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For decades, Americans were given the same advice about money: Find a good financial adviser. Trust the person, not just the process.
That model worked when markets were simpler, tax laws changed more slowly, statements arrived quarterly and financial decision-making wasn’t so complex. But today, investors are navigating inflation, volatile markets, rising debt and rapid policy shifts — all while still relying on advice that’s often reactive, emotional and outdated.
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And now comes an uncomfortable truth Wall Street doesn’t love talking about.
Artificial intelligence may soon be a better financial adviser than most human beings.
And this comes from a person who has been giving financial advice to thousands of families over the past 34 years and also sees the handwriting on the wall for financial advisers over the next decade.
Not in theory. In practice.
The biggest threat to your wealth isn’t the market. It’s human behavior.
Every market crash teaches the same lesson. People panic. They sell at the bottom. They chase hot investments after the run-up is already over. They invest in their friend’s new restaurant that doesn’t stand a chance. They buy cryptocurrencies nobody has ever heard of. Since the dawn of time, people have looked for a get-rich-quick scheme that will help them retire tomorrow.
This behavior alone destroys more wealth than taxes, fees or recessions combined.
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Human advisers aren’t immune either. They read the same headlines. They feel the same pressure when clients demand action. They try to keep up with the Joneses as well. Even the best intentioned advisers can let emotion creep into decisions.
AI doesn’t.
It doesn’t get scared. It doesn’t get greedy. It doesn’t care what social media, cable news or your neighbor is doing with their money. It follows data, probabilities and rules every single time.
Over the long run, discipline beats emotion. Just ask Warren Buffett. Machines are built for discipline.
AI never sleeps — and your financial life needs daily attention
Most Americans meet with their financial adviser once or twice a year. That’s like checking your smoke alarm annually and hoping nothing catches fire in between.
AI-driven financial coaching works differently.
It can monitor your…
Spending patterns
Cash flow
Debt situation
Investment allocation
Risk exposure
Tax efficiency
…in real time.
When something changes, AI can react immediately — not at the next scheduled review. And most advisers aren’t looking closely at your debt, credit cards, household budget or the small decisions that add up in your financial life. That alone puts traditional advice at a disadvantage.
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Better advice, lower cost, fewer conflicts
High-quality financial advice has long been reserved for the wealthy. Everyone else often gets generic portfolios like a 60/40 allocation and product-driven recommendations loaded with commissions.
AI flips that model on its head.
It can deliver ongoing guidance, planning insights and behavioral coaching at a fraction of the cost — without commissions, quotas or sales pressure. Would you pay $19.99 a month for a 24/7 financial-coach subscription? You already pay $19.99 for Netflix, and it’s not getting you any closer to retirement.
That’s why everyday investors should start experimenting now. Tools like TheBuckGuru.com an AI-powered financial coach, allow people to stress-test decisions, improve financial habits and get real-time feedback without judgment or sales pitches. It can even develop actionable game plans that integrate directly into your calendar.
The truth the industry won’t admit
Here’s the part that makes some financial advisers uncomfortable.
The average financial adviser is replaceable. The good ones may not be, because they act as much more than advisers. They are financial therapists, marriage counselors, super-connectors and career counselors — and they still bring an art form to their work that AI simply can’t replicate today.
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Average advisers are not bad people, but much of what they do can be replaced because their advice, portfolios and service are very basic.
The advisers who will thrive in the future won’t fight AI. They’ll use it.
They’ll let technology handle monitoring, calculations and execution while human advisers focus on what machines can’t do well right now: managing intuition and emotions. That includes major life transitions, complex career planning, family dynamics and stopping clients from making catastrophic emotional mistakes like pulling their money out at exactly the wrong time.
This isn’t the end of human advice. It’s the end of mediocre advice
AI won’t eliminate financial advisers — we heard this story before with the robo-adviser.
But it will expose the ones who add little value beyond the 60/40 portfolio and paperwork.
It will raise the standard for advice, lower the cost for consumers and force an industry built on tradition to finally modernize over the next decade.
For investors, that’s good news.
Because when it comes to your money, the smartest adviser in the room may soon be the one without a pulse — and in an age of emotion-driven mistakes, that may be exactly what your financial future needs.
Ted Jenkin is president of Exit Stage Left Advisors and partner at Exit Wealth.
