For the past year at least, like many of us, I’ve been going deep, listening to the commentary and learning as much as I possibly can about the future of the world as we know it, driven by the incredible power of artificial intelligence (AI).
As an economic historian at heart, my natural inclination is to take a long-term and data-driven view, which I think is helpful in this context.
More recently, I’ve been out visiting some of our most important clients and partners, asking them about the future of financial planning as they see it, understanding the views from the coal face of leaders delivering advice at scale. And the results are fascinating.
The biggest takeaway for me, by far, has been how impassioned these business leaders are about the work they do. The exact driver changes from CEO to CEO, but the passion shines though. And it’s always related to their customer.
They genuinely seem committed to getting advice to more of those who need it, and to providing meaningful careers for the advisers delivering it. In an industry now synonymous with ‘consolidation’, which conjures up images of the financialisaton of the business of advice, I was continually struck by this funding-model agnostic energy.
We’ve always looked for ways to do more – and to do it faster and more efficiently
That would be hugely encouraging at any time, but it’s particularly important in an era in which massive technological change is engulfing us. AI has the potential to transform the delivery of financial advice beyond all recognition – but how it’s used is all down to the humans at the helm.
Dynamic Planner’s Advice 2025 report found we are eager to embrace the new technology, with 94% of respondents believing it will be positive for the industry. However, I – and I’m sure many of you reading this – have also had many conversations where people have raised fears of being replaced.
These anxieties are totally understandable. A big shift is upon us, and while my colleagues and I, being tech geeks, are seeing the potential, if you’re not plugged into the SaaS industry it might feel more like a step into the unknown, and a scary one at that.
But humans are inherently innovative. I have read countless versions of the end of the world: doomsday predictions, charted in the history books, about the end of civilisation as we know it. But we’ve always looked for ways to do more – and to do it faster and more efficiently.
Over the course of our history, we’ve consistently invented things and then democratised them, to the benefit of everyone. It has happened time and time again.
Yasmina Siadatan: Vulnerability, value and the power of tech in advice
The AI vision these leaders are setting out is optimistic. Using AI to get advice into the hands of many, many more people. And that means more advisers, not fewer. Think about what happened to accountants when Microsoft introduced Excel: we now have more accountants than ever – and more people have access to automated calculations.
We saw what happened with robo: the Brits, in all our caution, just cannot place trust with large sums of money into the hands of a robot. What’s the difference here? When all is said and done, people understand that AI is just a robot, no matter how amazing it is at learning.
Until I see significant enhancements in the emotional intelligence of the machine, my bet is on the number of advisers increasing as we finally open up access to advice to all, to help guide all those new customers to actually transact.
AI is such a brilliant tech tool, but it is just that: it’s a tool for technology like all the others that have come before it. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the business world will be run on AI within years, just as, today, the business world is run on the internet.
And in our world of retail financial planning, in the hands of the leaders I’ve been speaking to, it will be used as a force for good, opening up access to advice for millions and delivering even more financial happiness across the UK.
Yasmina Siadatan is chief revenue officer at Dynamic Planner
