First Wealth, the B Corp-certified financial planning firm, has published Measure Wealth by Wellbeing, a guide to its proprietary Measure Wealth by Wellbeing (MWbW) framework. Built around six evidence-based pillars and grounded in academic research, the framework moves beyond conventional measures of financial success to place client wellbeing at the centre of financial planning.
The guide, available for download from the First Wealth website, draws on decades of research, including work from the Harvard Study of Adult Development and academic studies in behavioural finance and positive psychology, to offer clients a structured way to understand their own financial wellbeing. It sets out six pillars covering goal setting, financial planning, risk protection, financial independence, intergenerational planning, and values-aligned impact, with practical prompts at each stage to help clients assess where they stand.
Central to the framework is a 16-question scorecard that generates an overall wellbeing score for each client across the six pillars. As a B Corp-certified firm, First Wealth uses the scorecard to measure and evidence its impact on client outcomes over time, moving beyond the standard industry metric of investment returns.
The framework has its origins in Anthony Villis’s own experience. As co-founder and Managing Director of First Wealth, Anthony spent years building a business and achieving the markers of conventional financial success, only to find himself increasingly at odds with what those markers were actually delivering. It was only after facing a serious family health issue, and making a fundamental decision to reset his family’s priorities that he began to understand the difference between financial success and financial wellbeing. That understanding became the foundation for everything First Wealth now does with clients.
“I spent a long time measuring the right things in the wrong way,” said Anthony Villis, co-founder and Managing Director of First Wealth. “I had a business, I had financial security, and by conventional measures, I was doing well. But I was often unhappy. It took a significant personal wake-up call to make me ask what I was actually planning for. That question is at the heart of everything we now do.”
First Wealth designed The Measure Wealth by Wellbeing guide to be accessible to anyone thinking seriously about their financial future, and is publishing it alongside an interactive self-assessment scorecard tool. Moving forward, it will integrate into First Wealth’s annual client review process as part of a broader rollout of the MWbW framework.
The guide also reflects First Wealth’s broader thinking on what the financial planning profession will look like in a world where data and information are freely available. The firm believes the next chapter for the profession is not about investment performance but about outcomes, emotional intelligence, and the relationship between money and how people actually live.
Dr Oliver Rabie, General Practitioner and Health Coach, said: “A common theme I see as a doctor is disruption to one or more of the lifestyle medicine pillars – nutrition, physical activity, sleep, avoiding harmful substances, stress management, and social connection – due to financial instability. Without financial stability, it becomes hard to keep on top of the other aspects of health.
It’s striking that First Wealth’s financial wellbeing plan also rests on six pillars. One of theirs – anticipating life’s curveballs – mirrors something I do in clinic: when supporting someone through a health change, I’ll ask what might challenge them and how they could overcome it. The common thread is empowerment. When people feel able to plan ahead and take control – whether of their finances or their health – it often leads to more positive outcomes across both.”
“There is a tendency in our industry to equate good financial planning with accumulating more stuff,” added Villis. “The most meaningful work we do is with clients who have stopped asking ‘how much can I make’ and started asking ‘what’s it all for’. Measure Wealth by Wellbeing gives us a shared language for that conversation, and a way to track whether we are actually making a difference to how our clients are living today and thinking about the future.”
The Measure Wealth by Wellbeing guide is available to download here.
The Measure Wealth by Wellbeing framework is built around six pillars:
- What Matters Most (goal setting and values alignment)
- The Plan (structured financial planning)
- The Curveballs (risk protection and financial resilience)
- Financial Independence (working towards financial freedom)
- Loved Ones (intergenerational planning and family financial conversations)
- Impact (values-aligned investing and philanthropy)
First Wealth worked with Professor Brett Carr, a psychologist, to develop its thinking on behavioural and cognitive biases in financial decision-making.
This article does not constitute tax, legal or financial advice and should not be relied upon as such. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in the future. For guidance, seek professional advice.
Past performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated. The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.
