AI in financial planning

There is a moment in every generation when new technology stops being a curiosity and starts being a fact of life. The printing press. The internet. The smartphone. We are living through one of those moments now, and its name is artificial intelligence (AI).

At Crowe Financial Planning, we are not standing on the sidelines watching it happen. We are part of it, and we think our clients should be too. But we also believe that understanding what AI can and cannot do, particularly in the context of your financial life, has never mattered more.

AI is not a trend. It is not the metaverse or NFTs, destined to fade once the hype cycle runs its course. It is a fundamental shift in how information is processed, how decisions are supported, and how the world operates. The evidence is already written into the global economy.

Over the past two to three years, AI has been one of the defining forces behind market performance. The Morningstar Global Artificial Intelligence Select Index tracks major companies with exposure to generative AI, AI data and infrastructure, AI software and AI services. It rose 75.27% in 2023, 34.78% in 2024, and a further 30.84% in 2025. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite, driven substantially by stocks linked to AI, posted gains of 43.42%, 28.64% and 20.36% across those three years, respectively. At the heart of the boom was Nvidia, whose revenue grew from USD3.4 billion to USD60.4 billion in just three years, an increase of 1,600%, fuelled by insatiable global demand for the computing power that underpins AI. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

J.P. Morgan, in its market review, estimated that AI-driven capital expenditure contributed to roughly half of 2025 US GDP growth from investment and capex. This is not speculative. The returns are real, the revenues are real, and the investment cycle shows no sign of slowing.

AI is here. It is shaping portfolios, driving corporate earnings, and increasingly, reshaping the way people manage their money and seek financial guidance. The only question is how we respond to it.

It turns out many of them already are.

A recent study by wealth platform Wealthtime found that more than a quarter of their clients are now using AI tools to support their advice journey by researching products, exploring scenarios, testing ideas under pressure, and arriving at adviser meetings better informed than ever before. That is a remarkable shift in a short space of time, and it tells us something important: clients are not afraid of AI. They are curious about it, and they are finding it useful.

We think that is a good thing. An engaged, informed client makes for a better advice relationship. If AI tools help clients clarify their thinking, sharpen their questions, and understand their options before sitting down with an adviser, then AI is working in service of the relationship, not against it.

We are transparent about this: AI already plays a role in how we operate, and we are proud of that.

Across our business, we use AI to support our compliance functions, helping us stay on top of a regulatory landscape that grows more complex by the year. Our paraplanning teams use it to accelerate research, analyse data, and produce more thorough, well-evidenced work. Our audit processes benefit from AI's ability to identify patterns and anomalies at a scale and speed that no human team could match. And yes, even our content and article writing (this piece included) benefit from drafting and research tools supported by AI.

We use AI to work smarter. Not to replace judgement, but to support it. Not to remove the human from the equation, but to give the humans in our team more time, more depth, and more confidence in their work.

If we expect our clients to take AI seriously, it would be inconsistent of us to ignore it ourselves. We embrace the challenge it presents, and we believe the firms that thrive in this new environment will be the ones who learn to work alongside these tools, not despite them.

We genuinely believe AI can help clients on their financial journey. It can help you understand concepts. It can model scenarios. It can summarise complex information. It can sit with you at eleven o'clock at night when your adviser cannot and help you work through a question that is keeping you awake.

But there is something AI cannot do. It cannot be your financial adviser. And that distinction matters enormously.

Here is why the relationship with a human IFA remains irreplaceable:

• Holistic understanding of your life: A good financial adviser does not just know your numbers - they know your story. Your career history, your family circumstances, your hopes and your anxieties, the things that keep you up at night and the things you are working towards. That context shapes every piece of advice, and it takes years of relationship-building to accumulate.
• Regulated, accountable advice: When an IFA makes a recommendation, they are bound by the rules of the FCA, and they carry personal accountability for the guidance they give. An AI tool carries none of that accountability. If something goes wrong with an AI-generated suggestion used independently, there is no professional indemnity, no regulatory recourse, no person sitting across the table who has put their name to the outcome.
• Behavioural coaching: Markets fall. Plans go off track. Life surprises us. In those moments, what clients often need most is not a calculation but perspective. A trusted adviser can talk you down from a panic decision, encourage you to stay the course, or help you recalibrate calmly when circumstances change. That emotional steadiness is a human skill, not a computational one.
• Navigating complexity: Tax planning, pension structures, inheritance strategies, protection arrangements, estate planning - these are interconnected, and the interactions between them are not always intuitive. An experienced adviser understands how the pieces fit together and can identify opportunities and risks that a general-purpose AI tool would likely miss or oversimplify.
• Knowing what questions to ask: Often the most valuable thing an adviser does is surface a consideration the client has not yet thought of. What happens to the plan if you became unable to work? Have you considered the impact of long-term care costs on your estate? What does your partner's financial position look like independently? These are questions that require empathy, professional curiosity, and knowledge of your specific circumstances, not a prompt.
• Continuity and trust: A financial plan is not a single document. It evolves as your life does, reviewed and refined over years and decades. The trust built with an adviser over time, including the shorthand, shared history and confidence that someone genuinely has your interests at heart, is a relationship that AI simply cannot replicate.
• Acting as a safeguard: An adviser is your second pair of eyes. They will challenge assumptions, question risks, and occasionally tell you things you might not want to hear. That honest, professional challenge is a protection against costly mistakes that no algorithm is programmed to provide.

At Crowe Financial Planning, our position is clear. AI is not a threat to good financial advice, it is an opportunity to make it better. We are investing in these tools ourselves because we believe they make us more thorough, more efficient, and more able to focus on what matters most: the conversations, the relationships, and the advice that genuinely changes lives.

But we also believe firmly, and without equivocation, that there is no substitute for a qualified, experienced, human financial adviser. AI can be a powerful companion on your financial journey. It cannot be your guide.

If you would like to understand how Crowe can help you build a financial plan that takes full advantage of the opportunities ahead while protecting what matters most to you, we would love to hear from you.