Which World Do You Live In?

Lavinia Macdonald shares her experience of life before and after using AI and why she has never looked back.
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‘If you ask me to prefill one more of these fact finds, one more time, I am leaving,’” Lavinia recalls a memory that still stings.

When asked what inspired her to launch The Money Clinic and drive change in the financial advice industry, Lavinia explained that “In a past life, my colleagues and I had to complete a full suite of fact finds for every client at every review, even if nothing had changed. We didn't hold this information centrally. We couldn’t get an assistant to prepopulate all that information. Oh, no. Advisers were spending their valuable time on transferring data from one fact find to another just because a box moved or a page changed slightly. I wanted to be able to focus on providing quality advice that does not cost the earth”

1   New talent will not be excited by data transfer

"I wonder how advice firms still working this way will attract millennials to a profession built on providing long-term support?” Lavinia asks.  “They’ll look at what many still do and think those firms are stuck in the stone age." 

2   Key Drivers for Change

When today’s advisers wonder, “If I have four meetings in a day, how long will it take to do the follow-up work (email to client, file note…) ?”, Lavinia points to a different path. “Thanks to AdvisoryAI, I went from spending two hours per client on meeting notes and paraplanning to maybe half an hour to an hour for a quick check of the file note generated after the meeting and a summary email with the proposal attached. It gets the job done.”

3   Going faster does not mean you need to compromise on quality

Lavinia is quick to note that working faster also means working smarter. “Evie from AdvisoryAI takes the meeting notes and analyses every aspect of the conversation. The level of detail and accuracy AI delivers, is fabulous.”


But it can take time to get there. Training your AI is an iterative process, Lavinia advises. “Treat it like any other team member: teach it, train it, correct it, observe how it performs, and it will keep improving. Even when it seems perfect, it can still get better.”


Looking back, is there anything she would have done differently? “I wish I had done it sooner!”


Lavinia founded The Money Clinic to remove friction from the advice journey and help clients with “complexity busting” and impartial guidance, no matter where they are in their financial life cycle.


“I went through a few gruelling months of, ‘Gosh, there has to be an easier way of doing this, on my own, no admin at the time,’” she recalls. “Imagine a client with a hundred thousand pounds sitting in cash. They don’t need it for anything; they want to invest. But they still require a basic financial plan. How long will that end-to-end process take? Any investment would need to deliver reasonable returns over and above what they’re currently earning to justify the cost of advice. AI can help us deliver the right advice at a lower cost. With AdvisoryAI, I can do a simple investment plan in under seven hours from start to finish. When it came to generating the report, instead of slaving over it for hours, I went and made a cup of coffee and came back to check and make small amendments to a report that was mostly complete!”

4  Key considerations when choosing an AI vendor

When thinking about using AI in your advice business, Lavinia suggests: “Be clear about what information is going into it and know where you’re comfortable with how the data is being used.” You’ll also need to reassure your clients. “Think about how you can demonstrate to clients that security and Consumer Duty are key parts of your due diligence,” she continues.

 

5  Identify the Key Problems to Solve

“For me, the key issues zapping my time were meeting notes, report writing and policy information sheets,” Lavinia explains. “Those were the areas where I either needed to hire someone to handle them or spend a ridiculous amount of my own time each week. But with AI, you effectively have a new super-efficient junior colleague with no FTE overhead. Also, the training process is less involved as the AI already has a good base knowledge”

6  Keep It Simple

"The principle of great AI is what it delivers to you, when you want it, where you want it, in a format that is simple and intuitive, especially for an industry not known to be overly tech-savvy!" - Lavinia Macdonald

Lavinia is keen to ensure that advice firms considering AI aren’t overwhelmed. “Use it to replace what you were doing anyway, only do it better and in less time. You’ll wonder how you ever worked any other way. It’s an amazing tool. That’s true added value.”

7  What’s Next?

“What am I most excited about as the next step change in AI for financial advice? I can’t wait to work with Colin!” Lavinia smiles, referring to AdvisoryAI’s compliance-checker. “He will be in great company!”