When someone told me recently that her favorite use of AI is for financial advice, I was horrified. I am a retirement economist, and my first reaction was self pity: Now I know how doctors feel when people use AI for medical questions.
Then I went home and gave it a try. It was not terrible — it gave a clear and engaging explanation of the conventional wisdom on saving and investing. It was the equivalent of a mediocre financial planner, but without the personal touch. That’s probably better than nothing, and it’s bound to become more common as more brokerages offer AI advisers to less wealthy customers.
But it comes with some major weaknesses. And with most Americans unable to answer basic questions about financial markets — only about half believe it is safer to own many stocks instead of a few — I thought it might be appropriate to offer a kind of primer. Finance 101 still explains almost everything, but maybe some of the language could be clearer.
