Ep 32 | The Worst Financial Advice I Ever Took (and it Sounded Genius)

You’ve probably wondered if AI can handle your finances. After all, it’s fast, smart, and knows how to crunch the numbers.

But here’s the problem: money is personal, and algorithms don’t do personal.

In this episode of The F. Word, Priya explains why your financial plan needs more than a robo-advisor and a risk slider. From navigating money baggage to prioritizing complex goals like home buying, IVF, or a sabbatical, AI might be able to generate answers - but it doesn’t ask the right questions.

You’ll hear real examples from clients who used AI tools but still felt lost and how human advice helped them get clarity and actually move forward. Plus, a breakdown of where AI can be helpful and where it fails, especially if you’re earning six figures and want your money to feel as good as it looks on paper. If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything “right” but still not making progress, this one’s for you.

Tune Into This Episode to Hear:

• Why AI can build a smart plan, but not YOUR plan

• What robo-advisors consistently get wrong for high earners

• How human advice helps you change your habits and follow through

• What financial planning should actually feel like when it’s working

Follow Priya Malani:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Youtube | Stash Wealth

THE STUFF OUR LAWYERS WANT US TO SAY: Stash Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor. Content presented is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to make an offer or solicitation for any specific securities product, service, or strategy. Consult with a qualified investment adviser (that's us) before implementing any strategy. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. There…we said it.

Transcription

Chat GPT had built a smart plan, but it hadn't built her plan because it didn't know what she hadn't thought to say.

Hey guys, Priya here. Welcome back to the F word, the financial podcast for ambitious 30 somethings who are ready to stop winging it and maximize their money potential.

So if you've ever wondered whether using an AI powered financial advisor could save you time, money, or headaches, or bias or subjectiveness, is that a, is that a word? You're not alone.

But here's the problem, money isn't just numbers. It's human, it's emotional, and it's messy.

And if or when you hand over your financial future to an algorithm. You might be missing the most important, the most critical part of the process that actually leads to your success. The part that actually allows you to make your money work for you and the issue might not actually be the AI that you're using.

Let's get into it.

Okay, so let's start with something super simple. Why is AI so attempting to use in the first place? Well, it's fast, it's cheap, and it's smart.

So for portfolio tools that are using an algorithm, it takes a matter of minutes. You can open an account, you get a portfolio, set your risk level, and for people who feel overwhelmed or behind, that's a quick fix.

But here's what most people don't realize. AI isn't a planner. It's a plug and play portfolio manager. If you've heard me say this once, you've heard me say it a million times, investing is the easiest part of your financial success.

So, yeah, it'll help you invest.

But that's not the same. And a lot of people get this confused as helping you build wealth.

So fast, easy, click a couple buttons, you're done. That's appealing. Totally understand.

So let's move on and talk about the fact that the psychology of money is human, not machine.

As brilliant as AI is, it even—is able to extract and model true human behavior. It can't do it, it, it actually can't do it as irrationally as we need it to, right? Because that sounds crazy. But the truth is, 99% of the money decisions we make are irrational. It's one thing to tell a client that renting is not throwing money away. It's another thing to hold their hand through the process and guide them towards a smarter financial decision.

There isn't that push and pull with AI. The psychology, the conversation never comes into play.

We're emotional. We second guess. We panic when the market drops. We overspend when we're stressed, or when we're going on vacation.

Another thing that's really important to remember is that AI doesn't know our money baggage. Most of it is inherited, um, not chosen, and if it doesn't have the backstory, it's gonna be much more limited in the way it's able to help you move forward and the types of decisions it helps you make.

Here's an interesting fact. A study by Morningstar found that investors who work with a human financial advisor exhibit more financial discipline and resilience during a volatile market.

We talk about this a lot at Stash Wealth—that our job as financial advisors isn't just to tell you what to do. We help you feel good doing it, so you actually follow through.

And AI can't know if you are stressed about your partner's spending or if you're quietly terrified to look at your bank account. But all those things impact the kind of conversation it takes to make smarter financial decisions moving forward.

And maybe you've exhibited a pattern in the past that you're not looking to continue or repeat, right? Like maybe you're trying to buy a home or start a family and finally feel in control. You wanna make that pivot? Well then your past behavior is not indicative of the kind of behavior you wanna carry forward. It definitely doesn't help you prioritize.

Okay. So let's just recap a couple of the reasons where AI fails us when it comes to financial planning, being smarter with our money, changing our financial habits. The first is that it doesn't understand nuance, right?

It doesn't truly grasp personal context, emotional triggers, or complex life trade offs. The second thing is it doesn't hold you accountable. There's no AI that's gonna follow up, that's gonna nudge you, that's going to motivate you the way a real human advisor would.

