AI is remarkable. It can analyse information in seconds, explain investment concepts, compare strategies, calculate retirement projections and give you an answer to almost any financial question you can think of. And there is no doubt it will play an increasingly important role in financial advice.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth.
Financial success has never been an information problem. If it were, we’d all be wealthy.
We have more financial information available to us than at any point in history. Books, podcasts, videos, articles, calculators and now AI can provide almost any answer imaginable. Yet people still procrastinate, worry, second guess themselves and make decisions they later regret.
Because wealth isn’t built on information alone.
It’s built on behaviour. And behaviour is profoundly human.
That’s why good financial advice is about more than providing the right information or identifying the technically best strategy. Some of the most important work we do as financial advisers is helping people understand the behaviour sitting behind their financial decisions and what that means for the choices they make.
Every client carries financial baggage
Most of us like to think we make rational decisions about money, but the reality is a little different. Our attitudes towards money start forming long before we earn our first salary or open an investment account.
Maybe money was tight when you were growing up. Maybe your parents owned a business and you saw how stressful that could be. Perhaps someone close to you lost money in an investment, or you lived through the GFC and remember what it felt like when markets were falling, people were losing jobs and nobody really knew what was coming next.
Sometimes it goes much deeper than that.
A friend might have died too young and never had the chance to enjoy the money they worked so hard to build. Someone might quietly carry a sense of shame that they haven’t done enough to provide for their family. Another person might inherit money from hard-working parents and feel an enormous responsibility, or even guilt, about what they do with it.
And many people carry fears they’ve never consciously spoken about:
Fear of running out of money.
Fear of becoming dependent on their children.
Fear of making a mistake.
Fear of losing what they’ve spent years building.
Fear rarely announces itself loudly. More often, it hides beneath seemingly rational objections.
It disguises itself as caution.
As procrastination.
As perfectionism.
As “wanting to do more research”.
The reality is that many financial decisions are emotional decisions dressed up in logical clothing.
This is where some of the most important conversations I have with clients begin.
We rarely get to the real truth, three layers below the stated financial goal, unless we can help someone connect with what is really driving it and, importantly, feel something.
Sometimes I’ll notice a subtle change in someone’s body language when we’re talking. They might hesitate, become uncomfortable or react to something in a way that suggests there is more going on beneath the surface. If I can pick up on that cue and ask the right question, framed in the right way, the whole conversation can change.
I’ll also often use a story, perhaps a real example from a client who has been in a similar position or even something from my own experience, to help someone connect with an issue or goal on a more personal and deeper level.
Getting the framing and delivery right is nuanced. It’s a part of my job that I’m leaning into more and more because, when you get it right, the results can be profound.
Suddenly we’re not just talking about a retirement age, an investment return or how much money someone needs. We’re starting to understand why those things matter to them.
And when someone feels genuinely seen and understood, they can have far more confidence in the plan we build together because it reflects what they actually want, what they’re afraid of and what matters most to them.
A great adviser understands this.
Not because they’re trying to sell someone a strategy.
Because they’re trying to understand a person.
Sometimes the most valuable conversations in financial planning have very little to do with money.
The best strategy isn’t necessarily the one with the best numbers
Imagine two people invest in exactly the same portfolio. They have the same investments, the same expected return and the same timeframe. Then markets fall 20%.
One person understands that market falls are part of investing and stays the course. The other starts checking their portfolio every day, reading every negative headline and becoming increasingly worried. Eventually, they decide they can’t take it anymore and sell.
Same investment strategy. Completely different outcome.
That’s why I don’t think financial planning can ever be purely mathematical. You can build the most technically efficient strategy in the world, but if the client abandons it when things get uncomfortable, it wasn’t a good strategy for that client.
Sometimes a slightly more conservative strategy that someone can confidently stick with for 20 years will produce a far better real-world outcome than the theoretically “optimal” strategy they abandon after three. The numbers matter, but so does the person sitting in front of us.
