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Total Wealth Planner
™
Start with free planning tools.
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Add professional support when life becomes complex, stressful or begins to change.
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Dial that support up or down as your needs change.
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Total Wealth Planning™ gives you access to the expertise of a Chartered Financial Planner without requiring you to hand over the ongoing management of your financial life.
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Based in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, I offer in-person appointments locally and online support throughout the UK.
Steve Conley BSc FCII APFS
Chartered Financial Planner
Former Head of Investments at HSBC
Financial planning that helps you remain in control
Agency by default. Expertise by exception. Support in proportion to need.
Most people do not need continuous financial advice
Our experience is that around 90% of people, 90% of the time, can manage their own financial affairs when they have the right tools, information and support.
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They may need help when:
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retirement is approaching
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pensions or tax become complicated
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a relationship ends
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somebody dies
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health or employment changes
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an inheritance or business sale creates new choices
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an important decision feels stressful or high-stakes
These moments justify access to professional expertise.
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They do not necessarily justify paying a financial planner continuously for the rest of your life.
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Episodic need does not require continuous control.
Total Wealth Planning™ is designed around that distinction.
Start with agency
​Most financial services begin by asking:
How much money can we manage for you?
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Total Wealth Planning™ begins with a different question:
What support would help you understand, choose and act for yourself?
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You begin with Navigator™ or another free Academy OS planning tool.
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These tools can help you:
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see your whole financial position
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organise your thinking
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explore possible futures
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model retirement and other life changes
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compare scenarios and trade-offs
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understand financial documents and agreements
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prepare for conversations with financial institutions
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identify questions that still require professional help
Use them in your own time, at your own pace and with your own judgement.
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The tools do not take control or tell you what to decide. They help you think more clearly so that you can decide for yourself.
When the tools are not enough
Sometimes a question becomes too important, complicated or emotionally demanding to work through alone.
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That is when you can bring in a Total Wealth Planner™.
Not as somebody who takes over your financial life.
Not as a salesperson with a product to place.
Not as an authority you must retain indefinitely.
As a qualified and experienced thinking partner who can help you:
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understand what is really happening
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identify assumptions and blind spots
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connect your money with your wider life
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evaluate realistic alternatives
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model the consequences of different choices
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build a plan you understand
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reach a decision you can act upon confidently
You remain the decision-maker throughout.
CHOOSE THE SUPPORT YOU NEED
Your need for support will not remain constant throughout your life.
There may be long periods when free tools are enough. At other times, you may want reassurance in the background, scheduled planning meetings or intensive one-to-one support.
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That is why Total Wealth Planning™ operates as a flexible value ladder.
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You can move up when life becomes complex, stressful or uncertain.
You can move down again when clarity and confidence return.
Free
For people who are comfortable planning independently.
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Use Navigator™ and other Academy OS tools to organise your finances, explore scenarios and create your own plan.
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Best for: ordinary planning, initial exploration and self-directed decision-making.
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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.
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Lifeguard support can provide reassurance, short-question support, an independent second opinion and early warning before a small concern becomes a larger problem.
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Best for: capable self-planners who want professional backup without continuous financial management.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Best for: unusually complex or demanding periods when close professional involvement creates significant value.
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Cost: £4,995 per year.
This is a support dial,
not a dependency ladder
The aim is not to move every client towards the most expensive tier.
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The aim is to match the support to the need.
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You might use free tools for nine years, choose Unlimited support during a major retirement or life transition, and then return to Lifeguard support once the work is complete.
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That is not a reduced service.
It is successful planning.
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Professional support should become more intensive when circumstances require it and less intensive when your own capability is sufficient.
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More support when it matters. Less cost when it does not.
Compare the lifetime cost
Two Chartered Financial Planners may have equivalent professional qualifications but operate under very different commercial models.
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The continuous adviser model
A Chartered Financial Planner who is also an ongoing financial adviser may:
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manage investments on your behalf
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charge an annual percentage of assets under management
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provide a continuous service
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focus commercially on wealthy clients willing to delegate
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continue charging throughout periods when relatively little planning intervention is required
The episodic planning model
A Total Wealth Planner™ may:
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provide free agency-building tools
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offer a low-cost Lifeguard service
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charge fixed fees for defined levels of support
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provide intensive one-to-one planning when needed
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allow you to reduce support when the period of complexity has passed
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leave you in control of your assets and decisions
Both professionals may be equally qualified.
The difference lies in what they charge for, how often they charge and whether their model is designed around continuous delegation or variable human need.
Over a lifetime, that difference can be substantial.
See the effect across your lifetime
The Lifetime Cost Comparison Calculator allows you to compare the two models over a period you choose.
