The Fog That Settled Over the Profession
Once the idea had been born, it didn’t remain in the boardroom for long.
It travelled. Swiftly. Quietly.
It passed through head offices, compliance teams and adviser networks.
A Narrative Settles In
A narrative settled over the profession like a soft fog:
Bonds keep people calm. Equities make too much noise. Stability matters more than growth.
And fog is persuasive.
It blurs sharp edges. It softens uncomfortable truths. It convinces well-intentioned people to play safe — even when “safe” doesn’t solve the real problem.
And that real problem was, and still is, inflation.
Not the version that gets reported. Real inflation — in the real world.
Comfortable, Not Correct
Over time, the gentle narrative hardened into doctrine. Not because it was right. But because it was comfortable.
It reduced anxiety. It minimised complaints. It replaced volatility with smooth-looking lines.
Behind that comforting fog, something else was forming — vast, intricate, and quietly powerful.
The Rise of the Networks
As the financial world expanded, and banks steadily pulled away from giving investment advice, large adviser networks grew.
Some housed hundreds of advisers. One grew to nearly 5,000.
And that created a problem…
…A big problem.
You cannot have 5,000 advisers each independently deciding how much equity belongs in a portfolio.
The systems can’t cope. The oversight can’t cope. The investment teams running the money can’t cope.
When Systems Standardise
So networks did what large systems always do.
They standardised.
Portfolio models were created. Models required rules. Rules required risk tests.
And those risk tests — designed to keep thousands of advisers aligned — pushed almost every ordinary retiree into the same corner.
A “balanced” portfolio. 60% equities. 40% fixed income.
One Size, Fitted to No One
It didn’t matter who the client was. It didn’t matter how long they might live. It didn’t matter what inflation would do to their spending power.
It didn’t matter what inflation would do to their spending power.
The test decided. The adviser complied.
And the portfolio drifted…
…Quietly and obediently — into bonds.
£2.73 Trillion, Sedated
That is one of the reasons £2.73 trillion of the nation’s £9.1 trillion in retirement wealth now sits subdued, sedated, and structurally underperforming.
Not through malice. Not through incompetence.
But through a fog that went unchallenged.
19 December 2025 at 13:03
