows a rather mixed picture but not necessarily a bad one.

This week I attended the Personal Finance Society’s 2025 National Conference in the cutting edge, and somewhat cavernous, new Maritime Halls at London’s Excel Centre in Docklands. I was impressed. It was a good conference demonstrating a great deal of confidence in the future.

This week we’ve published our latest issue of Financial Planning Today magazine and it includes a unique and fascinating review of a new generation of YouTubing Financial Planners bringing Financial Planning to the masses.

Over the past few years we’ve seen an enormous wave of M&A activity in the Financial Planning and Wealth Management sectors. It’s been largely unchecked - until now.

In just over four weeks Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out her Budget plans and how she will tackle rising public spending and raise more revenue.

I was pleased to see this week that the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments (CISI) has joined with other professional bodies in urging stronger governance on the ethical threats for financial professionals in using AI (Artificial Intelligence).

The precipitous decline of wealth manager and Financial Planner WH Ireland has been like watching a car crash unfolding before your eyes.

There was worrying news this week that pension drawdown users are taking out far too much cash from their pensions.

I was intrigued and more than a little worried this week by a report about consumer expectations of an inheritance windfall. It turns out many millions see an inheritance windfall as almost guaranteed.