Financial guidance sits at a crossroads where digital tools meet the need for personal understanding. As advisory firms incorporate automation and AI into their systems, one question rises above the rest: how can efficiency and innovation work alongside human insight without compromising trust, empathy, or meaningful support?
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has outlined a clear vision for a market that gives people access to full advice, simplified advice, guidance, and a developing category called targeted support. This approach aims to help consumers make timely decisions during periods when they may be more likely to face unfavorable outcomes, especially during major financial milestones.
Individuals often reach these stages without a clear plan. A significant number of those over age 45, for example, report uncertainty about how to draw income from their pension. The FCA’s consultation on targeted support highlighted that 75 percent in this group either lacked a clear decumulation strategy or didn’t realize they needed to make a choice at all.
What Targeted Support Is Designed to Do
quiltercheviot.com | Caroline Simmons describes targeted support as a spectrum, potentially leading consumers to full financial advice.
Targeted support gives firms a framework to identify patterns among consumers facing similar challenges and offer suggestions that match those situations. Common examples include:
1. Spending pension funds too quickly
2. Saving too little for retirement
3. Storing excess cash in accounts that don’t generate growth
Caroline Simmons, chief investment officer at Quilter Cheviot, describes targeted support as a continuum that ranges from general guidance to full financial advice. She notes that it may give underserved consumers a pathway into structured advice as their needs grow more complex.
At the same time, she emphasizes that high-net-worth clients and individuals with intricate circumstances will still require tailored strategies, particularly in areas such as investment structure and drawdown planning.
AI as Support, Not a Stand-In
Across the industry, firms are integrating new technology, but the core challenge remains: how to maintain the deeply personal nature of financial guidance. Mark Locke, managing director of communications at the Lang Cat, frames technology as a supportive framework rather than the main structure.
He acknowledges the value in the FCA’s focus on digital tools and targeted support, noting that these systems have the potential to reach people who may never interact with a professional adviser. Digital platforms can collect key information, model possible outcomes, flag potential risks, and highlight opportunities.
Yet Locke draws a clear distinction: numbers alone can’t capture the story behind someone’s goals. Two people might look identical on a financial summary, but their priorities differ. One may be helping a child through college; another may be planning to retire earlier than expected. Algorithms do not measure emotional strain or competing responsibilities. This is where advisers bring irreplaceable value.
How AI Can Strengthen Human Roles
Freepik | By managing reports and notes, AI gives advisers time for reflection and mentoring.
AI already assists with tasks such as preparing suitability reports, reviewing records, and organizing client notes. These efficiencies give advisers additional time—time that can be used for deeper discussions, careful reflection, and mentoring within their firms. Locke believes this shift works only when advisers use those hours to strengthen client relationships rather than replace them.
Skills like listening, interpreting life-driven priorities, and providing calm guidance during uncertainty remain distinctly human. If digital tools begin to overshadow these abilities, the profession risks losing the qualities that clients rely on most.
A Clearer Path Forward
Blending automation with human perspective does not require choosing one over the other. Technology works best when it supports thoughtful, experience-driven guidance. Targeted support, AI tools, and streamlined processes can help more people access financial insight, but trust and empathy continue to shape the conversations that matter.
Advisers who balance both sides—precision from technology and understanding from human connection—set the foundation for decisions that reflect real lives, not just data.
