Using AI to find a financial advisor: what it gets right and wrong

AI assistants are good at turning your situation into a list of advisors to look at, and bad at telling you which one to hire. When we asked ChatGPT and Perplexity to recommend fee-only advisors in 100 cities, every one of the 600 answers named firms, about 7.9 each. But for the same city, the two assistants agreed on only 18% of the firms they named. So use AI to build a long list, ask it more than once, and check every name yourself.

This is the reader’s version of our study of how AI assistants recommend advisors. Here’s what it means if you’re the one asking.

What AI gets right

It never comes back empty. Neither assistant declined to name names. Answers listed anywhere from 2 to about 20 firms. If you don’t know where to start, that’s a real help.

It understands plain language. You can describe your situation the way you’d tell a friend, including the parts that don’t fit a search filter: “I’m 58, my husband has a pension, and we want someone who’ll tell us if we can retire at 62.”

It shows its sources. ChatGPT cited about 15 sites per answer and Perplexity about 9. Most answers (77%) cited at least one firm’s own website, so you can open the page the assistant read and see whether it says what the answer claims.

It tells you to check. In 40% of answers, the assistant told the reader to look the advisor up on the SEC’s adviser search before hiring. That’s the right advice, and the rest of this guide is how to follow it.

What AI gets wrong

The list depends on which assistant you open. In the average city, only 18% of the firms named by either assistant were named by both. In 3 cities the two lists had nothing in common. Neither list is wrong; they’re just different samples.

The wording changes the answer. Asking one assistant for a “fee-only financial advisor” and then for “the best fee-only financial planners for retirement planning” in the same city produced lists that overlapped by 28%. A small change in how you phrase the question can replace most of the names.

It reads lists built for other purposes. Perplexity leaned on consumer finance rankings, review sites and lead-generation pages. SmartAsset was cited in 48% of all answers, mostly its city pages of advisors. Some of these sites are paid by the advisors they show, so a name’s presence there says little about fit.

It repeats labels without checking them. If a website or directory calls a firm fee-only, the assistant tends to say so too, so its label is only as good as its source. Our study didn’t check the pay of every firm named, and nothing in an answer shows that the assistant did. Regulators put it plainly in a joint 2024 alert: “information resulting from AI can be faulty, or even completely made up.”

It can’t see you. An assistant doesn’t know your full situation, can’t take responsibility for advice, and won’t be there to talk you out of a bad decision in a market drop. Our guide to whether you need an advisor covers what a person adds.

How to use AI well

1. Describe your situation, not just your city. Include your stage of life, the decision in front of you, how you want to pay (flat fee, hourly, a percentage), and whether you’re fine meeting by video. Specific questions get specific answers.
2. Ask at least two assistants. Since they read different parts of the web, two lists together give you a wider net than one.
3. Rephrase and ask again. Try the same question from a different angle: “who specializes in pensions” instead of “who is good for retirement.” Names that keep coming back are worth a closer look.
4. Ask where each name came from. “Which source told you this firm is fee-only?” If the answer is a paid ranking or a firm’s own claim, treat it as a lead, not a fact.
5. Ask the assistant to help you prepare, not decide. It’s good at turning your situation into questions for a first meeting. Our list of questions to ask a financial advisor is a good base to start from.

A prompt that works:

I’m 61, retiring in two years, with $900,000 across a 401(k) and IRAs and a small pension. I want a fee-only advisor who charges a flat fee, not a percentage, and I’m fine meeting by video. Who should I look at, and what source did each name come from?

Then verify every name

This is the step that matters, and it takes about five minutes per firm.

1. Look up the firm on the SEC’s adviser search. If it isn’t there, or in your state’s records, stop.
2. Read the Form CRS, the firm’s short summary of fees and conflicts. Look for commissions, insurance sales or revenue from products.
3. Check the person on the same search or on FINRA BrokerCheck. A broker registration next to the adviser one means they can earn commissions.
4. Open Form ADV Part 1, Item 5E to see exactly how the firm is paid. Our guide to telling whether an advisor is fee-only shows each line.
5. Check the price. Compare any fee you’re quoted with what fee-only firms publish: a median $4,500 a year for ongoing planning, $2,000 for a one-time plan or $300 an hour. See how much a financial advisor costs.

Then talk to two or three of the names that pass. Our guide to finding a fee-only advisor walks through the full search, and how to choose one covers the decision.

A note on our part in this

Wellspent runs this site, which is one of the sources the assistants read: ChatGPT cited the public graph in 37% of its answers in our study. Every advisor here has been checked against SEC filings for how they’re paid, which is the check an assistant can’t do for you. Use it the same way as everything else in this guide: as a place to start, then verify.