Where the value moves
For most advice firms, income rises and falls with the assets they look after. That model rests on the work behind the advice being scarce and slow. AI is making much of it quick and cheap. If AI keeps improving at anything like its recent pace while staying almost free to use, the research, modelling, monitoring and drafting behind a percentage fee will take a fraction of the time they do today.
What clients still want from a person is the part AI can’t supply on its own: help deciding what they want their money to do, someone to keep them steady when things go wrong, and a professional who stands behind the advice. The New Model for IFAs and wealth managers is built around those things.
What it means for your firm
The fee based on assets under management gives way to subscription-style income, priced for the service and published so clients can compare it. AI runs the investment process and the paperwork, inside checks the firm designs and controls. The adviser’s time moves to goals, behaviour and life planning. Between meetings, clients use the firm’s own tools, such as an assistant, short video and a household hub, in place of articles and calculators.
The Consumer Duty already points this way. Firms have to show that clients receive fair value and that ongoing fees match an ongoing service. A published fee for a defined service, delivered with the help of AI, is easier to evidence than a percentage that rises with the market.
How to get there
The route has six moves. Start by taking stock of every service and fee, then build AI capability across the team. Hand over the legwork next, so advisers have the time for everything that follows. Then build your own digital offering, reprice and scale once the capacity is real, and make sure AI assistants can find and recommend you. On the default timings, the first three moves take around three to four months, because moves 2 and 3 overlap.
Throughout, keep your clients in view. Many of them face the same change in their own work and finances. Helping them adapt, with honest conversations about income, retirement and how to use AI safely, is part of the service a new model firm provides. The 8MDs AI training for financial advisers covers the skills behind moves 2 and 3.
Where the value moves
Subscription income replaces the asset-based fee
The fee based on a percentage of assets under management comes to an end. In its place, clients pay a published subscription or fixed fee for a defined service. Fees follow the work and the judgement rather than the size of the portfolio. That makes fair value easier to show, and it lets the firm serve households a percentage fee never suited.
AI runs the investment process
AI monitors portfolios against each client's agreed goals and risk, flags drift, compares funds and drafts the rationale for changes. The firm stays responsible for suitability. The adviser's time goes on agreeing goals, keeping clients steady when markets or life get difficult, and standing behind every recommendation the firm makes.
A client toolkit under the firm's name
The firm's own assistant, short video and AI partner tools, such as a household financial hub, take the place of articles, blogs and generic calculators. Clients use them between meetings. The firm sees which households need attention next, and a person confirms anything that matters before it is treated as settled.
Life planning at the centre
Once AI runs the portfolio, the adviser's value sits in the decisions around it: health and longevity, supporting family, changing work and when to stop. These are the conversations clients want a person for, and they are what a subscription client can clearly see they are paying for.
Today and the new model
| Today | The new model | |
|---|---|---|
| How you charge | A percentage of assets under management | Published subscriptions or fixed fees for a defined service |
| Investment process | Research, spreadsheets and model portfolios run by hand | AI monitors and drafts; the adviser checks and stands behind it |
| Where adviser time goes | Preparation, file notes and paperwork around each meeting | Goals, behaviour and life decisions with clients |
| Client tools | Articles, newsletters and generic calculators | The firm's own assistant, video and household hub |
| Between reviews | Little contact until the next annual meeting | Clients use the firm's tools; the firm sees who needs it |
| How clients find you | Referrals and search listings | Recommended by AI assistants and professional referral partners |
| Clients per adviser | Capped by the paperwork hours each client needs | More households per adviser, including those with smaller portfolios |