{"id":7343,"date":"2026-10-02T17:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=192931"},"modified":"2026-10-02T17:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:36:21","slug":"the-adviser-of-the-future-where-ai-meets-human-expertise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/the-adviser-of-the-future-where-ai-meets-human-expertise\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adviser of the Future: Where AI Meets Human Expertise"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Cape Town: The rapid and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) will not replace financial advice, but it will fundamentally change how investors prepare for -important financial planning conversations and the services they are prepared to pay for.<\/p>\n

Held over three days in George, Western Cape, the Old Mutual Wealth Investival 26 conference brought together advisers, investment professionals and thought leaders to challenge thinking, exchange perspectives and explore the future of wealth and advice. One of the topics unpacked explored how the emergence of AI financial planning tools could reshape adviser-client relationships. Dan Haylett, CFP\u00ae and director for TFP Financial Planning in the United Kingdom, explained that AI was becoming \u201cquite good\u201d at aspects of financial planning, with many investors attending advice meetings with a pre-plan developed by AI tools, and then asking their adviser to \u2018sense check\u2019 it.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestors of the now and the future are acting very differently to those of three, four or five years ago; we need to understand that they are sense checking our work in ways that can pull it apart,\u201d Haylett said. Francois du Toit, CFP\u00ae and founder of PROpulsion, suggested that advisers were increasingly using AI tools to get a second opinion on aspects of their financial advice and completed financial plans.<\/p>\n

Investors are already using large language models (LLMs) to research financial solutions, and then nodding sagely during advice meetings, saying: \u201cYeah. Claude told me that too\u201d. They want their advisers to acknowledge the research they have done and use it as a foundation for further discussion, rather than dismiss it. Over time, investors will migrate to planners who hold similar views on how AI and human advice can overlap.<\/p>\n

Du Toit noted that LLMs such as ChatGPT and Claude were becoming mainstream tools for young and old. He observed that many prefer the collaborative experience of exploring financial planning solutions with AI to the often nerve-wrecking experience of sitting opposite a human adviser. \u201cEven if we try our very best not to, our clients still fear they are being judged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This fear of being judged may explain the rapid uptake of AI among investors interested in offshore markets. A recent STRAT7 research report found that 55% of UK adults used AI for financial advice, and 42% of that group was 55 or older. Furthermore, he UK Financial Conduct Authority has indicated that approximately 11 million UK adults would be willing to use AI to manage aspects of their finances autonomously.<\/p>\n

The question that arises is whether AI will lead to a Blockbuster or Kodak moment for the traditional financial advice model. \u201cIf our clients are using AI to do a lot of the grunt work for them and coming to us for slightly different services than we currently provide, then we have to take note,\u201d Haylett said. \u201cOtherwise, AI will usher in a Blockbuster moment where we keep doing what we do until our service is not valued or needed anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

As investors realize that technology can assist with their planning needs, they will seek out human advisers who can offer something technology cannot. They will, for example, choose advisers that deliver professional empathy alongside the financial plan and ongoing advice. Du Toit went as far as calling empathy and human connection safeguards for the advice profession.<\/p>\n

The caveat here is that advisers have limited capacity to establish deep and lasting friendships with every client. Investors are, therefore, better served by a professional rather than a friendship-based relationship with their adviser. That said, there is a definite planning advantage for investors when their financial advisers have a deeper understanding of their clients and their goals.<\/p>\n

The technical information \u2018edge\u2019 sits firmly with AI and LLM, giving everyday investors access to information across all areas of financial planning. \u201cClients are more educated and knowledgeable than they have ever been,\u201d Haylett said. And this means that technical knowledge is far less important than knowing what matters to the investor seeking financial advice.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the same AI technology investors are embracing can help advisers understand their clients better. For example, AI can analyse recorded client conversations to assess behavioral patterns, identifying triggers are and allowing advisers to respond effectively in real-time.<\/p>\n

Whether tomorrow\u2019s investor favours a human adviser or not, the idea of engaging with an AI adviser is already becoming a reality. Investors can now have interactive discussions with personal assistant AI agents and get immediate responses to financial planning questions. Looking for an upside, Du Toit suggested that AI would lead to more rather than less adviser-client engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI is going to build that bridge to a large extent, and we should give clients permission to interrogate it. They will feel more comfortable coming back and having a conversation with us rather than going somewhere else, or even worse, not coming back at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When investors question AI about advice, asset management and platform fees, responses may reflect the negative sentiment fees in the information on which these models are trained. Advisers can respond by embracing AI themselves and encouraging their clients to also use it constructively. They can also switch places with the client, using AI to interrogate their own advice and financial planning from the client\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

Major advice shifts are underway in financial advice, underpinned by technology. In the US, Vanguard has taken steps that caused major ripples in the US wealth management market by agreeing to acquire Altruist, an AI-forward wealth technology and custody platform for financial advisers. Its Hazel platform now includes tax and financial planning capabilities which means that investors may soon meet all of their advice needs on tech-enabled platforms, be they digital- or AI-driven.<\/p>\n

The evolution of financial planning should not be seen as a battle between human advisers and AI. \u201cThis is not AI versus the adviser,\u201d concluded Haylett. \u201cThis is AI combined with human expertise when investors need it, versus an advice model where the adviser meet the client once a year for little more than a coffee and a chat.\u201d The future of financial advice is not about choosing between AI or the human expert. It lies in bringing the two together, and increasingly, that is what investors will expect.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Author<\/strong>: Anelisiwe Lubuzo from Magna Carta on behalf of Old Mutual<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Track Your Press Release HERE:<\/h3>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Check Online Visibility<\/h4>\n

Verify where this release is currently indexed:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Pages: Page <\/span>1<\/span> Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n

CLICK HERE to Read the Original Press Release on MyPR<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cape Town: The rapid and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) will not replace financial advice, but it will fundamentally change how investors prepare for -important financial planning conversations and the services they are prepared to pay for. Held over three days in George, Western Cape, the Old Mutual Wealth Investival 26 conference brought together …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:revymtt5qssww7e7avbruzic","date":"2026-10-02T15:43:38+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:revymtt5qssww7e7avbruzic\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mwvpmq34kh24","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:revymtt5qssww7e7avbruzic\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mwvpmq34kh24\",\"cid\":\"bafyreia2ukziotcj6zj7kfca4i2ol7nypzpuw2jvubtx4rszlzp2lpcm7i\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreifdlfl5o42n5hyoyzdhurzgto6yssw3pojcx5h4mlkpm4isezih5q\",\"rev\":\"3mwvpmq3eeh24\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[29],"class_list":["type-post","category-news","tag-mypr-africa","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/mail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}