Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a bigger part of financial advisors’ workflows, but the technology is still in the early stages of adoption, according to LPL Financial executives.
Key Takeaways
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AI adoption is still in its early stages. While 70% of financial advisors experiment with LLMs or point solutions, only 12% have AI deeply embedded in their daily workflows.
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Agentic AI can manage post-meeting workflows. Next-gen AI agents can ease advisor workloads by summarizing meetings, suggesting next steps, and updating account data across systems.
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Start small to maximize impact. Advisors can reclaim hours by applying AI to single high-friction tasks — like email management or account maintenance — allowing more time for client relationships and business growth.
During a recent VettaFi webcast, John Stevens, senior vice president of product management AI at LPL Financial, and Miller Staten, head of product operations at LPL, discussed how advisors are using AI today and where the technology is potentially headed next.
According to a poll of webcast attendees, 45% of respondents said they are experimenting with AI tools such as ChatGPT and other large language models, while another 25% are using one- or two-point solutions, such as note-taking or drafting tools. Another 18% said they weren’t using AI at all, and just 12% said the technology was embedded in their daily workflow.
One area where LPL is seeing excitement among users is in agentic AI, which goes beyond just answering your questions and can take actions to work toward a goal with some degree of independence.
“This is of course a major change, and the leading firms are building agentic solutions both to improve their internal operations and to help provide advisor facing capabilities,” said Staten.
With agentic AI, products that require large investments and a whole team to construct can now be built with a fraction of the cost, with better quality, and at a much faster rate, according to Staten.
When it comes to how advisors can use the tool, Staten said the agent can help with everything that comes after a client meeting. The AI tool is able to summarize the meeting notes and suggest which action should be taken next, leaving the advisor with the sole task of pressing a button to approve and finalize the workflows.
Additionally, LPL is developing features that enable advisors to update account information in a single location, eliminating the need to modify records across several systems. Further enhancements involving account lifecycle management, money movement, and financial planning are currently underway as well.
According to Stevens, firms must adopt a conservative posture, especially regarding client data and privacy. Advisors ought to seek key safeguards, including contractual limits on data usage, data masking and tokenization, identity and access management for AI agents, and additional protective measures.
Advisors Should Start Small
LPL offered straightforward advice for financial advisors uncertain about where to begin with artificial intelligence: Start on a small scale. Rather than attempting to implement numerous AI solutions simultaneously, advisors ought to target a single, time-consuming process involving high friction and test AI capabilities there.
Key operational areas present significant opportunities for efficiency gains:
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Email management: Stevens noted that advisors report spending 30% to 40% of their day on email-related tasks, making it a prime candidate for near-term adoption.
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Account maintenance & financial planning: These functions also offer substantial potential for long-term time savings.
Reclaiming that time can have a meaningful impact. When webcast participants were asked how they would spend five extra hours per week, approximately one-third chose personal time, while nearly another third preferred directing it toward business growth and prospecting.
Despite widespread discussion about AI replacing financial professionals, LPL leadership offers a different perspective. Although software can automate routine tasks, it cannot easily duplicate the genuine personal connection between an advisor and a client. Ultimately, as AI integration deepens across wealth management, the primary advantage will belong to advisors who leverage technology to minimize administrative burdens and dedicate more focus to nurturing client relationships.
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