Personal Financial Advisors

Too much need for human decision making and people have a need for connection during down times in the market that AI couldn’t replace

As an advisor who is aware of the inevitability of AI overtaking the workforce. The last holdouts of careers will likely be very interpersonal positions such as mine. My clients are all strongly relationship oriented.

Over half the job is people skills. Convincing someone to do what’s best for them, even though it’s difficult or scary, requires a level of trust that you need a real human to cultivate. The investment selection and portfolio rebalancing are already automated to one extent or another. What people can’t easily get is EQ of a knowledgeable financial advisor who can help them stack rank their goals and allocate their investments accordingly.

Although the technical knowledge and minor tasks can be relatively automated, relatability/communication skills are core competencies that would be very difficult for AI to replicate.

How can one relate to a line of code, or trust that the programmers inherent biases are not skewing the results?

I am a 35 year old advisor. Most of my clients are 50+ and have no time or interest in managing their financial life. Every generation has do it yourselfers and that’s great. Park your tiny account at Fidelity put it in an ETF and keep crying about 1% fees. Truth is most advisors would never work with you anyway because you’re broke. you’ll never need to worry about true diversification. It’s only when you have real money that you need to consider taxes, income, stock options, ladders, covered calls etc. When the Internet boom happened, they predicted the end of advisers at that time, because every client would have access to the information advisors do. We’ll, how’d that end up working out? A.I has so far made my work life easier. If the worst case scenario plays out, I’ll find another job ✌️

A life plan advisor deals with how much does one need and when do they need it. That includes, a proper fitting portfolio/investment/product that deals with premature death, loss of ability to work, kids college, future retirement wants and needs, etc. Now, I believe serious individuals would prefer to have these needs dealt with by a caring, highly skilled individual with great interpersonal skills. A robot ones not meet that criteria.

Addressing the broader issue of whether AI will replace not only finial services workers but also workers in general:

I’m completely on the fence when it comes to which jobs and when AI will replace the human workforce. I don’t underestimate the ambitions of tech producers and the average human being's preference for the quick, easy, and cheaper option to bring about such a situation. And let’s not forget how far technology has come since the Internet, let alone the simple calculator.

All this said we shouldn’t think that the scenario where AI could replace the human workforce is one that’s predetermined. “We” (everyone single one of us) have the collective ability to cause or prevent such an eventuality. We must also consider how viable an AI-dominated society and economy would really be. Every government across the globe would have its hands cut out with a population whose majority is unemployable. Imagine the civil unrest? Another consideration is the damage this could do to the economy; if a massive portion of humanity isn’t working, and isn’t getting a wage like they used to, we would see an unprecedented reduction in the flow of money around the economy. And what happens to money when there is a lack of exchange taking place? Doesn’t the value of money decrease? The financial advisors in this forum would be the best to elaborate on this or to correct my statement.

In conclusion: while I have no doubt that the ambitious tech lords and their acolytes will do what they can to bring about an AI world, the question of whether humans from governments to ordinary citizens will allow it is another thing altogether.

Honestly, this job feels like people coping/in disbelief mode like Librarian was in say 2004. "people will still want us and need us don't worry, we have personal care, robots or tech won't replace us". In reality, future people will simply skip the step of using advisors because there are too many free sources of data and the market is so easy a chimp could invest. For example, look at what services SoFi offers on their brokerage it's revolutionary. When you first heard "stonks always go up brrrrr" then that was the exact point the financial advisors and other various staff felt the chill up their spine of oncoming obsolescence. Like Librarians in 2004 though, if you have the job now you won't even consider retirement for 15 years you're good. Are Advisors being used by Millennials and Gen Zoomer? I really am beginning to doubt it highly, they will just put all their money in SPY, QQQ, SOXL, REITs and move on with their lives. Robots didn't kill Advisors but technology did and the ETF.

Personal finance isn't interesting to everyone! And it doesn't have to be. But if you're neglecting your finances, it's likely worth it to hire. A financial advisor is not just someone who helps with investments. Their job is to help you with every aspect of your financial life.

A financial plan creates a roadmap for your money and helps you achieve your goals. Without financial planning, future success cannot be expected.

Robo advisors are getting more powerful and more popular!

Because people like talking to people instead of the computer

I work in an investment firm in Mexico and we are already automating it.

I’m a FA, most of my peers are simple sales people who offer nothing unique in the way of asset management. Everything they do other than “hand holding” during scary markets can easily be replicated by a computer interface. While this is important, people like me have developed systematic forward looking rules based algos that will and have protected client assets from large market drops. This will alleviate the necessity to “hold hands” - perhaps dim underestimating the value of human to human contact but I doubt it.

Robots can handle the admin tasks, but not the planning. Planning is more personal than financial. Good luck bots.

Just don't see it happening. Lot of emotional intelligence in planning. AI will just make planners better.

People raised in an age of recession prefer to bank in person because they are comforted by seeing the place their paycheck and deposits go each week.

Financial robots have been used in companies for a long while. The analysis of personal data and big data will be the doorway for robots to enter personal finance.

I'm coming for your jobs Financial Planners. Learning fast. Give me 10 years.

Sounds like you guys are financial advisors. lol