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Clients Trust AI With Pocket Change — Not Their Retirement
Plus, the latest in market news.
Happy Sunday, and welcome to Benzinga’s financial advisor newsletter.
Today we're diving back into Artificial Intelligence again and its rapidly expanding role in the workplace. After highlighting how executives are going all in on AI last week, this time around we're shifting the lens to a question that is on everyone’s minds: Should advisors be worried about AI replacing their jobs? Read on to find out.
Plus, a look back at all the top stories and market activity from this past week.
Lastly, if you would like to be featured in our upcoming Advisor Spotlight and showcase your business, click here to send us an email.
Table of Contents
INDUSTRY CHATTER
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Artificial intelligence has dominated the news cycle with OpenAI securing non-stop partnerships between some of the biggest companies in the world with Amazon, Nvidia, Microsoft, Broadcom, Oracle, and AMD all recently teaming up.
That’s why it was no surprise that AI was a big focus at Benzinga’s Fintech Day which took place in New York on Monday. During the event, a rare moment of industry candor took place within the on-stage panel who cut through the hype saying that people trust AI with their pocket change, but not their life savings. That moment came courtesy of Chris Josephs, co-founder of Autopilot, best known for its viral Pelosi Tracker — and it summed up the mood of the entire panel.
"People might let AI swing-trade their Robinhood money," Josephs said, "but when it comes to their retirement accounts, they want a human."
In an era when chatbots pick stocks and AI models build funds, Josephs' point hit home. He's seen it firsthand: millions of Autopilot users follow algorithmic traders or "creators" who run AI-driven portfolios, but few are ready to let automation touch their 401(k)s or IRAs.
"This whole idea that AI will replace financial advisers? It won't," Josephs said. "Trust is going to matter more, not less."
That sentiment has been echoed by many others, including Phill Rogerson, AssetMark’s SVP and head of RIA who noted that AI isn't about to replace human advisors, but using AI efficiently to help personalize service is critical so that advisors can focus more of their time on what is most important: client relationships.
The Trust Premium
The panel — featuring WealthCharts CEO Rob Hoffman, TradeStation's VP of Product, James Putra, and Josephs — explored how AI and automation are redrawing the map for traders and investors alike and that trust remains the final frontier.
Josephs noted that Robinhood's recent acquisition of TradePMR, a firm specializing in adviser-led portfolios, as proof that even digital-first platforms are preparing for a human-AI hybrid future.
"That's the early signal," Josephs said. "No one wants an AI blindly doing everything for them — they still want to know someone's on the other side."
AI May Be Fast — But Trust Compounds
For all the talk about machine learning and market automation, the conversation circled back to one simple truth: the most valuable currency in fintech isn't speed — it's credibility.
While everyone wants the speed, personalization, and efficiency that AI can offer, they also want those tools filtered through someone they trust to make sure everything is accurate. The future of investing won't put advisors against AI, but those who know how to use AI best.
WEEKLY MARKET RECAP
After the longest shutdown on record, the U.S. government has reopened and federal agencies are rushing to publish a backlog of delayed economic data.
Yet the administration warned that key indicators — most notably October jobs and inflation figures — may be permanently compromised, due to a lack of data collection during the closure.
This has left the Federal Reserve in a cautious position heading into its December policy meeting, with several Fed members claiming that the battle against inflation is far from over.
Rate cut odds have swung sharply, with markets now seeing the likelihood of a 25-basis-point cut or a hold as evenly split.
On Wall Street, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit fresh record highs on Wednesday, the momentum reversed sharply on Thursday as AI stocks led a tech sell-off, triggered by growing investor anxiety over supply-side constraints.
The spark came from CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV), the AI cloud infrastructure firm whose third-quarter results missed expectations. Management warned of infrastructure delivery delays, noting that the demand for its platform was far outpacing the ability to build and deploy new capacity.
"There is no entity that has the capacity to be able to deliver infrastructure globally in order to meet the demand that’s being driven by the largest technology companies in the world, by the largest AI labs in the world, by government, by enterprise. All of these things are coming to bear," CoreWeave's CEO Mike Intrator warned.
Investors interpreted the update as a structural issue in the AI sector — what some analysts are now calling the "backlog paradox": unprecedented demand with no clear timeline for fulfillment. Shares of CoreWeave — which had rallied 240% prior to earnings — tumbled 25% on the week.
Meanwhile, sectors tied to domestic demand and real economy activity, including health care and autos, show relative strength as optimism around consumer spending rebounded following the government reopening.
Eli Lilly (LLY) and General Motors (GM) have been among the biggest gainers over the past month, both up about 25%.
GM shares rallied to record highs near $73 on Thursday, capping a streak of seven straight daily gains before easing slightly on Friday. The Detroit automaker continues to ride the momentum from a better-than-expected quarterly report released in October, along with positive guidance for the rest of the year.
Year-to-date, GM is now up 33%, far ahead of the S&P 500's 14% and the Nasdaq 100's 18% gains.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Economic Data
Monday: Empire State manufacturing survey, Fed speeches
Tuesday: Home builder confidence, import price index, business inventories
Wednesday: FOMC minutes, Philadelphia manufacturing survey, housing starts
Thursday: Unemployment rate, hourly wages, jobless claims, home sales
Friday: S&P Manufacturing/Services PMI, consumer sentiment, Fed speeches
Earnings
Click here for the full calendar of economic data and earnings reports.
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