QOTD: Advice is Not a Transaction

This past week was the annual T3 show in Miami, an event that connects vendors of technology with the financial advisor and broker-dealer community.

WealthManagement.com’s Jerry Gleeson interviewed Joel Bruckenstein, one of the event’s co-founders. When asked about whether or not technology or software would ever take the place of living, breathing advisors, Bruckenstein had this to say:

“I think the mistake a lot of people in Silicon Valley make is they think they can commoditize this. ‘Well, we commoditized banks, we commoditized trades, now we’re going to commoditize financial planning.’ There’s a big difference. The trade or bank deposit is a transaction. A financial plan is not a transaction. It’s advice. You can build smartness into the software. If all you want to do is calculate a number, yes, software can do that. But financial planning is much more than that. It has a lot to do with behavioral science and behavioral modification. It’s easy to tell a client what to do. But keeping them on track is a whole different story.”

Needless to say, umm, obviously. Well put.

Source:

Financial Planning Software: So Many Choices (WealthManagement)