What does it mean to protect your clients' wealth in a world where governments are spending without restraint? This session from the Adviser 3.0 2026 conference puts two of the most compelling voices in alternative assets on stage together -- and lets them argue it out.

Dan Parkinson, the Bitcoin IFA, traces his conviction to Lebanon, where he watched a currency lose 99.9% of its purchasing power in three years. Thomas Holl, Portfolio Manager at BlackRock responsible for several of the firm's gold strategies, came to his view more quietly: two decades of watching what governments actually do with money, not what they promise. Both arrived at the same destination by different routes -- the conviction that holding cash or nominal bonds amounts to a slow-motion loss of purchasing power, and that something else is needed.

Moderator Laurentius van den Worm, Head of Investment Strategy at Timeline, keeps the debate honest. He pushes both guests on valuation (how do you price an asset with no cash flows?), regulatory risk (gold was banned before; could it happen again?), and the practical question every adviser in the room is asking: how do I actually get this into a client's portfolio?

Dan makes the case for Bitcoin as a hedge against money printing, pointing to the relationship between Fed balance sheet expansion and Bitcoin returns, a four-year cycle with a 99.8% success rate over any holding period, and the argument that at roughly five percent global adoption, we are still in the early adopter phase. Thomas positions gold as a zero coupon inflation-protected perpetual bond with zero issuer risk -- and explains why central bank buying doubled after 2022.

They don't agree on everything. But on the things that matter most to advisers thinking about portfolio construction in an era of fiscal excess, they're closer than the title suggests.

Olivia Maynard is Managing Director at TFP Financial Planning in Essex. In this episode, she shares how she went from school leaver to MD without ever planning it that way, why she stepped away from financial planning into operations, and how she has built a culture where no one is confined to a job box.

Olivia talks about the "breath moment" - that exhale when a client finally lets go of years of financial anxiety - and why it still drives everything TFP does. She opens up about her first pregnancy during Covid, severe pre-eclampsia, an emergency delivery at 30 weeks, and how that experience shaped both her resilience and her thinking on boundaries in the workplace.

The conversation also covers how TFP approaches team structure, the death of the brilliant jerk, disagree and commit, and where she thinks the industry is heading as technology reshapes every role from paraplanner to administrator.

Three CEOs. One stage. The biggest questions facing adviser businesses right now.

Recorded live at Adviser 3.0 2026, this is the first of our Sunset Studio Sessions — a series of four panel conversations captured on stage at our flagship annual conference. The Sunset Studio stage is sponsored by Northern Trust Asset Management. Philippa Mather of Paradigm Norton, Jo French of Attivo, and Alan Smith of Capital Asset Management join Ed Carey, CCO at Timeline, for an honest, wide-ranging conversation covering the topics that will define adviser businesses over the next few years.

On AI, the panel cuts through the noise. Joe explains why Ativo built its own LLMs from the ground up rather than reaching for off-the-shelf tools. Alan argues the industry is still in "Blockbuster got an app" territory and challenges firms to think about what AI-native looks like from first principles. Philippa pushes back on short-term hype cycles and makes the case that people, not technology, remain the real driver of business performance.

On growth, the discussion gets uncomfortable. The data says most adviser firms aren't growing in any meaningful way once market returns are stripped out. The panel explores why, what a scientific approach to referrals actually looks like, and why organic growth is a skill that has to be deliberately built.

The conversation closes on talent and culture: how to attract the next generation, why weekly one-to-ones beat most management interventions, and what a genuinely high-performance firm looks and feels like in practice.

A career built without a degree, a partnership earned without shortcuts, and a profession that risks losing its soul to consolidation.

In this episode of Adviser 3.0, Kate Phillips is joined by Tara Maynard, Partner and Chartered Financial Adviser at PM+M, for an honest conversation about doing it your way in financial planning.

Tara shares how financial circumstances steered her away from university and into an accountancy apprenticeship at 18, and how a chance secondment to the financial planning team changed everything. She opens up about studying for her qualifications in half-hour windows around two young children, navigating imposter syndrome on the road to partnership, and what it really means to belong somewhere you love.

They also get into the bigger picture: why independent ownership matters for clients and advisers alike, what gets lost when firms are bought and sold, and Tara's passion for grassroots community work through PM+M's Positive Impact programme.

Topics covered:

• The apprenticeship path and why it worked
• Studying for exams with two young children
• Imposter syndrome and building quiet confidence
• The culture that made partnership possible
• Independent ownership vs consolidation
• Community, charity and the Positive Impact programme

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube.

The triple lock is costing us 7% of GDP by 2070. Advisers are overpaid, or are they? And your money personality was probably set before you turned 10.

In this episode of SoapBox, Matt Pitcher and Abraham Okusanya are joined by Sarah Roughsedge, founder of Eva Wealth and author of Smart Money, Strong Women, for a wide-ranging conversation that pulls no punches.

