AI May Not Replace Advisors, But It Is Raising Expectations

Clients are showing up to meetings with enough AI-generated questions to make Ken Jennings proud.

Conversations are expanding beyond traditional investing topics to touch on transferring wealth, financial anxiety, life decisions and broader economic concerns, according to a new survey from Edward Jones. More than a third of advisors surveyed said clients are comparing their advice to recommendations received online or through artificial intelligence tools. As clients become more educated about their finances, advisors have the opportunity to have deeper discussions that ensure clients are not only more informed, but more confident in the decisions they make. 

“Advisors who work with clients using AI will spend less time doing very basic education,” said Phil de la Motte, an advisor at Prospero Wealth. “We’re going to get to spend more time having more sophisticated conversations, and ultimately getting to better decisions more quickly.”

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AI can be useful for achieving a higher level of analysis faster, whether that’s led by advisors or clients themselves, said Rick Nott, senior managing director at Angeles Wealth. Sometimes clients will come in already having run their own analysis and can request a certain strategy, or they’ll spend time researching in between meetings and will come back with more nuanced questions. 

After suggesting a strategy, Nott said clients often come back with deeper questions about what it means for their financial picture. Other examples include:

• Clients sometimes proactively bring up tax-planning opportunities with Roth IRAs, or do their own research, he said. 
• When making decisions about real estate, some clients come to meetings having already done a deep analysis of the finances, and are able to then go through the model together with their advisor.  

Make It a True Daily Double. AI can be useful in building a client’s confidence about a strategy that the advisor suggested, De la Motte said. He recalled a client who was rather risk averse, and wanted to run a strategy past him. De la Motte crafted a very specific prompt based on the client’s situation, and asked him to run it through his favorite chatbot. “He ran it and said: ‘Wow, that was really useful. It saved me some time, it saved me effort, but also it gave me confidence … I just feel more confident about what we’re doing.’”