There's a question echoing across wealth management: Will AI replace financial advisors?
The honest answer is yes and no.
It can be difficult for advisors to step back from our day-to-day responsibilities long enough to recognize that the landscape beneath us has shifted. The reality is that AI solutions and their impacts are no longer theoretical but real. Automation in financial services is no longer emerging but embedded in much of what we do. As a result, our profession is learning to do more without adding additional headcount.
But I believe that advisors who are willing to embrace and adopt AI-powered technology will see their profits increase and their role become even more critical.
Leveraging AI-driven technologies allows advisors to offer more services to all their clients, create efficiencies and generate productivity gains. Common examples include using AI-powered meeting, note-taking and summarization tools and generative AI assistants like
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Agentic AI as 'massive unlock'
Agentic AI — intelligent systems that don't just analyze but act autonomously — will
These systems can reason through instructions, gather context across tools and take defined actions autonomously. Think of it as an analyst, assistant and operations manager all in one that works 24/7 without burnout as it helps provide more services to more clients.
I've experienced the benefits firsthand. Back in 2018, my wealth management firm faced the challenge of providing holistic planning to our entire client base at scale. AI was just being discussed, and I started thinking about the various applications that could be relevant and useful in the financial planning profession.
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As a result, I co-launched an AI-driven planning platform that assists advisors in providing tax, estate and insurance planning to clients. The process made me a believer that AI can be an asset to advisors and wealth management firms.
Platforms that enable automated document intake and analysis across estate, tax and insurance allow advisors to walk into meetings with highly personalized, visually intuitive insights.
Technologies that upskill advisors are useful as well. Tools like Anthropic and OpenAI replace repetitive prep tasks, freeing up planners to focus on strategy and better address what matters most to clients.
A fiduciary eye on AI
Agentic AI's ability to prompt the advisor on which actions to take can seem like magic. That makes it important that fiduciary planners remain responsible for the output. Every insight must be reviewed for assumptions, accuracy and tone. Think of it this way: If your assistant pulled a client's plan together, would you review it before the meeting? Of course. AI is no different.
For example, our AI is "trained" exclusively on CFP, CPA and IRS guidelines and provides advisors with a list of tax questions they should consider asking every client. Still, every output must be reviewed by a human to check underlying assumptions, factual correctness and voice. We also give the advisor the ability to "turn off" AI-generated insights, ensuring they are always in control.
Roles and skill sets at advisory firms will more than likely change based on implementing AI, but these tools won't replace advisors. With AI handling the data, the parsing and the modeling, the advisor can focus on the emotional nuances, family dynamics and coachable moments clients need. That's what AI will never replace.
In a world where clients increasingly expect fast, personalized and intelligent financial advice, advisors must adapt, or they risk becoming irrelevant. Since advisors can't become robots, they must become more … human.
