But FAs will be remain vital even as tech demand grows
There’s an app for everything these days but demand for simple automation of finances is growing according to a new survey.
While many surveys show that use of investment robo-advisors is currently low, a new poll from Charles Schwab Investor Services finds that almost 60% of respondents expect to be using one by 2025.
“Consumers today expect a combination of technology to remove roadblocks and access to a person when they need some extra help, and how they invest should be no different,” says Tobin McDaniel, Charles Schwab senior vice president of digital advice and innovation.
The poll of US adults conducted by Edelman in July, found that beyond managing their money more people expect to use robo-advisors (58%) regularly by 2025 than artificial intelligence (55%), virtual reality (54%), augmented reality (43%), and cryptocurrency (36%).
And 45% of respondents said that robo-advisors will have more impact on finance than cryptocurrency (29%).
But people need people
The high share of those expecting to be seeking investment advice from an app won’t mean an end to human advisors though, the poll shows.
Of those who express affinity for robo advice 70% also want help from a person for more complex questions and situations.
For financial services, access to high quality customer service is considered second only to information and data security as an overall driver of trust.
Access to a person can also lead to deeper engagement with money and investing: 64% of people say they would spend more time investing if they had easy access to a financial advisor when needed.
“As people’s finances get more complex, they increasingly want access to a human advisor,” says McDaniel. “Leveraging technology to automate ongoing tasks means we can lower costs and drive scale to give more people access to financial advice and planning than ever before.”
Even tech-savvy millennials value humans
While almost three quarters of millennials said they are fans of using tech for money management, 82% still favour brands that make it easy to connect to a person and 79% prefer to build their financial plan by using a combination of automation and people or by relying almost entirely on human assistance.