I find this is a mistake that a lot of people make who have just jumped into using AI to build a financial plan, right? Unless you put in every detail perfectly, it's gonna miss things. Like changing goals, family dynamics, tax nuances—those are all things that AI is not equipped to help handle.

You have to know what to tell it in order for it to create the correct plan for you, right? Like that's why when you visit a doctor, there's like an input form, but then as soon as you go and sit down with a doctor, you're peppered with a whole bunch more questions because everything you've told it now spurs the doctor to think of additional questions that can totally change the kind of advice they give you.

I actually sat down with someone and we went ahead and built a financial plan talking into ChatGPT, and I let her do her thing. I just let her talk and tell it all the things that she thought were relevant and even ask it like, are there things that I'm missing? Is there anything else that I should be telling you?

Um. She gave ChatGPT everything—her income, her goals, her debt, her expenses. She even asked it to generate a list of questions to catch what she missed.

But what it didn't know and what she hadn't thought to tell it was that her aging parents had just sold her house and were planning to move in with her.

Overnight, her cost of living, her estate planning, and her long-term care risks completely changed.

ChatGPT had built a smart plan, but it hadn't built her plan because it didn't know what she hadn't thought to say.

Okay, a few more.

I think this one gets undermined, but AI doesn't care if you succeed. There's no emotional investment, so it's just giving you answers. Not a real true partnership. In a way, you're not paying it to hold you accountable.

Okay? Another one. AI hallucinates. It might misunderstand intent, oversimplify, or just completely make shit up.

And finally, it's not built for complexity.

I think it's great for simple budgeting, answering nuanced, maybe technical questions about a backdoor Roth conversion. Sure. But the larger building of a comprehensive and personalized financial plan, it's just simply not equipped to do yet.

It can't help you decide how to use your savings or help you figure out if you're gonna spend your money on IVF or a house or sabbatical. It also can't help you understand why you're oversaving or overspending. It can't help you talk to your partner about merging your finances so that you guys can strengthen your money position and move forward as a stronger team.

It can't help you take a $250,000 income and turn it into a life that feels exciting, exhilarating, and aligned.

Because as far as we're concerned, you don't just need advice. You need a relationship. You need someone you can trust, and that's not something we can do with algorithms—until they stop hallucinating, at the very least.

Okay, enough shitting on AI. I love it. I use it every day. Here's what AI can do for you.

It can crunch numbers, it can autobalance a portfolio, fine.

Okay, so what's the big deal? Just move forward and use AI to get portfolio advice. A lot of people come to Stash Wealth after working with an AI based RoboAdvisor, and the pattern is almost always the same. They invested their money, their money is working harder for them, but they still feel confused about the larger picture.

And even though they were being told they were on track through their dashboard, it just didn't feel like it.

And the worst part about it is that they were thinking that they were the problem, not the software.

You can be implementing a robo solution and still feel like you're not good with money or that you are not disciplined enough or that this might be all there is.

No, that's not good enough. Not when you're making six figures and trying to build a life that reflects your values.

Human element changes everything.

When you work with an actual human advisor, you're not just checking a box. You're actually starting to build a relationship with someone who knows your goals and reminds you of them.

When you start spiraling, helps you make better trade offs with intention. Knows how to talk you off the ledge kindly and only when needed.

I'll give you an example. We had a couple who wanted to buy a house, take a month off for a wedding abroad, and pay off all their loans in the same year.

AI couldn't help them decide what to do first. A Stash Wealth advisor could.

This is starting to feel like an ad, but at the end of the day, we created a plan that mapped out all three goals and figured out how best to achieve them without sacrificing their lifestyle, taking into consideration all the other inputs, everything they were trying to do, not just in this year, but looking into the future, two years, three years, five years, 10 years out.

Because that's what real human advice does. It adapts to your real life.

Okay, so if you've been tempted to just set it and forget it with an AI advisor, totally get it. But I want you to remember, this is your money, your life, your future.

And frankly, it deserves more than just a dropdown menu and a risk slider.

Obviously, we believe that financial advice should be as human as possible—as the people that the advice is being delivered for.

At the end of the day, that's how you're gonna stop winging it with your money.

It starts by building a relationship and it ends with you building real wealth and clarity and confidence with your money once and for all.

If this episode helped you rethink the role of financial advice, send it to a friend who's still relying on Robo Advice and hoping it's still enough.

And if you're ready for the kind of financial advice that actually feels good to follow, you know where to find us.

We're at My Best Bite where every week I pick one bite that is divine to share with you.

So this week it's a classic. It is the Meyer Lemon Tart from Gramercy Tavern. It was so cute. They had sliced up some little, uh, kumquats and dried the kumquats and decorated the top of the tart. If you're in the area, go to Gramercy Tavern, the Meyer Lemon Tart.

Enjoy.

All right guys. Thanks for listening to the F word. We'll see you next time.