For decades, buying the Nasdaq-100 in an ETF wrapper was one-stop shopping. Not anymore.

With the recent SpaceX IPO and offerings from artificial intelligence giants Anthropic and OpenAI on the way, investor interest in the tech-heavy index is picking up. State Street Investment Management launched Wednesday a new ETF that tracks the index. The State Street SPDR Portfolio Nasdaq 100 ETF (QNDX) follows years of dominance by Invesco’s Nasdaq-100-tracking QQQ, which was restructured as a traditional open-ended fund in December. With a similar product from BlackRock already filed, competition in the Nasdaq 100 space is heating up, and that’s giving advisors additional options to track one of the world’s most recognizable indexes.

“While [State Street] now offers a lower cost alternative, and we expect iShares to soon follow suit, Invesco retains first-mover advantages,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi. “Similar to the four sizable funds that offer S&P 500 exposure, there is room for multiple providers.”

Fee Wars

After BlackRock and State Street filed to launch competing funds, just a day apart in April, the industry was waiting to learn more about fees. We now know State Street’s fund undercuts QQQ by almost half, charging 10 basis points to QQQ’s 18, respectively. “QNDX at 10 bps is not just competitive, it’s aggressive,” said Jeff Judge, a CFP at Chesapeake Financial Planners. Recently, a client, who has been invested in QQQ since 2017 and never asked about fees, suddenly wanted to talk about the Nasdaq 100. “SpaceX changed that,” Judge said. “She came in asking about the index, and we ended up doing a full wrapper review. That conversation is playing out across practices right now, and State Street and BlackRock are counting on exactly that moment.”

On a $500,000 position, the difference between the State Street product and QQQ is $400 a year, Judge added. “Not life-changing on its own, but in a tax-deferred account compounded over a decade, that number is real money,” he said. However, it’s likely not the last move from Invesco, either. QQQ still has the liquidity and an options market that will keep institutional traders there for years, he added. But more products are on the way for buy-and-hold investors, especially with two more blockbuster tech IPOs slated for later this year. “If they land on Nasdaq, this dynamic repeats,” Judge said. “Every asset manager wants to be the vehicle for that exposure. The era of one firm owning this index is done.”

Not Just for Tech-Heads. Matt Bartolini, global head of research strategists at State Street, said its latest fund is certainly a tech-heavy option, but it also fits in more traditional allocations. “It gives investors the ability to be both core and growth at the same time, and I think it does fit into an investor’s portfolio in that core element, and not just a satellite, tactical tech-like position.”

It’s safe to say AI is changing the wealth management industry.

Advisors are deploying artificial intelligence tools that range from time-saving notetakers and meeting prep platforms to advanced tax- and estate-planning capabilities. Clients, for their part, are turning to Claude and ChatGPT to learn more about key financial topics and even build their own basic financial plans. Firms are enjoying greater capacity and more advanced planning at scale, which should benefit clients.

While its overall effect will be net-positive, advisors said it’s also raising concerns. False confidence in AI-generated information, both by unwary advisors and clients, has become top of mind. Another open question is how AI may change how advisors and prospects meet in the first place, as well as how firms may use AI to expand their client base, either up or down market.

Better Advice Consumers

AI now handles the “what is a Roth conversion” layer of financial planning, said Alvin Carlos, founder of District Capital Management. Many clients come to meetings already having used LLMs to answer what are essentially vocabulary questions, freeing up precious time for deeper planning and goal-setting. “That’s where a human advisor earns the fee,” Carlos said.

Many clients run their questions through Claude before gleaning their advisor’s opinions, agreed Samantha Mockford, associate wealth advisor at Citrine Capital. She even saw one client build a “pretty robust” tool that stress-tests their financial plan. This person, a savvy investor and technology user, still wants humans to check for blind spots and provide context.

The Advisor Angle. The wealth management industry is still in the “shiny object” phase of AI adoption, with many advisors focused on what peers are using rather than on differentiated, strategic applications, according to Jack Morgan, head of AI at Rise Growth Partners. While firms tout AI notetakers and other “gateway drug” tools for boosting efficiency, cost savings and productivity, Morgan said there is still limited evidence showing whether AI is improving client acquisition. “There needs to be more research to understand how AI is impacting not the ability to prospect with greater density, but greater depth,” he told Advisor Upside. “Are we finding the right relationships? Are we getting the right referral?”

Morgan argued that the firms best positioned to win the next generation of clients will be those that pair AI-powered self-service options with traditional hands-on advice. “The way clients vote is through referrals,” he said. “If AI is allowing you to be more present, engaged with client conversations and provide better advice, you’re going to see it show up in organic growth.”

Won’t somebody please think of the children?

TikTok may not be the best place for young people to seek financial advice, and the problem appears to be getting worse. Researchers with Daytrading.com analyzed viral finance posts on the social media platform in September, evaluating them on accuracy, educational value, disclosure and oversimplification. Surprise … about 70% of the videos received an overall grade of C or lower. When researchers repeated the review in April, 80% of videos earned mediocre marks. “There was a big jump in the number of videos that don’t adequately explain risks,” said James Barra, head of content at Daytrading. “The videos are very good at telling people when and what to buy, but there’s very little about when to exit.”

Still, Barra believes advisors can help improve the information younger investors encounter online. By establishing a presence on platforms like TikTok, they can serve as credible voices amid a flood of questionable content. They can also consider building relationships with clients’ children, viewing those interactions as a long-term investment in future clients, he said.

Doom Scrolling

The problem with social media is that the loudest voice often wins, not the most accurate one. Educational content can struggle to compete with flashy promises of quick riches. One highly rated video in the study encouraged viewers to avoid penny stocks and focus on low-cost ETFs, but posts like that are often overshadowed by more sensational claims. “A 30-second video that says, ‘Invest in this AI stock because you’ll make this much money,’ is far more engaging than a five-minute explainer weighing both the pros and cons,” Barra said.

Some of the more dubious videos encouraged market timing and speculative investing. In one example, a creator predicted a cryptocurrency would surge to a $1 billion market capitalization based on speculation that Barron Trump and Elon Musk might discuss it publicly. The post attracted more than 31,000 likes.

Sound the Alarms. Another concerning stat is that nearly one-third of videos featured creators with undisclosed relationships with brokerages, trading platforms or educational services. “The most alarming thing is how easy it is to come across content that’s quite misleading,” Barra said.

The report also found:

• Many posts promoted leveraged trading and “guaranteed wealth” narratives while downplaying risks.
• Crypto-related content consistently generated higher engagement than less exciting topics such as bonds or retirement planning.

“Parents probably don’t realize that within a few clicks, young people can get in contact with people saying, ‘buy this crypto’ or ‘buy this stock,’ and that becomes the first thing they learn about investing and finance,” he said.