Jeopardy! at Wealth Management EDGE: AI Use, Next-Gen Client
Integrated Partners’ Chief Brand Officer Matt Ackerman led a lively, interactive session during the Wealth Management EDGE conference at The Boca Raton resort in Boca Raton, Fla, on Tuesday on a wide range of industry topics. That included artificial intelligence, asking “Could AI create a sea of sameness in this industry?”
Brian McLaughlin, co-founder of Hamachi.ai, said yes, AI creates similarity. But it’s also a great door to creativity.
Penny Phillips, head of strategy and experience with Hightower Signature Wealth, said she wasn’t worried about AI creating a sea of sameness. If used correctly, AI can operationalize an advisor’s business and create efficiencies, freeing them up to engage with clients and prospects.
Joshua Herring, president and CEO of Longevity Science Foundation, a non-profit organization working to prevent chronic and age-related disease, and a former financial advisor, said AI is an incredible tool but agreed it must be used correctly. He said he was worried about the use of AI as a crutch, rather than scaffolding. In other words, AI should be used alongside advisors to help them think more effectively, not as a time saver.
The topic of data also came up during the lively, “Jeopardy!”-style session, with Phillips saying that every firm has access to a tremendous amount of data about clients and customers. But we’re only in the first inning of analyzing that data and using it to our advantage. The industry has to work its way up to utilizing it in a way that’s powerful.
The panelists were asked to look 10 years into the future, what are next-gen clients going to expect that advisors aren’t ready for? Herring said the next-gen client of the future is going to value agency, and that’s going to be a difficult conversation for many advisors who aren’t ready to release the reins to their clients.
Phillips quoted the old commercial, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen,” but in the future, the opposite will be true. “When a client speaks, we have to listen,” she said. But the challenge will be for firms to scale that and allow clients to have total agency.
In today’s world, people want to be listened to, and you can’t give good advice unless you know the person across the table, Herring added. After all, referrals are a big part of this business, so focus on who you’ve got already and really get to know those people.