Life Planning movement founder George Kinder recently moved to London to launch a new global business and plans to settle here permanently, building a new international base. In this exclusive for Financial Planning Today he explains his decision and outlines his business plans.

I am thrilled to have recently moved to the UK on an Innovator Founder Visa, granted to me by the UK government for the purpose of launching a global startup. 

This new venture - The Moules (more on this next week) - focuses on building a culture where businesses and institutions are humane and trustworthy in all things. 

But the move to the UK was not simply a business decision - it was the culmination of a personal journey.

For the past 30 years, alongside my global work in promoting and developing life planning, I had been quietly nurturing what I thought of as my legacy: a quintet of books combining poetry and photography, inspired by life on a peninsula stretching into an 80-acre lake called Spectacle Pond.

My passion was to understand the nature of the present moment as reflected in the experience of Mother Nature and to inspire others to live more deeply within. The first volume was recently published on Kindle and iBooks, with the rest to follow in 2026.

Completing that chapter left me with a pressing question: What now? I knew I wanted to dedicate myself to something significant - something that could meaningfully respond to the challenges of our current age using the skills honed through life planning and my signature EVOKE methodology.

Like many, I sense the world feels out of balance, caught in cycles of division and fractiousness. Introducing an idealistic venture in the United States felt daunting, whereas in the UK it seemed possible.

I’ve spent a few months each year in the UK for the past 20 years and, during that time, the country has come to feel like a second home.

My wife, Kathy, and I often spoke of retiring here one day. London, with its vibrancy, culture, and accessibility, seemed to us like the ultimate “retirement centre” - a place where you step out your front door and everything is within reach.

And then, of course, there are the personal joys: Hampstead Heath, where Kathy and I imagine settling, offers us a taste of the countryside with quick access to the city.

London’s theatres, museums and music provide endless cultural nourishment. Kathy, a former actress, delights in the city’s thriving creative scene, while I revel in reconnecting with friends made over two decades of visits.

Even the weather, often maligned by others, is something I find myself fond of.

Every walk here feels infused with history - whether it’s through the winding streets of Hampstead, the rugged coastlines of Cornwall, or the bustling neighbourhoods of London. That sense of history adds a grounding, a perspective, that I find deeply inspiring. It reminds me that institutions, like individuals, can evolve, reinvent themselves and leave legacies that endure.

London also offers a remarkable practical advantage: it is just a single flight away from most of the world’s business capitals. This makes it an ideal base for a venture designed to be global from the start. Clients can come here to participate in our programmes, or I can just as easily reach them wherever they are.

London has been part of my life plan for a long time. When it first appeared in Question Three 20 years ago, I immediately started to spend several months a year here. Now, to be building both a home and a business in the UK feels like the fulfilment of a long-held dream.

As Kathy and I settle here, I see this move not as the closing of a chapter, but as the opening of a new one - rooted in legacy, driven by vision, and inspired by everything the UK represents: history, creativity, humanity, and possibility. 

• Next week: What the Moules business is all about.

George Kinder, CFP, RLP, is the founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning and designer of training for client-adviser relationship skills. https://www.kinderinstitute.com/