AI Will Eliminate Wealth Management Jobs. That May Be a Good Thing 

Will AI agents ever replace human financial advisors? 

Experts who have debated the question broadly agree that the human connection between advisors and clients will endure in the AI age. That doesn’t necessarily hold true, however, for middle- and back-office staff. Will the technology decimate operational roles that have provided meaningful (if more menial) employment opportunities to thousands? It’s likely, experts agreed, but there’s a silver lining. 

“It’s a legitimate question and an important one for advisor firm leaders and industry stakeholders to contemplate,” Altruist Chief Operating Officer Mazi Bahadori told Advisor Upside in the wake of his firm’s market-moving AI tax planning tool launch. “We’ve been in the headlines recently for our Hazel platform. So, we’ve seen what advisory firms do when they don’t need their people working on repetitive operational tasks. What they do and don’t do may surprise you.” 

An Unavoidable Question 

What they don’t do, generally, is rush to fire staff whose roles have been made redundant, at least not on the Altruist platform. Instead, firms have redeployed and reinvested in their people, moving them to strategic projects and even encouraging staff to get licensed and start producing new business. Layoffs do happen, Bahadori noted, but the base response among RIAs embracing AI isn’t clearing house. 

Anthropic, April, Altruist, Vestwell, LPL, Orion and others have all launched new AI-powered products or raised significant funding to do so. All have said their intentions are to empower, not displace, financial advisors. 

As for their staff, “I agree 100% that forward-thinking firms who embrace AI are finding new roles and opportunities for their people,” April CEO Ben Borodach told Advisor Upside. April’s tools help financial advisors with tax insights and the filing process, which can be outsourced or led by a firm’s own CPAs.

“We’ve seen this play out among clients who already had a tax team before adopting our platform,” Borodach observed. “Before, they may have had multiple staffers who did nothing other than keep up with the tedious work of filling out and filing 1040s. Our platform significantly cuts down the effort needed to do that, freeing people to refocus on real planning. It’s not a replacement story.”

A Boon for Clients? 

One downstream effect of AI implementation, added April President Raj Doshi, should be an elevated client service experience. It could also bring advanced planning to more investors, especially in areas such as estate planning, management of concentrated stock portfolios and goal-setting in the household context. 

“Everyone is very focused on this AI replacement idea, whether advisors or staff, but it’s interesting to step back and consider what happens as the industry more broadly adopts AI,” Doshi said. “Competition will be elevated and client expectations will grow.” Before AI, Roth conversion planning or tax loss harvesting were often reserved for top clients. Not anymore, Doshi said. “AI lets financial advisors and staff do more valuable planning work for more clients.” Many are already leaning in, per Advisor360: 

• Nine in 10 advisors believe those who lean into “softer” skills and services will succeed over the next decade.
• The same percentage (90%) is interested in using AI tools to expand their service offerings, with top use cases being tax planning (48%), model creation (47%) and retirement income planning (45%).

A Note for the Skeptics. The pace of AI-focused industry news can seem overwhelming, said Reed Colley, president of Orion Advisor Technology, but it doesn’t have to be. “Anthropic is a thoughtful, enterprise‑grade AI partner, and it’s encouraging to see them lean into wealth management more broadly,” Colley told Advisor Upside, noting Orion is among the wealth industry firms collaborating closely with the San Francisco-based AI giant. “For us, this isn’t a sudden pivot. It reinforces a belief we’ve held for some time that AI will be a foundational capability in this industry, and it pays to engage early, responsibly and with purpose.”

When addressing AI‑skeptical advisors, Colley said, he frames the dialog around trusting what AI does, not trusting the AI.  “AI isn’t about replacing judgment or relationships. It’s about removing friction so advisors can spend more time where they add the most value,” Colley said. “Think of AI as a wedge: It starts by quietly improving efficiency, insight and consistency, and over time, it opens the door to better client experiences and stronger practices. Our job is to help advisors move forward with confidence, not overwhelm them with change.”