Massive Technology Disruption for Financial Advisors is Coming
Financial Advisors are having to lean new technologies all the time. When I first became a Financial Advisor, I was proud when I bought a fax machine for my firm, because we could communicate more quickly with financial institutions on behalf of my clients.
But many of my friends in the industry laughed at me saying, “why don’t you just pick up the phone and call the New York desk, or mail them the item. …it just takes a few days in the mail?” Today we’re dealing with exponentially fast-growing technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Digital Assets. Financial Advisors who dig in their heels, dismissing or failing to harness these technologies, likely won’t survive the coming disruption.
Every generation thinks it’s the first to encounter disruption. But the truth is, we’ve seen this movie before — just with with different technologies.
When automobiles hit the scene, buggy whip manufacturers scoffed. “Unsafe,” they said. “Noisy. A fad.” And when the telephone arrived, some insisted operator-assisted connections were superior. Then came rotary dials. Then touchtone. Then flip phones. Then smartphones. Then video calls across the globe for free. Each step met with head shakes, sideways glances, and a good bit of fear.
We used to catch fish by hand. Then someone sharpened a shell into a hook. Then we wove plant fibers into nets. Someone probably shouted, “That’s not fishing!”
It’s predictable. It’s human. And it’s happened every time a new tool threatens the comfort of the familiar — or the business model of those invested in the old way.
Upton Sinclair put it bluntly: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
That quote was true in 1935, and it’s still true today. From radio to television, typewriters to word processors, snail mail to email, progress has never waited for a permission slip from the incumbents.
What’s most curious isn’t that people resist change — it’s how confidently they dismiss it. As if every advance is some juvenile prank, destined to fade.
But the arc of innovation bends toward utility. We adopt the things that make life simpler, faster, safer, or more free — often after first mocking them.
Which brings us to today. A global, open-source, digitally scarce form of money now exists. It’s called Bitcoin. And just like the telegraph, it’s being laughed at.
You can read the full article here. It’s a brief tour through 120 years of progress — and the familiar resistance each new idea faces.
My focus is how Financial Advisors can create “moats of protection” around themselves right now to use these new technologies to grow our businesses, and survive the coming inflection points.
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