Martin Lewis Is Right. But There Is One More Question.

I recently heard Martin Lewis speaking to a room of sixth form students.

His message was simple.

Treat every financial advert you see on social media with suspicion until you've proved it's genuine.

Don't trust the advert.

Leave the platform.

Find the company yourself.

Verify it independently.

Only then should you decide whether to engage.

I think that's excellent advice. But proving something is genuine isn't the same as proving it's right for you.

In a world of AI-generated images, cloned websites and increasingly sophisticated scams, learning how to verify information is becoming an essential life skill.

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

But as I listened, it made me wonder whether there is another question that often gets overlooked.

What happens after we've established that something is genuine?

Because "Is this real?" and "Is this right for me?" are very different questions.

Imagine you're looking for somewhere to eat.

A restaurant may be genuine.

It may have excellent reviews, a smart website and a busy dining room.

That doesn't automatically make it the right restaurant for your evening.

The same is true of almost every important decision we make.

A university can be genuine without being the right university.

A house can be genuine without being the right home.

A financial adviser can be genuine without being the right adviser.

Yet we often stop asking questions the moment we've established that someone is legitimate.

In financial services, we might check that a firm is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

We might see that it has been established for many years.

We might read positive reviews.

We might recognise the name.

All of those things matter.

They're sensible checks.

But they only answer one question.

They tell us the firm is genuine.

• They don't tell us whether you'll make a better decision because you chose it.

• They don't explain how decisions are made.

• They don't tell us who owns the business.

• They don't reveal what happens if your adviser retires or leaves.

• They don't explain how your family will be looked after if circumstances change.

• They don't tell you what difference choosing this firm will make to your life ten or twenty years from now.

Those are different questions.

Harder questions.

Questions that require thought rather than simply verification.

Martin Lewis is helping people avoid bad decisions.

That's incredibly important.

But avoiding a bad decision isn't always the same as making a good one.

Perhaps that's where real judgement begins.

Not when we've proved something is genuine.

But when we continue asking questions after everyone else has stopped.