Raising Living Standards: Time for the FCA to Get with the Programme

When the foundations crack, maybe it's time to stop piling on the profits and start investing in the people holding it up.

In a plot twist nobody saw coming, Keir Starmer has decided that raising living standards is more important than squeezing every last penny into the City. Shocking, I know. After years of flogging “growth” as the magic answer to all economic woes, someone finally realised that trickle-down economics doesn’t actually… trickle down. Who knew?

For the public and holistic financial planners, this shift is more than welcome. But for the FCA? It’s time to sit up, pay attention, and realise that their secondary “growth objective” is now about as relevant as a fax machine.

Financial Capital vs Human Capital: A No-Brainer

Let’s break it down. Total wealth isn’t just about financial capital—those savings, pensions, and investments the City is so keen to get its hands on. It’s also about human capital: people’s skills, future earnings, and ability to contribute meaningfully to the economy. In other words, investing in people rather than simply boosting financial products that pad out banker bonuses.

Under the old “growth” mantra, the FCA’s role seemed pretty clear: loosen the rules, push investment products onto the masses, and extend auto-enrolment to keep City funds under management booming. Who cared if most Brits couldn’t afford it? Not their problem.

But let’s face it—this approach isn’t working.

The squeezed middle are out of pocket, businesses are reeling from rising national insurance costs and minimum wage hikes, and the public doesn’t have two pennies to rub together—never mind stash into pensions with vague promises of “jam tomorrow”.

A New Strategy: Invest in People, Not Products

Here’s a radical idea: instead of peddling financial capital products to people who can’t afford them, let’s focus on human capital development. That means:

• Creating opportunities for people to learn, grow, and improve their livelihoods.

• Lifelong learning that helps individuals upskill, reskill, and find work aligned with their skills and values.

• Eliminating age discrimination so experienced workers can stay active in the workforce instead of being tossed aside.

• Empowering young people and those on sickness benefits to engage in meaningful, value-driven work.

This isn’t just about raising wages—though that would be nice, too. It’s about creating the conditions where people can thrive economically, which (surprise!) also strengthens spending, saving, and the economy at large. Who would have thought?

Memo to the FCA: Time to Change Gear

The FCA’s secondary growth objective was always dubious at best. Now, it’s obsolete. The message to Nikhil Rathi and team is clear: get with the programme. The government has moved on, and so should you. Instead of prioritising the City’s interests, it’s time to:

1. Regulate the City so that financial services serve the people, not the other way around.

2. Champion the consumer by addressing the advice gap and focusing on raising living standards for the 92% underserved population.

Put simply: stop flogging financial products as the solution to everything. They’re not.

The Bigger Picture: A Fairer Future

Starmer’s focus on living standards signals a long-overdue shift—one that puts people back at the heart of economic policy. It’s morally right, yes. But it’s also economically smart. By investing in human capital and raising living standards, we don’t just create fairer outcomes—we create a stronger, more resilient economy that works for everyone.

The FCA now has a choice: cling to the past or embrace the future. The public, financial planners, and consumer advocates are all watching.

Change is coming. Get on board.