Alan Whittle biography

With 20 years experience in financial services, Alan is committed to seeing financial planning develop as a trusted profession.  After working as both a Paraplanner and Compliance and Money Laundering Reporting Officer, Alan set up Unburdened Limited in 2019 to spread knowledge, ideas and know-how that changes financial planning for the better.

Alan is a Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of the Personal Finance Society. A firm believer in the value professional bodies working together, Alan is also a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments and a member of both the Chartered Banker Institute and CFA UK.  Alan has previously served as the President, Education Secretary and Careers Officer of the Aberdeen Institute of Insurance and Financial Services, as the Chair of the PFS North Scotland Region, as a CII National Forum Officer for Scotland, and as a member of the PFS Sustainability Panel.

A great believer in lifelong learning, Alan holds an MSc in Financial Planning and Business Management and was awarded a PhD by Manchester Metropolitan University in February 2025. The subject of his thesis was how reference points, frames and framing influence investment decision-making in advised Impact Investing. His continued research interests are primarily in the fields of applied ethics in a financial services context, sustainable and responsible investing, and what motivates people to invest. Alan also holds specialist qualifications in Impact Investing, Green Finance, Climate Risk, Investment Management, Financial Crime and Risk Management.

Having worked with both the Scottish Government Rural Communities Division and with a private welfare-to-work service operator, Alan is passionate about social sustainability and how financial planning can be a force for good: He is a committed advocate for the integration of sustainable and values-based approaches to investing.

In the academic world, Alan has both lectured and designed courses in financial planning at undergraduate level and sustainable finance at postgraduate level, as well as supervising undergraduate and postgraduate level dissertations. He holds an Associate Fellowship with Advance HE.

Alan is a regular contributor to Personal Financial Professional magazine on ethics and compliance issues and is a subject matter expert on financial planning compliance.  His first academic publication, concerning the challenges of carbon trading in Africa, was published in January 2026.