Artificial intelligence is integrated into everyday workflows of financial planners, reducing tedious research, repetitive tasks and client meeting preparation to minutes, rather than hours.
But advisors say human aspects of financial planning, like making client connections over years, seeing their big picture financial goals and grounding them during times of financial stress can never be replaced with AI.
Nearly 70% of wealth management firms reported using artificial intelligence for their work — and 30% are using it for specific use cases, according to a
With time saved using generative AI in work flows, Fidelity found that if wealth managers could spend five additional hours a week supporting clients and improving connections, they could boost revenue by 27%.
Though technical advances save time and improve efficiency in firms, AI may never be able to replace the human side of wealth management for clients, and advisors. Only 18% of respondents to a survey from
Financial Planning spoke to financial advisors about what aspects of their practices AI can't automate, or replace.
Helping clients figure out their long term goals
A financial advisor and life planner, Ohan Kayikchyan, founder of Alohana Financial, is a graduate of the
"AI cannot help another human being discover how they want to spend their finite time on the earth," Kayikchyan said. "Some of the most important moments in my work happen when a client realizes they have been living someone else's definition of success. No algorithm can create the trust, safety, empathy that is required for these types of conversations."
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Helping clients figure out what they truly want may be expressed via financial decisions, Kayikchyan said, that only humans can analyze.
"AI can answer questions, but an advisor can ask the one question that changes a person's life," Kayikchyan said. "Faith is fundamentally a human role, and it will become even more valuable as AI becomes more capable."
Even with AI's advancing technology, only trained advisors are able to really zoom out of a lifelong plan, said Lauren Mireles, chief operating officer at San Francisco-based YeskeBuie, such as spotting gaps in insurance coverage or noticing a beneficiary designation that hasn't been updated.
Soothing client anxieties
Emotional regulation for clients is a large part of financial advisors' jobs. As experts caution the use of
"The last couple of years have seen big market pullbacks induced by tariffs and wars, which has caused some of our clients to be nervous about their investments," Bachner said. "We often tend to act more like therapists than money managers during these times. It is our job to help clients process their emotions regarding their money."
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Fostering a grounding, human connection is also what Forest Dutton, owner of Lexington, South Carolina-based Brightworks Financial Planning, said is a human-only job.
"It cannot provide a personal experience perspective from other clients that have been in their shoes, or read the body language of someone who says all the right things in the meeting but something is lingering under the surface," Dutton said. "As we know from behavioral finance research, a financial advisor offers so much value in keeping clients invested through the ups and downs simply by being there and being steady."
Building a holistic plan
While being able to run and analyze numbers, only people can incorporate clients' personal factors into financial plans, Sam Mockford, associate wealth advisor at San Francisco-based Citrine Capital, said.
One client used Claude to build a retirement analysis tool for themselves, she said, and input asset allocation of their investments, savings rates, the cost of the house they're considering purchasing and their current mortgage rates and expenses.
But only the firm's advisors were able to incorporate the client's real-life factors into their retirement plan.
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"They have a strong desire to live near family, and they may have to care for aging parents. Moving closer to family is a goal worth pursuing even if mortgage rates are high," Mockford said.
"AI only learns from what it's been fed, and many of us have a hard time knowing what information is relevant to bring up when using it. Only human advisors can shine a light on these blind spots."
Sustaining trust and empathy — over decades
Relationship building and connecting with clients is just as important as creating wealth plans. Asking the questions that uncover what is truly important to them is how advisors build deep relationships that last a lifetime, benefiting clients in the long run, Mireles said.
"Planners can also help clients think through what retirement actually looks like, not just the numbers, but the day-to-day experience of it," Mireles said. "What will you do with your time? What does a meaningful life look like when the structure of work is gone?"
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Besides looking into their future, the most human parts of financial planning are entirely outside the numbers, Mierles said.
"Sending a gift when a client buys their first home, welcomes a child, or retires and remembering the names of their kids and grandkids and sending resources to start building good financial habits early is how trust is built and sustained over decades," Mireles said.
