Will Robots Replace Financial Advisors?

I woke up the other day in a deep sweat. Okay, that didn’t happen. BUT, a sweat-inducing thought hit me like a lightning bolt. What if my industry is going the way of the dinosaur? What if robots replace financial advisors?

The last time advisors were allegedly under assault was from the robo advisors circa 2013. We learned pretty quickly that while cheap portfolios are great, they’re not a substitute for all that an advisor can do; Estate planning, taxes, insurance, and cash management, to name a few.

But the big reason that advisors still have a job more than a decade after the rise of the robo is because people want to work with people. That’s true today, I’m not sure it will be true always.

With the gazillions of dollars pouring into artificial intelligence companies, it’s not hard to imagine a world where your financial advisor looks and talks like a human. And the more they talk to you, like an advisor today, the better they understand you. They’ll learn what sort of language calms you down and how to refocus your priorities when you’re distracted by shiny financial objects. And all of the advice that is textbook, like estate planning and tax, forget about it. That’s done and done.

I floated this idea past my friend and futurist, Dave Nadig. He wasn’t having it. I want you to watch our conversation so I won’t give it all away, but the TL:DR is that Dave does believe that people will always want to work with people. I generally agree, and don’t think this is a problem advisors my age will need to wrestle with.

But, in the future, in a world where the lines between real and artificial are blurred, I can see this being a thing. There is of course, a big but that I cited, but you’ll have to tune in to hear it! Have a great night.