Article
A letter from our CEO, Ben Leonard
December 5, 2025
by Ben Leonard
CEO & Co-Founder at Life Moments
Dear financial services colleagues,
Let’s celebrate the win. After decades of campaigning, financial education will now be prioritised in the curriculum and future generations will leave school with a more solid foundation for life.
So now the kids are sorted, what about the adults?
My answer is this: by 2030 every UK adult will have experienced, and ideally adopted, a money coach.
Now I have your attention, let me explain.
Financial literacy, capability and resilience are stagnating while the world grows more complex. People are finding it harder to navigate money, leading to greater caution and worsening financial and physical health.
The numbers speak for themselves. The Financial Conduct Authority's Financial Lives survey shows 36% rate their financial knowledge as low, rising to 53% among 18–24-year-olds. Equally, research from Standard Life UK shows that seven in ten UK adults feel that retirement in the future will be more complex than it is now.
Today’s context suggests a complicated picture of the consumer’s needs: trust is low, new and unregulated advice channels are gaining traction, and financial pressure is rising, with social media, AI tools and increasing debt shaping how people make decisions today.
For financial services, this represents both a risk and an opportunity. Our connection with customers is weakening, and technology is accelerating disintermediation. We need to become relevant in ways that go beyond products and rediscover the notion of service in financial services. Helping people make better financial decisions is an opportunity to do exactly that, and at Life Moments, we’ve spent eight years working out how to deliver it effectively.
Revolution or evolution?
Someone on LinkedIn recently asked when financial services last did something for consumers without being told to. The silence was telling.
For me, it’s clear: it’s time for a revolution. We don’t need tweaks, tick-boxes or excuses. We need action.
Our industry has the resources, creativity and permissions to do far more. The shift we need is mindset: working together, iterating fast and focusing on outcomes that truly help people at scale.
At Life Moments, we call this money coaching, and we’ve launched our manifesto to show how a money coaching revolution could reshape the UK landscape. The good news is, we’re not starting from scratch. MaPS, the Money Guiders network, debt advice charities like StepChange Debt Charity and Rooted Finance, and many other firms are already planting the seeds of what better support can look like. Our challenge now is for providers to embed, scale and in turn build on this progress.
A vision for 2030
To help bring this to life, I want to set out a vision which is entirely achievable.
It’s January 2030, and we have 100% adoption of money coaching across the adult population.
Just like registering for a GP, the concept of a Money Coach has become normalised. Although it looks different for different groups, it’s now woven into everyday life.
People discuss their money coaches with friends, family and colleagues. They ask questions, receive “targeted” suggestions and gradually learn to trust their financial services providers. They trust them not just to manage their money well, but to genuinely support them along the way.
We achieved this by working together, setting shared targets and uniting behind something bigger than any one firm, using both technology and people to improve outcomes for customers and industry colleagues alike.
To reach this goal by 2030, we’ve created the Money Coach Manifesto. It sets out the principles and pledges behind Money Coaching Mission 2030 and outlines how this will grow into an industry-wide movement. You can explore these in full on our website.
Who can get involved & how
We’ve convened a small coalition to coordinate early workshops and roundtables. Participation is based on contribution — time, resources or funding — with one simple ask:
Don’t just listen; commit to doing something.
The coalition meets first on 12 January 2026, after which roundtable dates will be announced. If you'd like to be a part of this movement, register your interest here.
I can’t wait to get started. In the meantime, I wish everyone a relaxing Christmas and New Year’s break.
Best regards,
Ben Leonard, Life Moments CEO & Co-Founder
