After nearly 20 years of sitting across the table from real clients, there’s a pattern I’ve observed.

While people are working, they’re surprisingly relaxed about their spending. Salaries land monthly, business income flows in, bonuses pop up, and life just… happens. Holidays get booked, cars get upgraded, kitchens get redone. There isn’t a huge amount of scrutiny on their expenses. Not because they’re reckless, but because the money feels abundant and regular.

am currently deep in my ‘surge’ meeting season, properly deep.

Back-to-back meetings, financial plumbing, admin, cashflow forecasts, beneficiary nominations, ISA top-ups, pension consolidations, insurance gaps, estate plans, school fee projections, the full works. The unglamorous bit of the job that no one posts about on LinkedIn. And yet, this is the bit that quietly reminds me what a superb position we sit in as Financial Advisers.

One of the simplest ways I have found to explain our real job as behavioural financial advisers has nothing to do with markets, models, or complex simulations. It has everything to do with potatoes.

Imagine a vegetable patch. On day one, the soil is prepared properly. The seed potatoes are chosen carefully, planted at the right depth, spaced correctly, watered, and protected. This is the planning phase. Asset allocation, diversification, costs, tax wrappers, behaviour. Done well, this is where most of the long-term outcome is decided.

The most dangerous phrase in financial advice today is not reckless or rogue. It is reassuring, familiar, and quietly fatal, All Perfectly Compliant (APC).

For decades, our profession has relied on attitude to risk questionnaires as the foundation of portfolio construction and investing people’s life savings. A client answers a series of questions, a score is generated, a portfolio is selected, and the file is signed off. The process is documented, defensible, and compliant. And yet the real-world outcome for the client can be deeply damaging.

As advisers, we spend our lives helping people make sound financial and life choices, yet we are constantly reminded that many of the most important decisions with money are shaped long before we ever produce a chart or run a cash flow. They are shaped by instinct, emotion, and stories people tell themselves. And very often those stories lead to conclusions that feel logical but are, in reality, completely illogical.

Recently, I completed a project for a client. I had put in real effort, been honest and generous with my time, and charged a fair fee that reflected the wisdom I have accumulated over years of doing this work. When the project finished, the client was happy with the outcome, but unhappy with the bill.

They began to break it down, hour by hour, as if experience could be reduced to a stopwatch, as if my decades of learning, reading, trying, failing, and improving could be itemised on an invoice.

In that moment, I had a choice. I could have gone to war, I could have justified, defended, or explained, but instead, I chose peace.

We all want to become better financial advisers, but too often we’re all looking in the same places. While this will get you a long way, I don’t think it will get you all the way to becoming as good as you can be.

The way to become a better financial adviser is to look beyond the advice industry. Your next big idea won’t be found in the usual places; it will come from outside, from the world around you. That’s why I call this Outside Insights.

One of the great privileges of being a financial adviser is that our profession is built on learning. At its core, our business is about information, understanding, and wisdom. We are constantly exposed to new ideas from finance, economics, psychology, history, marketing, and beyond. And unlike many industries where training ends once you qualify, in ours the journey of learning never stops.

As Nick Murray calls it, this is the noble profession. We deliver peace of mind, purpose, and prosperity. And if we stay in the game, keep serving, and stay focused, the results will speak for themselves.

I’ve just ticked off a bucket-list trip, a whirlwind 24 hours in Naples. Why? Because my all-time favourite TV series, Gomorrah, is set there. I’ve watched it three times (don’t judge me), and I’ll probably watch it three more. Naturally, I thought it would be a good idea to wander the same streets as fictional gangsters. Logical? Maybe not. Worth it? Absolutely.

AI is making waves, and yes, it’s going to change many things. I believe our profession will be one of the least disrupted. Why? Because at its heart, financial advice is about people, and no machine can ever replace the human connection we provide.

Another market decline. Another flurry of client grenades into your business. Another round of hand-holding. Nothing new, right?

Except now, every client has a news terminal in their pocket. The moment the market twitches, their phone lights up: "Stock Market Plummets!", "Crash!", "Is this 2008 all over again?" The drama is relentless, the headlines hysterical — and the noise is deafening.

The world has changed. The speed and intensity of information has changed. But the fundamentals of good behavioural financial advice haven’t. Help your clients to stay calm and stay the course. Only we can help them them to stick to the plan when it matters most.

So, as you power through your meetings, don’t just celebrate the good times. Use them to prepare clients for the future, whatever that may hold. Because after two good years, we know one thing for sure: smooth sailing never lasts forever.

It’s important for us to remember a timeless truth: markets are unpredictable and unknowable in the short term but remarkably consistent over the long term.

If we can work together to build a bridge between our roles, we can foster a future where compliance elevates our service rather than hinders it. In doing so, we can protect and enhance our clients' financial futures, ensuring they are well-served both now, and the future lives they need to fund.

Financial advisers can maintain an organised, efficient approach to business and client management by adopting the’ mise en place’ mindset. What do you need to do before the end of the year so that you are “working clean” in 2025?

While the media may be a foe in spreading fear, they also remind us why our role is so critical. It's up to us to cut through the noise, keep our clients focused, and help them achieve their financial goals. The good we do as real advisers is not just about managing money but protecting our clients from the forces that could derail their financial success.

Sometimes, breaking the rules has unexpected benefits. And sometimes, the best punishments are the ones that let you off the hook in the most hilarious ways. Here's to summer memories, unexpected rewards, and the great school pool heist.

Your clients will always own the beasts and won't need to worry about guessing which companies will come out on top. This approach allows us to benefit from the growth of these giants without the stress and uncertainty of trying to pick individual winners.