I’ve been getting asked two versions of the same question lately:
“How do you think about AI and the future of financial advice?” Or said more directly, “Will AI replace you?”
Honestly, I don’t take the threat lightly at all.
Things are changing incredibly fast, and I think anyone in professional services who dismisses AI is probably underestimating what’s coming. That said, I also think there’s a more nuanced outcome than “financial advisors disappear.”
I think future clients will show up far more informed than ever before.
They’ll use AI to:
- learn financial concepts,
- build rough draft financial plans,
- generate smarter questions,
- compare strategies,
- and better understand what good advice should look like.
And frankly, I think that’s a good thing. More informed clients will likely separate great advisors from conflicted product salespeople or shallow planning shops. The “information advantage” in our industry is shrinking quickly. But real financial planning was never just about information.
It’s about judgment.
Prioritization.
Implementation.
Coordination.
Behavior.
Tax awareness.
Follow-through.
A family can have a sophisticated financial plan on paper and still make costly mistakes if nobody implements it correctly:
- beneficiaries never updated,
- taxes triggered unintentionally,
- Roth opportunities missed,
- portfolios unmanaged,
- estate documents disconnected from reality,
- emotional decisions made during stressful markets.
AI can help generate a checklist. But someone still has to connect all the dots and help execute thoughtfully over time.
I also think AI will empower a certain type of highly capable do-it-yourself investor in ways we’ve never seen before. Some people absolutely will benefit from that.
But for many successful families and business owners, the challenge was never just access to information.
It was turning complexity into clarity, then consistently making good decisions year after year. That part still matters.
Maybe more than ever.
Happy planning,
Brian