Financial Education & Guidance · Scotland
Money Lifemap is a financial education and guidance service built for people who want to understand their finances clearly enough to make their own confident decisions — without being sold a product.
How the journey works
Advice is real — and for the right job it is worth every penny. But it was never meant to be the only door into understanding your own finances. A plan comes first for almost everyone, and it is yours to keep. Regulated advice is one stop some people choose to get off at — not the destination, and not the measure of how complex your situation is.
The framework
The Money Lifemap service model is built on a three-capitals framework. FEP&G's work sits squarely in the middle — building the decision quality that connects your earning power to your financial future.
Capital 01
Your income-generating power — the ability to earn, shaped by skills, health, and working life remaining. It flows over time and cannot be retrieved once spent or unearned.
Capital 02
The quality of financial decisions made over a lifetime — shaped by knowledge, framework, and avoiding expensive mistakes under pressure. This is where FEP&G works.
FEP&G's interventionCapital 03
Accumulated savings, investments, and assets — the result of converting human capital over time, shaped by the quality of decisions along the way.
The educator's role throughout is to act as a second brain — sense-checking outputs, explaining how things work, and supporting you in reaching your own conclusions. No recommendations. No product advice. No regulatory boundary crossed.
New here?
The Money Lifemap process meets you at exactly the right point — not at a level that assumes you know nothing, and not at a level that assumes you know everything. We measure your Financial Activation first: not your wealth, but your confidence and readiness to engage. Then we build from there.
Start here — free guide →With AI, almost anyone can build a retirement calculator in an afternoon. The hard part is knowing which assumptions matter, what's missing, and whether the answer makes sense. You don't know what you don't know. The FCA has noted that only 40% of people realise they have no comeback if they act on general AI advice and it goes wrong (FCA, October 2026).
Built from many voices, not one prompt
The tools reflect a wide range of professional input and experience, not one person's view.
Kept current by the people who use them
Members and professionals feed back, and the tools and conversations change with them.
A lifeguard, not a captain
You swim; you stay in charge. Iain keeps watch, sense-checks, and is there for a short call when you want him.
It saves you the build time, puts professional experience behind every number, and gives you ongoing support to build your own abilities as you go. Lifeguard membership: £24.99 a month, cancel any time →
Planning or advice?
Planning comes first for almost everyone. Regulated advice is a specific tool you choose to reach for when a decision of your own calls for it.
| Money Life Map Education & financial planning |
Regulated financial advice FCA-authorised firms |
|
|---|---|---|
| What it produces | A written plan you own and control | A suitability report and specific recommendation |
| Who decides | You — the plan gives you the information to choose | You, acting on the adviser's regulated recommendation |
| Starting point | Anyone — no portfolio, product or prior knowledge needed | Usually someone ready to act on a specific product or transaction |
| Regulatory status | Education and guidance only — not FCA regulated | FCA authorised and regulated |
| Investment assumption | Investment-agnostic — works whatever your starting position | Usually assumes a product or portfolio to manage |
| Cost | Transparent and fixed: optional £24.99/month membership, sessions by the hour. No product charges; cancel any time. | Varies — often includes initial and ongoing charges |
| Long-term value | Builds your capability to make better decisions yourself | Executes a specific task; ongoing value depends on the relationship |
| Used together | Planning first makes advice more targeted, more efficient, and more yours. You arrive knowing what you want — having already ruled out what you don't. The adviser's time goes on the task, not explaining the basics. | |
Where we start
We measure your Financial Activation — not your wealth, but your confidence and readiness to engage with your financial position. We build from that starting point. Education first. Clarity always.
We start with the knowledge and framework that makes everything else make sense — the Box Theory curriculum, the three capitals, and what your money is actually doing. No assumptions about where you start.
Once the foundation is in place, we build your personal cash flow model together — your income, your assets, your expenditure, your planning horizon. Decisions that used to feel abstract become visible, testable, and genuinely yours.
The session closes with structured reflection on what the model shows — and what it means for you. A written Outcome Report follows every education and planning session, giving you a clear record of what was explored.
Financial products, tax wrappers, and retirement planning are genuinely complex. The Box Theory curriculum and the Money Lifemap cash flow model make that complexity visible, structured, and manageable — at whatever pace works for you.
"Not everyone needs regulated financial advice — but everyone needs a plan."
— Iain Ford, Director, Financial Education Planning & Guidance Ltd
Guided sessions
Education and planning sessions follow a structured process. The initial chat is a short conversation — 30 minutes, no tools, no report — so you understand how the service works and what you may need.
A pre-session Financial Activation Measure completed independently before the session. Establishes where you are, what you know, and maps it against the complexity of your situation. Education and planning sessions only.
Working together, we explore your financial picture using the Money Lifemap cash flow modelling system. You operate the tools; Iain sense-checks and explains. Planning sessions add Portfolio Dependency Date and survivor modelling.
Iain acts as a second brain — explaining concepts, flagging complexity, and helping you understand what the scenarios mean for your situation, without drawing conclusions for you.
A structured summary of what was covered, your FAM™ outcome, and signposting to regulated advice if you want it. Education and planning sessions only — not produced for the initial chat or return sense-checks.
Important: FEP&G Ltd is not FCA authorised and does not provide regulated financial advice or personal recommendations. Sessions are structured as financial literacy coaching. Signposting to regulated advice is always available, prompted by you.
Who we work with
Whether you want to use the free self-help tools, book a guided session, or refer clients and employees — there's a pathway for you.
Use the free tools independently, or book a guided session to explore your financial position with the full Money Lifemap suite and an educator alongside you.
Financial wellbeing as an employee benefit. Sessions for staff at any point in their career — from early savers to those approaching retirement. Bespoke tools available.
Professional firms can refer clients for financial education alongside their own regulated work, or commission bespoke educational support. Sessions are £74/hr plus any travel — from client preparation to bespoke educational projects.
Free guides & tools
Five standalone educational tools, free to use, fully self-directed. No data stored, no login required.
Start here · Foundation
New to this? Start here. The three capitals, the two levers, and how the whole Money Lifemap series fits together — in plain language, no jargon.
Open guideBox Theory · Guide 1
Understanding tax wrappers — ISAs, pensions, GIAs — and why where you put your money matters as much as how much you save.
Open toolBox Theory · Guide 2
Investment construction — what to hold inside your wrappers, why it matters, and how to think about risk, diversification, and cost.
Open toolBox Theory · Guide 3
Decumulation, risk of ruin, withdrawal rates, and sequence-of-returns risk. The question nobody asks — until it's too late.
Open toolPlanning framework
How cash flow modelling works, why it's central to good financial planning, and how to read and interpret a lifetime cash flow model.
Open toolGuidance framework
A framework for thinking through whether self-directed learning or guided support is the right starting point — based on where you are, not what product you need.
Open toolGuided session
The guided Money Lifemap cash flow modelling system and BCM™ complexity measure are used in booked sessions with an educator.
Book a sessionStart with the free tools at your own pace, or book a guided session to explore your full financial picture with an educator alongside you.