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Jo here - jumping in the hot seat while Cathi is away. And, what a funny auld week this has been. Chat GPT has been getting some hammer, making action figures for seemingly everyone on LinkedIn and calculating Trump's tariffs. Would anyone be surprised if The Don’s AI searches were leaked and they were:   

• "Create me a business model that tanks an economy but doesn’t look like insider trading (and also blame China)."
• "Create me a new shade of orange that looks even more natural and goes beyond the neck area." 
• "Can you create me a software update for the Elon-bot?"

In complete contrast to those two individuals, let's dive into this week's spotlighted article, from Cathi herself (she's always lurking somewhere)... 

In the spotlight this week...💡

Excuse my cynicism, but it has been somewhat impacted by this week's reading which (aside from Cathi's insightful PIMFA article above) has included the new Hunger Games prequel (excellent), The Handmaid's Tale (worrisome in its plausibility) and Animal Farm (Boxer nooooo!). While my reading of choice is clearly dystopian I spend a lot of time telling friends, family, and Verve’s clients (by-proxy) not to panic. These things happen. We’ll stick to the plan we created for you, we’ve done stress testing, we’ve got a long time in the market… It. Will. Be. Fine. This article from Royal London explains market volatility really well and is a useful one to share to offset some of the media scaremongering.  

However, money is emotive and we will likely see more of the unrest as we are literally only 90 days into Trump's reign (not a Freudian slip – I’m sure he’s one cheeseburger away from naming himself (Burger) King) and our jobs as planners are to reassure, reassess and respond. Keeping clients abreast of the happenings, tweaking plans where necessary and communicating with them regularly will provide such value to counteract that aforementioned scaremongering we’re such victims of in finance.  

Now is the time that planners show their real worth and it’s ironically not just about how much money they can make you, but how they can be that reassurance and support in times of unrest (coming soon – a paper on the true meaning of value).  

What I’ve learned from my reading this week is that change is gradual and revolutions don’t happen overnight. Cathi says it so eloquently in her PIMFA article that in 20 years, change has seemed minimal overall as the age range and number of advisers rarely change. But I would argue, highly impactful at a micro level as we have seen more and more people engage with our Foundation who are willing to make that change, to bring in more diversity and exposure. We may not see the change in our lifetimes, but as Dylan says, times, they are a-changing.  

Nothing solidified this more than seeing the great work that the people such as Sam Secomb and Cathi are doing, being showcased on the BBC to discuss the importance of affordable financial advice. Both women who continually inspire me and hopefully that next generation of planners and clients. It’s really worth a watch if you’re a fan of finance, speed dating, and especially both.

And speaking of things to watch (and dodgy AI searches), you can watch back the first in our AI series below. Seems like this is going to be one of the most popular series we do based on the numbers signed up; there's already another 10 AI tools we'll be grilling / getting demos of, so sign up to find out more about the ones that interest you on our website. 

I’m off to build a bomb shelter and side eye my dog, who has been getting delusions of grandeur lately but remember, nobody overreact.  

Roll this week's video 🎬

Cathi digging into Re:LOA and testing out their system.

Hear from the experts 🤓

On Liberation Day tariffs and your investments.

The latest from Verve 💜

Catch Cathi breaking down barriers on the BBC.