Why Financial Advice Fails the Everyday Person
The financial advisory industry wasn‘t built for everyday people. It was built for those who already have wealth.
If you don‘t meet asset minimums, you’re often left with two choices:
1. Go it alone. Manage your own investments, navigate tax laws, plan for retirement all without guidance.
2. Pay for a one-time financial plan. But most flat-fee models don‘t provide ongoing advice, and without execution, a plan is just theory.
The problem isn’t that financial advisors don’t care, it’s that the industry‘s incentive structure prioritizes wealth over access. If an advisor is compensated based on assets under management (AUM), their business naturally gravitates toward clients with substantial portfolios.
This leaves a massive gap: hardworking professionals who are building wealth but haven‘t crossed the threshold where traditional financial advice becomes available. They need guidance, but they don’t fit the model.
DIY Finance Isn’t the Answer
The default response to this gap is DIY investing but that‘s not a real solution.
Investing isn’t just about knowledge, it‘s about behavior. Many DIY investors make emotional, reactionary decisions that cost them in the long run.
The financial landscape is complex. Taxes, estate planning, risk management these aren’t things you figure out through Google searches.
Time is a constraint. Most people don‘t have the bandwidth to become experts in personal finance while managing careers and families.
Simply telling people to learn finance is like telling someone to learn medicine instead of seeing a doctor.
The Missing Middle: A Better Model for Advice
Flat-fee financial planning attempts to fill this gap, but it’s not widely scalable. It requires upfront costs that many can’t justify, and without execution support, even a well-crafted plan often falls by the wayside.
The real solution requires rethinking financial advice from the ground up.
Scalable, structured guidance, leveraging AI and behavioral finance to deliver strategic insights at scale.
Execution, not just education ensures people don’t just learn what to do but actually implement it.
A new incentive model where financial guidance isn‘t reserved only for the affluent.
This isn’t about replacing traditional advising it’s about expanding access.
Many everyday people are forced into DIY finance not because they want to, but because they have no alternative. The industry has a choice: either adapt to serve them or leave them behind.
I believe there‘s a better way. The question is: What does that look like in practice?