How Will Advisers Use AI by 2030?

Future predictions are not just for fortune tellers. On Wednesday, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards released a report, “Harnessing AI in the Financial Planning Profession,” which envisions four possible scenarios for the integration of artificial intelligence within the financial planning industry by 2030.

The CFP Board formed an “AI working group,” a team of experts from within and beyond the financial planning industry, to collaborate with search firm Heidrick & Struggles, a similar approach to their previous collaboration, the “Future of Digital Financial Advice” report in 2016.

The group’s research identified key trends in the upcoming decade, such as the great wealth transfer from older to younger generations and the aging of the financial planner workforce and broader U.S. population, and some uncertainties, such as the future capabilities of AI-powered tools and public trust in AI to perform core financial planning functions like retirement planning.

The scenarios are not meant to depict the most likely futures for the industry, according to the report, but rather are intended to illustrate the realm of possibility and elevate how industry personnel think about AI’s capabilities.

4 Scenarios

Scenario A, “Financial Partner’s Best Friend,” imagined 2030 as a time of high public trust in AI, with a “traditional” competitive landscape for advisers, dominated by established firms and adviser-centered models. In this scenario, AI acts as an assistant to advisers, focusing on tasks like client onboarding, portfolio management, risk modeling, compliance and administrative work. Clients want complex needs that require judgement and guidance handled by human planners. Large players in the industry, such as wirehouses, broker/dealers and mega-registered investment advisers, have emerged as leaders in deploying safe and reliable AI.

Scenario B, “MyAI,” pictures AI assistants as fully embedded in daily life, and while the adviser competitive landscape is disrupted and many professionals are displaced by AI, public trust in the technology is still high.

Scenario C, “Full-Circle Finance,” imagines AI-driven advice tools triggering major distrust from clients, and big tech and fintech players are largely disengaged from financial planning. In this scenario, financial advisers experience both opportunities and strain. There is an increased demand for human-led services, but the shrinking adviser pool leaves the remaining advisers stretched thin and using AI discretely.

The final scenario, “Silicon Valley Joins Wall Street,” sees big tech seizing market share in financial planning by offering ultra-low-cost, AI-driven platforms that provide financial advice to consumers. These big-tech platforms serve mass-market consumers, while human-centered firms and advisers reassert themselves as the trusted option for clients with more complex financial needs.

Humans Remain Integral

While each scenario was distinct and stark in its own way, the insights remained consistent, according to the report.

“Preserving the role of the human financial planner requires deliberate action now,” said K. Dane Snowden, the CFP Board’s chief operating officer, in a statement. “CFP Board’s work on AI is setting the foundation for a future that integrates technology, and the accessibility and efficiencies it can provide, with the vital human connection between financial planners and their clients.”

To properly prepare for 2030, the report suggested that advisers and firms adopt AI proactively in ways that are ethical, strategic and human-centered. This means embracing technology not as a replacement for professional judgment, but as an amplifier of it.

“AI brings both extraordinary opportunity and new responsibility for the profession,” said CFP Board Chair Liz Miller in a statement. “CFP Board is … leaning into our role to shape and lead the profession in an AI-driven world.”