Sometimes the question isn’t the real question
People often come to us asking questions such as: Should I invest in property or shares? Should I put more into super? Should I pay my mortgage off first?
They are all reasonable questions, and AI can give you plenty of information about each of them. But a good adviser will also look at the broader financial picture before jumping to an answer.
Perhaps the more important issue is cash flow. Perhaps there is a tax strategy that hasn’t been considered, or the client already has too much of their wealth concentrated in one asset. Maybe the decision needs to be considered alongside retirement plans, debt, family commitments or the need to keep enough money accessible.
The answer to a financial question rarely exists in isolation.
That is one of the limitations of simply having more information. You still need to understand which information matters to you, how the different pieces fit together and what trade-offs you are actually making.
What do you actually want your money to do?
This sounds like an obvious question, but it can take some unpacking.
Someone might tell us they want to retire at 60. But retirement itself may not be the real objective. Perhaps what they want is more freedom, the ability to travel while they’re healthy, more time with their grandchildren or the option to stop working five days a week.
They might also want to know they can help their children financially without putting their own future at risk.
The financial goal might be “retire at 60”, but the human goal is freedom. That’s an important distinction because there may be several ways to achieve it.
Likewise, someone might tell us they want to maximise investment returns. But what they may actually value most is knowing they’re going to be okay.
Those are two very different objectives.
Good financial planning starts by understanding what someone wants their money to make possible. Only then can we start working out the best way to get there.
Behaviour becomes particularly important when markets get messy
When investments are going up, being an investor is relatively easy. It’s when markets fall that the plan gets tested.
Suddenly the news is negative, your portfolio balance has dropped and the strategy that seemed perfectly sensible six months ago starts to feel less comfortable. You begin asking yourself whether this time is different.
This is often where an adviser can add enormous value. Not because we can predict exactly what markets are going to do next. We can’t. Our role is to bring the conversation back to the things we do know.
Why did we choose this strategy? What timeframe are we investing for? Has anything materially changed in your circumstances? Does the strategy still support the goals we agreed on? Are we considering changing course because something has genuinely changed, or because we’re uncomfortable?
Sometimes the most valuable advice we give a client is to do nothing.
That’s not always an easy message to hear when markets are volatile, but avoiding one poor emotional decision can have a significant impact on long-term outcomes.
Good advice is also about implementation
There is another problem with information: knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things.
Most of us experience this in some part of our lives. We know we should exercise, eat well and probably spend less and save more. Knowing isn’t usually the hard part. Doing it consistently is.
Financial planning is no different.
A good adviser helps turn the strategy into action. That means helping clients make decisions, implementing the plan, checking progress, adjusting it when circumstances change and sometimes giving them the nudge they need to deal with something they have been putting off.
It is part strategy, part education and part coaching. Over time, it becomes a partnership.
So where does AI fit?
I don’t see the future as AI versus financial advisers. I think it will be AI and financial advisers.
AI will help us analyse information faster, improve efficiency and potentially spend less time on administration and more time actually talking to clients. That’s a good thing.
But AI is still a tool.
It can give you information, model scenarios and answer the question you ask it. What it can’t always do is recognise what sits beneath that question.
It doesn’t see the hesitation, the change in expression or the emotion behind a seemingly rational objection. It doesn’t always know that the retirement goal, investment question or concern about money has a much deeper story sitting behind it.
And it can’t sit across the table from you during a difficult period and say, “We built the plan for this. Let’s go back through it before you make a decision.”
That’s the human part of advice.
At Fuse, we often talk about simplifying financial complexity and focusing on the behavioural drivers of wealth. Because financial planning isn’t simply about finding the smartest strategy. It’s about finding the right strategy for you, understanding why it works and giving you the confidence to stick with it.
AI will undoubtedly change the way financial advice is delivered, but I don’t think it changes what great advice is ultimately there to do: help people make better decisions with their money so they can build the life they actually want.
If you’re looking for advice that considers your goals, your circumstances and the behaviours behind your financial decisions, book a chat with our team today.
