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TOOL SPOTLIGHT |
AI is sending clients to adviser meetings with sharper questions ready
CPA/PFS advisers Oscar Vives and David Blain lay out three ways AI is reshaping client expectations - and why the advice still has to belong to the human.
The Journal of Accountancy published a piece on October 5 covering a June ENGAGE session by CPA/PFS advisers Oscar Vives and David Blain on how AI is changing retirement planning conversations. The short version: clients are not waiting for advisers to set the agenda anymore. As the article reports, clients can now use AI to generate detailed questions to vet a retirement adviser before the first meeting.
BY THE NUMBERS
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Oct 5, 2026 PUBLISHED |
AI feature WHAT THIS IS |
Sample questions reported in the piece - including whether the adviser is a fiduciary 100% of the time, what the total all-in annual cost should be, and how the adviser helps clients manage market downturns during retirement - illustrate what sharper preparation looks like from the other side of the table. Vives and Blain did not frame this as a threat to the profession; they framed it as an opening. Good questions let a competent adviser show their work. Blain's formulation, quoted in the piece, captures the dynamic cleanly: 'AI accelerates the thinking, but the adviser has to own the advice.'
For CPAs who do personal financial planning work, the practical read is straightforward: rehearse answers to the hardest fiduciary and fee-transparency questions before they arrive from a client who has already run them through a chatbot. The article notes advisers can make sure they are prepared in advance - the same way clients now are. That is not a new idea, but AI makes the client side of that preparation faster and more thorough than most advisers have historically assumed.
WHAT TO VERIFY
| Run your own AI prompt asking how to hire a retirement adviser - see what detailed questions come back. | |
| Verify your fiduciary status and all-in fee disclosures are documented and easy to state clearly before a first meeting. | |
| Blain's framing - adviser owns the advice - is a useful internal test: check that no AI output goes to a client without your name on the judgment. |
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QUESTIONS THIS ANSWERS
What kinds of questions are AI-prepped retirement clients asking advisers?
Per the Journal of Accountancy piece, sample questions include whether the adviser is a fiduciary 100% of the time, what the total all-in annual cost will be, and how the adviser helps clients manage market downturns during retirement.
Did the ENGAGE session presenters say AI would replace financial advisers?
No. The Journal of Accountancy reports that Vives and Blain did not predict AI would lead to the demise of the profession; they argued advisers still hold the key to solving the retirement planning equation, with Blain noting the adviser has to own the advice.
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