This is the end of the seventh year of the Update, siblings, and as ever the last of the year is the hardest to write. Not that the others are easy, you understand; liquid genius on a weekly basis like this doesn’t just come out of the tap. We suffer, and we do it for you, and we’re happy to do it, and all we ask is one TINY little case of champagne at the end of the year from each of you, and if you feel like making it two cases then let the record show we are ready to accept them. 

I don’t think I can face doing a review of the year; you’ll get plenty of that from others, and if you can’t remember what the topic of conversation was in the 26 March Update (well done if you guessed ethics and AI) and what the song was (Sale of the Century by Sleeper, what a tune) then that is very much between you and your conscience, and that sounds like a you problem not a me problem. 

I will, however, fly by my big theme(s) of the year, if I may. If for no other reason than I need to give you something to disagree with. That theme is that there is, as some old bloke once mentioned, nothing new under the sun, and I guess I am now old enough to see things come back around. This year to me was one of going back to the start; of version-2’s if you like. Version 2.0 learns from the errors of the first, or is meant to, and is better for it, or is meant to be. 

And so as we’ve gone through 2025 and watched the nature of financial advice change as tax and regulation and demographics all do their thing, I can’t help thinking that I’ve seen a lot of this before, back in the days of thunder before we had Consumer Duty and even before TCF when the tax tail wagged the investment dog and all anyone asked about was if it was 160% or 180% LAUTRO and also where was dinner going to be. 

But this time we have the overlay not only of regulation, but of accepted practice around financial planning, around platforms, around the adviser being the agent of the client and not the provider. And all this adds up to a sector which is happy to tell clients to do nothing, or to take their money if they need it, or to buy an annuity if that’s right – one which has client interests at heart, no matter what the prevailing noise. Are there miscreants and footpads out there? Yes of course. But far fewer than there used to be. 

So as we head back into a cycle where tax wrappers matter more, where there is as much good old financial advice to do as there is planning – and clients genuinely value both – I am cheered as 2025 recedes that things are just…better this time.  

This profession and this industry exist only because a bunch of trusting people allow you to tell them what to do with their money and then keep a little bit of it for yourselves. So to be allowed to keep doing that is very cool, and acting with integrity right across the industry is the very least we should expect. There are still many things to work on and improve – but my goodness v2 is pretty much unrecognisable from v1. 

ENOUGH ALREADY 

If I’m really honest 2024 wasn’t my favourite year; things felt icky and sticky at times, and not in a fun way. 2025 has been the antithesis of this. It’s been intense, flat-out, but overall it is one to remember, and as we head towards our accounting year end in March I think the lang cat will have had our biggest year yet.  

That it is so is nothing to do with me and everything to do with the incredible group of talented individuals who, against all rationality, have chosen to ply their trade at the lang cat. We are 30 souls now once our current vacancies are filled (contact for details etc) and if you do me no other favour this Christmas just please don’t tell them that they could all go and get much better jobs elsewhere quite easily. Thank you to all the cats, have a good and ideally quite short break, and try harder next year, aye?  

It’s down to those who have paid us to do things – we’ve done a lot of stuff with a lot of companies this year, and we owe all of you a huge thanks. Did you know we have over 25 retained financial services clients in our PR business? Now you do.  

It’s down to the hundreds of wise and deeply attractive planning firms who subscribe to Analyser – still the most independent, unbiased due diligence and product comparison tool in the market. We chose the hard road for Analyser; we don’t sell your contact details, it’s free for providers to list and they can’t buy any little star ratings or little featured listings or anything like that. It’s a dead-straight tool for planners to use and planners pay for it. If you haven’t looked at it for a while I hope you will in 2026. 

And it’s down to the 1,700 or so advice professionals who make up our lang cat research panel. Thank you for helping us out when we need you; your voice makes a difference. Sometimes only a little one, but a difference nonetheless. 

Finally, thank you to all of you who read our stuff, send me wee notes when the Update makes you cross or makes you laugh, come to our events (London! London! London!) and interact with us in any way. A bunch of legends, the lot of you.

And your music choice – well, if you’ve read the Christmas Update in the last five years, you’ll know that our strict no-repeat song policy is suspended for this week and this week only. I will continue to give you Merry Christmas My Darling (Drink Up) by Tom McRae and Lowri Evans until someone releases something better. This is the best Christmas song in the world, and I’m sad at how wrong you are if you disagree. All gunfire and thunder…best do what they say. Enjoy.   

Slàinte mhath from all of us to all of you. See you in 2026.  

Mark