HomeGame 6

HomeGame 6 isn’t just another HomeGame. It’s a homecoming for the lang cat. This year we bring our annual event to just a few hundred metres from The Lang Cat Port Authority (that’s our head office) and we want to invite you to join us for an event quite unlike any other.

HomeGame this year lands at a time when the financial advice market has lots of new things to think about. For decades now, the profession has had a trump card – “yeah but if you want actual financial advice then this is the only place you can get it.”

That’s not true any more – or is it? We already know that general AI tools are widely used by clients not only to find out what to do with their money, but even to check recommendations or provide guidance on what to do when you meet an adviser. Alongside this, the D2C market is exploding; growth of the two channels used to be like tramlines but now the direct market is sprinting ahead.

All in all it’s a good time to work out what’s what out there. And that’s what we’re going to do.

We know AI is giving advice, or what consumers perceive to be advice. What we don’t know is how consistent that advice is, or how good it is. It might be decent. It might be a bin fire. Most in our industry are afraid of the former and hoping for the latter. The only way to know for sure is to put it to the test.

Here’s how it’s going to work.

The storied, dilapidated, regenerating and peerless Leith Theatre will turn into our communal AI lab for the day and will host an event unlike anything financial services has seen before. The audience won’t be sitting and listening. You’ll be working in teams, making decisions, prompting AI tools and – hopefully – disagreeing loudly with each other whilst having a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Before that the day will open the way a lang cat event always opens: with research, honesty, doomed attempts at entertainment, and the scene set for the sessions to come.

Then we do something really risky.

Every table becomes a client: the same client. Every client has an AI terminal already hooked up to one of the big generative models that clients typically use. You’ll receive a client brief, written the way a real person writes about their own financial life: incomplete, slightly emotional, and missing the things they don’t know they don’t know. You’ll find out more about yourself as the day progresses and use that information to prompt your AI more fully. We ask the audience to don a veil of ignorance and pretend to be a client – no cheeky prompts saying “are you sure my portfolio will be optimised according to Markowitz’s efficient frontier theory?” or anything like that. Each table will have a Highheidyin[1] to make sure everything runs smoothly.

At the end, you’ll ask your AI to summarise what it’s told you and to recommend your next actions. We will gather that all together using witchcraft and Ancient Wisdom and will give the audience an initial playback before fuller details are published later on.

Throughout, a small crack team of roving camerapeople and hosts will, er, rove and find out how everyone is getting on.

While all this is going on, a small team of financial planners will be going through the same exercise also enabled with AI, but rather than a general system they’ll be using a leading adviser-focused AI tool. They won’t agree on everything, but they’ll need to come up with a consensus view. That will give us a benchmark against which we can measure the outputs from the tables.

At the end, we’ll have 35 or so exercises which are all based off exactly the same data, produced at exactly the same time. The only difference will be the prompts each table/client chooses.

From that we will learn a lot. We’ll be able to see if we think the “advice” is actually advice or not. Whether it falls inside the definition or not, we’ll be able to see if we think it’s any good. And we’ll be able to see how consistent or not it all is.

One of three outcomes are possible: the advice is consistent and good. It’s consistent and bad. Or it’s not consistent at all. Whatever the outcome, you’ll leave properly equipped to consider what if any impact AI plus D2C may have on you, and how to respond when (not if) clients bring a new robot friend to their next meeting.

This will take up most of our day, but we do have a bit of time spare to talk about wider industry issues, hear from planners doing interesting things, think about the regulatory response to all of this and how to navigate that, and more. We are also waiting with giddy excitement for a special guest to be confirmed who we know you’ll love to hear from.

No-one has tried anything like this before in our sector; possibly anywhere. It’s going to be quite a ride. And it’s all going to happen in our home – Leith. We don’t ask you into our house unless we’ve got something very special prepared. And also fine food and drinks sourced from local suppliers. When you come to the lang cat’s gaff, you get taken care of. Those are the rules.

So if you want to take a chance on the bunch that first brought you live financial planning on stage at New Blood last year and have a reckless disregard for how conferences are meant to be run, then get your tickets booked now.

[1] A boss, in Scots, literally “high head one”.

Come with us to Leith. Come home.

THE PRACTICALITIES

The date to mark in your calendars is Wednesday 7 October – join us in person on the day. There is no streaming option – you’ve got to be there!

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, tickets are free for advice professionals working at an advice firm; so advisers, planners, paraplanners, compliance and admin fill your boots (if you work for a huge provider with an advice offshoot you only qualify if you’re in an advice-giving or paraplanning role).

Everyone else is asked to buy tickets at a cost of £100 plus VAT.

Please note that as we need information from all attendees, only 1 ticket can be booked at a time. More tickets can be booked by reaccessing the event page.

CPD

This event will provide 5 hours of structured CPD. Certificates will be sent out to attendees in the weeks following the event.

GETTING TO LEITH THEATRE

Leith Theatre is conveniently located in the heart of Leith, just a short journey from Edinburgh city centre. Whether you’re coming by train, tram, bus, bike, plane, or on foot, getting there is simple.

Train

The closest train stations to Leith Theatre are Edinburgh Waverley (1.9 miles) and Edinburgh Haymarket (3.1 miles). From either station, you can reach the venue by tram, taxi, bus, bike or on foot.

Tram

Ocean Terminal is the nearest tram stop, just a 10-minute (0.4 mile) walk from Leith Theatre. Alternatively, you can disembark at the Foot of the Walk stop, which is a 12-minute (0.5 mile) walk to the venue.

Bus

Local bus routes stopping at or near Leith Theatre include the 7, 10, 14, and 21. For schedules and more information, please refer to the Lothian Buses website.

Cycling

Leith Theatre is easily accessible via excellent local cycling routes. The Water of Leith Walkway is a 12-mile, traffic-free path running from Balerno to Leith, ideal for walking and cycling. It passes through Stockbridge and Dean Village, ending near the theatre (exit at Coalie Park). Additionally, Leith Walk features recently upgraded dedicated cycle lanes, providing a direct and safe route between Leith and Edinburgh city centre.

Air

From Edinburgh Airport, the number 200 bus offers direct travel, dropping you at the Ocean Drive stop, just a 7-minute (0.3 mile) walk from Leith Theatre. Alternatively, you can take the tram from Edinburgh Airport to Ocean Terminal or Foot of the Walk.