Getting started with AI for financial advisers
Never used AI in your practice? This is the calm, no-hype first week — what to try, how to prompt, and the guardrails that keep it safe and compliant. No technical setup required to begin.
How does a financial adviser get started with AI? Open a business-grade AI assistant (ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or Claude), and use it for one low-risk drafting task — like turning your rough notes into a client follow-up email or a file note. Paste a ready-made prompt from a library, fill in the blanks, then read and correct the output before using it. Keep AI to communication and admin, never advice, and always keep the adviser as the reviewer. That's the whole starting model — everything else is just adding more tasks over time.
The four things to get right first
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Pick one business-grade tool
Choose a single assistant to learn — ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or Claude are all fine for drafting. Prefer a paid/business tier with clear data terms over a free consumer login. Learning one tool well beats dabbling in five.
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Start with a task that decides nothing
Your first task should be pure drafting: a post-meeting email, a file note, a plain-English explainer you'll fact-check. These save time immediately and carry almost no compliance risk because you review every word.
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Use a ready-made prompt, then edit
Don't start from a blank box. Copy a prompt from the library, fill in the [placeholders], and treat the result as a first draft. Editing a good draft is far faster than writing from scratch.
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Always be the reviewer
AI drafts; you decide. Read every output for accuracy, tone and compliance before it goes to a client or a record. This single habit is what makes AI safe to use in an advice practice.
Your first prompt to try right now
Turn rough notes into a client follow-up
Paste this, fill the blanks, and see how close the draft gets.
You are helping a financial adviser draft a client email. Write a friendly, professional follow-up to [client name] after our meeting on [meeting date]. Recap what we discussed: [3–5 bullet points]. List the agreed next steps and who owns each. Under 200 words, plain English, no jargon. Do NOT include any advice or product recommendation — only recap. I will review before sending.
A gentle first week
Past the basics? Get AI working inside your firm's tools.
Once copy-paste prompting feels natural, the next step is AI that reads your email, calendar, documents and CRM directly. SG1 Consulting sets that up — with your data staying in your own Microsoft 365 environment and a human review step by design.
Talk to SG1 Consulting Browse the prompt librarySG1 builds The Everything — one AI assistant across the tools you already use.