Written by : Vijaya Murthy (Senior Lecturer at The University of Sydney)
Artificial Intelligence is profoundly reshaping the financial planning profession, driving change not only within its practices and methodologies but also across the broader organisational landscape. Financial advisors leverage AI across a wide spectrum of tasks—from routine activities like summarizing meeting notes, reviewing emails, and drafting advertising and marketing materials, to more advanced applications such as predictive forecasting, scenario modelling, risk assessment, portfolio optimisation, automated reporting, regulatory compliance, and intelligent document management, to name a few.
It is becoming increasingly essential for professionals across industries to integrate Artificial Intelligence into their practices as its influence continues to expand. According to Kuehner-Hebert (2024) more than 51% of wealth-management firms have already started adopting AI into their projects. For financial planners, the integration of Artificial Intelligence is poised to become not merely advantageous but essential. As the profession evolves amid growing complexity and client expectations, the adoption of AI-driven tools and methodologies will increasingly define strategic relevance and operational efficiency.
The rapid progression of artificial intelligence invites renewed scrutiny into whether financial planning will be increasingly governed by AI or continue to rely on human expertise augmented by intelligent systems. Technological advancement brings unprecedented benefits, but it also introduces disruptions and uncertainties leading to significant emotional and mental overload. By and large, the implementation of Artificial Intelligence has been embraced with enthusiasm by organisational leadership. Nevertheless, it has simultaneously elicited considerable concern among employees regarding the potential for workforce displacement. Technological advancement also raises critical questions about the role of soft human elements such as consciousness and emotional intelligence in financial planning.
Though AI continues to revolutionize various sectors, its integration into financial planning and decision-making processes has sparked significant interest and debate. While AI’s ability to analyse vast amounts of data and generate logical recommendations is well-documented, its role in fostering empathetic management remains debatable (for e.g., Srinivasan & Gonzalez, 2022). AI systems, while highly efficient, may lack the ability to fully comprehend and integrate empathy and compassion into their algorithms. This can lead to decisions that could be logically sound but may not align with the humane standards.
Minouche Shafik, Director of London School of Economics said “In the past, jobs were about muscles. Now they’re about brains, but in the future, they’ll be about the heart.”
In mentioning the ‘heart’, what deeper meaning is Minouche hinting at? While we use our ‘head’ to think rationally and logically about a problem, we use our ‘heart’ to show greater levels of intuition and emotionality (Fetterman & Robinson, 2013). Together with the information financial planners receive from outside, they also apply their ‘heart’ into the decision-making process which involves emotional connection (Eisenberger & Kohlrieser, 2012), balanced approach (Radjou & Kapia, 2020), intuitive intelligence, empathy, compassion (Kullar, 2022) and looking at the problem in a holistic perspective (Radjou & Kaipa 2020).
AI is no longer a novelty; it’s a driving force in the evolution of financial planning practices. So, is the rise of AI a genuine threat to the irreplaceable value of human intelligence and expertise in financial advising. AI may theoretically possess capabilities like human intelligence such as ability to reason, learn and adapt to diverse situations, mimicking aspects of intuition. While AI may appear to show intuitive responses, it can’t fully match human intuition, which comes from our biology and life experiences—things that shape gut feelings and subconscious thinking. In its current form, AI operates through data-driven pattern recognition, but it lacks the capacity for the flexible, context-sensitive decision making that human intuition provides.
To transcend beyond what AI can do and use it as a smart tool, financial planners can cultivate stronger intuition—guided by the heart’s deeper wisdom. This means making decisions with empathy, ethics, and emotional clarity. This calls for more than technical proficiency; it demands a foundation of inner calm and heightened self-awareness – a balance essential to sound financial guidance. By nurturing inner stillness, financial advisors can strengthen their intuitive capacity for heightened awareness and enhanced creativity. Such stillness can be developed through practices like meditation, mindful breathing, immersion in nature, digital detox periods, and the intentional habit of listening without immediate reaction. These approaches foster a balanced mindset—essential for integrating technological insight with human wisdom.
Let’s not forget that while AI may offer ‘intelligence’, it does not (yet) embody ‘wisdom’. True wisdom remains a uniquely human quality—nurtured through a focused mind and the pursuit of expanded consciousness. It transcends raw intellect, flowing through intuition into deeper insight. For financial advisors operating in an increasingly AI-integrated landscape, the imperative is to transcend intellectual proficiency by fostering ethical discernment, empathy, and emotional clarity—hallmarks of an elevated and conscious decision-making process.
Reference:
Kuehner-Hebert (2024) How AI is reshaping the landscape of financial planning, Proactive Advisor Magazine ( retrieved on 18th July 2025 from https://proactiveadvisormagazine.com/how-ai-is-reshaping-the-landscape-of-financial-planning/)