They dig into the Tony Blair Institute's radical proposal to scrap the state pension as we know it, replacing it with a flexible Lifespan Fund, and whether that is bold policy or political fantasy. Then the debate turns closer to home: are financial advisers actually overpaid? Matt and Abraham put themselves in the dock, and the answer is more nuanced than you might expect. From Ferrari-driving advisers to the growing wave of breakaway firms leaving the big consolidators, this one gets spicy.

Sarah then walks us through the ideas behind her book, five money archetypes that shape how we think, feel, and act around money, and why understanding yours might be the most important financial move you ever make.

We close with a bright note from Abraham: UK investors are finally coming back to the equity markets after the longest selling streak Calastone has ever recorded.

Topics covered:

• The triple lock, the Lifespan Fund and the fairness problem with state pension
• Are advisers worth £100k a year?
• Breakaway firms and the entrepreneurial case for going independent
• Smart Money, Strong Women: the 5 money archetypes and why they matter
• UK investors return to equities

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube.

Ed Dymott, CEO of Benchmark Capital, joins Abraham Okusanya to challenge the logic behind a decade of advice firm consolidation.

The old playbook of buying IFA practices cheap and selling the whole thing at a premium was never as clever as it looked, and the cracks are showing. Ed and Abraham dig into the breakaway adviser trend, why planners are leaving consolidators and private banks alike to build their own businesses, the role of AI as a copilot rather than a replacement, and what the profession looks like when it finally grows up and sits alongside law and accountancy. A candid, wide-ranging conversation with one of the most influential operators in UK financial planning infrastructure.

What does it mean to own "the whole market" when parts of it make you uncomfortable? Dominic Thomas, founder and principal of Solomon's IFA, joins Abraham to challenge some of the orthodoxies of financial planning. A fee-based adviser since 1999 -- more than a decade before RDR made it fashionable -- Dominic has built a tight, intentional family firm in Cobham with ethics and relationships at its core.

In this conversation, Dominic and Abraham go head to head on index investing and capital concentration, the discomfort of owning companies you disagree with, wealth inequality and whether capitalism is working, US political dominance and what it means for portfolio allocation, the role of AI in advice, and how to help clients define "enough."

Honest, wide-ranging and genuinely provocative.

What if retirement is not the reward you think it is?

In this episode, Dan Haylett joins the show to challenge one of the biggest assumptions in financial planning. That retirement is a destination. A number. A finish line.

Drawing on his work with clients and insights from his book, Dan explains why so many people reach retirement only to feel lost, lacking purpose, and unsure what comes next.

This conversation goes beyond money. It explores identity, structure, meaning, and the real role of financial planners in helping clients navigate the second half of life.

If you work in financial advice or are planning your own future, this episode will change how you think about retirement.

We cover:

• Why retirement is often a letdown after years of planning
• The problem with focusing only on “the number”
• Why retirement is a human problem, not a maths problem
• How to help clients find purpose beyond work
• The future of financial planning and why it must evolve

Connect with Dan: https://www.humansvsretirement.com/

Matt Pitcher and Abraham Okusanya are back on the Soapbox with no guest, no filter, just two advisers getting into the numbers that matter.

This episode they dig into the Dimson, Marsh & Staunton Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2026 and the Bessembinder paper, and the findings are uncomfortable. In 1900, railroads made up 63% of the US market. Today, less than 1%. Yet they still outperformed. 59% of individual stocks will lose you money over their lifetime. The median stock return is negative. And yet the market has created $91 trillion of wealth. The case for buying the haystack has never been stronger or more ignored.

Then Matt takes on the great wealth destroyers: active managers quietly costing clients half a million pounds, lifestyling in pension schemes that should have died with the annuity era, risk profiling tools nudging clients into less equity than they need, and the £2.2 trillion sitting dead in UK bank accounts shrinking in real terms while advisers watch on.

Blunt, data-heavy, and genuinely useful for any adviser who wants the arguments and the evidence in one place.

Resources mentioned:

• Bessembinder Paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6438198DMS Yearbook 2026 Summary: https://www.ubs.com/global/en/investment-bank/insights-and-data/articles/global-investment-returns-yearbook-2026.html
• FCA Trail Commission Review: https://citywire.com/new-model-adviser/news/fca-to-review-674m-adviser-trail-commissions/a2486582

📩 Review and screenshot it to Abraham on LinkedIn for a free copy of Nick Murray's This Time Is Different

Chris Palmer’s career didn’t start in financial services, and it nearly didn’t happen at all.

From the Navy to banking during the financial crisis, Chris worked his way into financial advice before making a move that would define his career: buying into the firm he joined.

In this episode, Chris shares his journey from employee to owner, the realities of equity and progression, and what it takes to build a business that lasts.

We also explore the challenges facing independent firms today, the pressure of regulation, and why true independence still matters in financial advice.

A must-listen for advisers thinking about ownership, succession and long-term career progression.