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Enter:
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your current age
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the number of years to project
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your starting investment value
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an assumed gross growth rate
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the ongoing percentage charge under the adviser model
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the Total Wealth Planning™ support pattern you expect to use
The calculator uses a single deterministic projection rather than a Monte Carlo simulation. It is an illustration, not a prediction, and the assumptions remain visible and adjustable.
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You can create your own support cycle. For example:
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Lifeguard support during ordinary years
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Annual or Quarterly support when more structure is useful
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Unlimited support during a major transition
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a cycle length that reflects your circumstances
You can also add an optional retirement drawdown phase, including:
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the age withdrawals begin
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the annual withdrawal required
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an assumed rate of indexation
Both models fund the same spending requirement. The comparison does not manufacture savings by assuming a lower standard of living under one approach.
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The results show:
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projected fund value by age
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the effect of retirement withdrawals
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whether either model runs out of capital
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terminal fund value
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total fees paid
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approximately five-year checkpoints
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a plain-English reflection on the outcome
The calculator is honest in both directions. A fixed-fee episodic model will not automatically be cheaper for every person, fund size or time period.
The purpose is not to tell you what to choose.
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It is to make the long-term economic consequences visible before you choose.
One question or one decision?
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Not every situation requires a continuing support tier.
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Sometimes you simply need focused time with a Chartered Financial Planner who has no product to sell, no asset to manage and no incentive to create an ongoing dependency.
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Bring:
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one important decision
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one financial question
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a situation you have been turning over in your mind
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your Navigator plan
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your own research or AI-generated analysis
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documents or calculations you would like to sense-check
We will work through it together, calmly and clearly.
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Second Brain Session — £297
A focused 90-minute session for one significant question or decision.​
No obligation beyond the session.
What is Total Wealth Planning™?
Total Wealth Planning™ brings your life, money, resources and future choices into one connected picture. It considers more than your investment portfolio.
Traditional wealth management often concentrates on managing financial capital.
Total Wealth Planning™ also helps you strengthen the human and decision-making capacity needed to direct that capital well.
Because your life is bigger than your finances.
What you will not receive
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product sales
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commissions
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pressure to transfer assets
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percentage charges based on your wealth
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an expectation that you must remain a client indefinitely
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decisions made for you
What you will receive
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independent financial planning
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access to a Chartered Financial Planner
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clear fixed-cost support options
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financial and lifetime cash-flow modelling
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a joined-up Total Wealth Plan
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professional challenge when assumptions need testing
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a structured way to use AI and digital tools
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support during periods of complexity, stress or change
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a plan you understand and control
You remain the authority over your life and money.
Traditional wealth management often concentrates on managing financial capital.
Traditional wealth management or Total Wealth Planning™?
Because your life is bigger than your finances.
Traditional Wealth Management
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begins with assets to manage
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commonly charges a percentage of those assets
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is designed around an ongoing client relationship
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tends to favour clients with larger portfolios
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manages investments and decisions on the client’s behalf
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may continue charging during periods of limited planning need
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Total Wealth Planning™
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begins with the person and the decision
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starts with free agency-building tools
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uses transparent fixed fees
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allows support to rise and fall with need
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considers financial, human and decision capital
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supports your thinking rather than replacing it
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regards greater independence as a successful outcome
The important distinction is not simply percentage fees versus fixed fees.
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It is the difference between:
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a model that monetises assets under management
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and
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a model that develops agency under your control.
Is this right for you?
This approach may suit you if you:
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normally manage your own finances
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want to understand before you act
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prefer collaboration to delegation
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value professional expertise but do not need it continuously
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want support without handing over your investments
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are approaching retirement or another major life change
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want a second opinion before making an important decision
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believe good financial planning should strengthen your capability
It may not suit you if you want somebody to take permanent responsibility for managing your money and making financial decisions on your behalf.
Led by a Chartered Financial Planner
I am a Chartered Financial Planner with more than 40 years of experience in financial services and financial planning.
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My role is not to tell you how to live or to make you dependent upon my expertise.
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It is to help you see your situation clearly, understand the available choices and create a plan that remains yours.
List Title
Start at the level that fits today
You do not have to predict how much support you will need for the rest of your life.
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Begin with the free tools.
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Add a professional second brain when the decision warrants it.
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Increase support during complexity, stress or change.
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Reduce it when the work is done.
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Free tools for ordinary life.
Professional support for exceptional moments.
You remain in control throughout.
Contact
Address
Steve Conley
Total Wealth Planner™
9 Franklin Way
Spilsby
Lincolnshire
PE23 5GG
Phone No.
07850 102070