Powerhouse Talks by DigiGem.io | Episode 05
Trust, education and technology in the changing world of financial planning
Financial advice has always been about numbers, but the relationship people have with those numbers is becoming much more complicated.
For the fifth episode of Powerhouse Talks, I spoke with Patrick Yaghoobians, CFP®, a financial planner based in Los Angeles who works with young professionals and first-generation families, about how these changes are shaping the relationship between advisors and clients.
One of the first things that stood out from our conversation was how differently generations can approach financial progress.
“Younger people want to see results sooner.”
Patrick explains that social media and the speed of modern life have contributed to this shift, while younger generations are also navigating a much more expensive financial environment. Some milestones that previous generations could achieve with less planning now require a much more intentional relationship with money.
“You need to build a better relationship with your money.”
For advisors, that creates a different kind of responsibility. The job is not only to create a financial plan, but to help clients understand their own financial behaviour and feel confident enough to act on the plan.
That brings us to trust.
When I asked Patrick what comes first in financial planning: building trust or educating the client, he didn’t see them as separate things.
“Trust comes first, but education builds trust.”
Some people build trust by seeing an advisor’s knowledge and authority, while others need to feel understood first. And because money is such a personal subject, potential clients often need to feel comfortable before they are willing to open up about their financial situation.
Patrick made an interesting point: education does not necessarily mean explaining a financial strategy. Sometimes it means helping someone unlock a feeling about their finances that they have had for a long time but have never been able to put into words.
That is where financial planning and marketing have a natural connection.
The best financial content is not simply the content that demonstrates how much an advisor knows, rather it is the content that makes a potential client recognise something about themselves.
A young professional who feels financially behind may not need another generic article about investing. They may need someone to explain why they feel behind, what is actually within their control, and what a realistic path forward could look like.
When content can do that, it starts building trust before the first meeting ever happens.
Technology is changing that relationship as well. Patrick sees AI and digital tools creating opportunities for much more personalised financial experiences, where advice and communication can be tailored to each individual’s circumstances.
But there is a limit to how much technology can understand.
Two people can have similar incomes, investments and financial goals and still have completely different relationships with money. One may be naturally cautious because of their upbringing, while another may be comfortable taking risks. The numbers can look similar, but the person behind them is not.
“Technology can understand the numbers, but it can’t understand the emotions.”
That is where Patrick believes human planners will continue to create value.
For me, this is where the future of financial advice becomes particularly interesting. The question is not whether technology will replace human advisors, but how advisors can use technology to make their work more personalised and efficient while becoming even more valuable for the things technology cannot replicate: judgement, empathy, context and human connection.
It also changes the way advisors need to think about marketing.
People can find financial information almost anywhere today. What they cannot easily find is someone they feel comfortable trusting with their own financial situation.
And this is where I think marketing has a much bigger role in financial planning than simply bringing in new leads. By the time someone books a meeting with an advisor, they may already have watched their videos, read their posts, followed their perspective or simply spent time getting a sense of who they are.
In other words, the relationship can start before the introduction. Good marketing gives people a reason to trust the person before they trust the service.
For financial advisors, that may become one of the biggest advantages in a market where information is no longer difficult to find.
As technology makes financial information more accessible and financial experiences more personalised, the human advisor does not become less important. The opposite may be true.
Clients are not simply handing over numbers. They are sharing their ambitions, their concerns, their families and their plans for the future. They want someone who can understand the financial picture, but also understand the person living inside it.
And that is what the new financial advice may be about: using technology to make financial planning smarter, while making the relationship behind it more human.