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The 3rd Act

The 3rd Act · For providers, platforms, networks & wealth managersT3A · For institutions

Technical authority, put to work.

One brief. Every discipline. From the start.

We put the right senior judgement around the problem from the outset, so challenge comes earlier, hand-offs reduce and the thinking stays connected. The result is work that stands up internally, moves faster and lands harder in market.

Discuss your brief See how the model works →

Every brief. Four tests.

Judge us by them before we start.

I

Accurate enough to trust.

Technical and regulatory depth inside the work from the beginning.

II

Fast enough to matter.

The right disciplines already in the room when the market moves.

III

Defensible enough to approve.

Governance, evidence and accountability travel through the engagement.

IV

Commercial enough to justify.

Outcomes are defined at the beginning, not activity dressed up as impact.

The senior operating model

The hard part isn’t finding specialists. It’s joining their judgement.

One senior team. One governed system. One accountable relationship.

The disciplines work together from the start, so the judgement stays connected from first question through to market.

01

Technical authority

40 years of applied pensions, tax, trusts, and estate planning knowledge.

02

Research & market insight

Adviser, consumer and market evidence that identifies the real issue, tests the commercial assumption and provides the campaign platform.

03

Regulation & Conduct

Conduct-by-design, Consumer Duty, regulatory change, governance and responsible deployment of technology.

04

Communications & market influence

Narrative, content, campaigns and activation designed to preserve the substance all the way into market.

Closer to the market

We don’t just understand the advice market. We serve it.

T3A Adviser is an independent platform built for advisers and paraplanners. It keeps us close to the realities of adviser work: what gets attention, what creates friction, what language lands and what genuinely helps. That proximity informs the propositions, research, technical support and communications we create for institutions.

The model, applied

The model is new.
The track record isn’t.

Selected work from the people behind The 3rd Act.

Research and technical judgement, carried through into work advisers can use.

Explore the three studies
Work, Considered. 56 seconds Film description

Selected studies

From the question
to the useful thing.

01

Wealthtime Permission to Spend

Research into practice

The confidence
to use the plan.

A sound retirement plan is only part of the answer. The household also needs the confidence to put it into practice.

Research with 1,000 affluent UK retirees and 200 advisers became a practical guide, a connected framework and tools for the client conversation.

The question
What turns financial capacity into confidence to spend?
The application
A client permission statement, adviser diagnostic and CPD webinar.
Portfolio presentation · originals in the reading view.
The hubExplore Permission to Spend In the press · Professional Adviser · 16 September 2026“Client confidence boost from advice review in retirement fades after six months” Tony and Phillip Wickenden presenting the Permission to Spend webinar.Watch · Webinar · 8 October 2026Tony and Phillip Wickenden, with Wealthtime’s David Edgar
Credits & further reading

Commissioned by Wealthtime. Original research and technical work by Ad Lucem and Technical Connection. Original publication credits are retained.

02

AJ Bell The Great Wrapper Reset

Complexity into a framework

Complexity,
made workable.

Changing tax rules make familiar wrapper decisions harder to apply, explain and evidence.

Research with 350 advisers and 150 paraplanners informed a programme connecting technical interpretation with a seven-step decision framework, worked cases and adviser education.

The question
What does a sound wrapper decision need to consider now?
The application
A practical framework, worked scenarios and communication support.
Portfolio presentation · originals in the reading view.
The hubExplore The Great Wrapper Reset In the press · FT Adviser · 18 August 2026“Advisers seek more wrapper support amid ‘ever-changing tax environment’” In the press · Money Marketing · 18 August 2026“Advisers call for ‘wrapper reset’ as tax changes complicate planning”
Credits & further reading

Commissioned by AJ Bell. Research and technical work by Ad Lucem and Technical Connection. The complementary behavioural science guide is by Cowry Consulting; the pension and ISA case studies are credited to AJ Bell’s technical team.

03

Air The Home Belongs in the Plan

An argument into action

The home,
in the whole plan.

Housing wealth belongs in the wider planning conversation. Advisers also need a practical route to bring it there.

The report connects technical and client considerations with worked examples and implementation pathways. Its central argument continued into trade coverage, adviser education and industry discussion.

The question
How should housing wealth fit into later-life and family planning?
The application
Clear routes into referral, capability building and adviser education.
Portfolio presentation · originals in the reading view.
The hubExplore The Home Belongs in the Plan In the press · Mortgage Solutions · 14 April 2026Coverage of the report’s planning and business case Air podcast discussion of The Home Belongs in the Plan, with Will Hale and Roland Whyte.Listen · Air podcast · 28 July 2026 · 22:56Will Hale and Roland Whyte discuss the thinking behind the report
Credits & further reading

Commissioned by Air. Report authors: Tony Wickenden of Technical Connection and Phillip Wickenden of Ad Lucem. The linked podcast is an Air discussion of the report, featuring Will Hale and Roland Whyte of Nokkel.

The connection

The judgement stays
with the work.

A useful finding is a beginning. The work is carrying it through technical scrutiny, practical application and the conversation it needs to change.

  1. 01 Establish the question.
  2. 02 Apply the judgement.
  3. 03 Make it useful.

The people you meet are the people who lead the work.

Four disciplines. One operating unit.

01
Line portrait of Tony Wickenden

Tony Wickenden

Technical authority

Four decades at the centre of taxation, trusts, estate planning, retirement planning, proposition development, BDM and adviser support.

02
Line portrait of Phillip Wickenden

Phillip Wickenden

Research, Behavioural Economics & Adviser Business Practice

Turning adviser, consumer and market evidence into sharper propositions, campaigns and commercial decisions.

03
Line portrait of Simon Collins

Simon Collins

Regulation & Conduct

Conduct-by-design, Consumer Duty evidence, regulatory change and AI governance.

04
Line portrait of Jamie Dunkley

Jamie Dunkley

Communications & market influence

Narrative, media strategy and communications designed to earn attention and move the market.

Start the conversation

Bring us the brief. Tell us the outcome you need, not the service you think you need.

  • A proposition to sharpen.
  • A technical or regulatory issue to resolve.
  • Deep technical support for your support teams.
  • Adviser engagement to strengthen.
  • Content or a campaign that needs to land.
  • A BDM team to equip and motivate.
  • Adviser or consumer needs to understand more deeply.

For institutions

Discuss your brief.

Tell us the outcome you need, not the service you think you need.

Please enter your name.
Please enter your organisation.
Please enter your role.
Please enter a valid work email.
Please select the outcome.

Brief received.

One of the senior team will respond directly.