Survey reveals Canadian advisors are three times likelier than US peers to fear AI ending their careers
Forty percent of North American advisors expect AI-enabled and self-directed platforms to become their greatest competitive threat within five years.
Today, just 7 percent name those tools as their main rival, a swing that signals how quickly the competitive ground is shifting under the advice business.
The 2026 Natixis Global Survey of Financial Advisors found North American advisors grew assets under management by an average of 12 percent over the past year, and most expect the gains to continue.
They moderated their 12-month outlook to 10.8 percent with 68 percent reporting that many clients want to hold more cash because of geopolitical uncertainty.
Over three years, advisors expect average growth of about 11 percent.
Natixis polled 400 North American advisors as part of a wider survey of 2,950 financial professionals across 23 countries.
North American respondents reported median assets under management of US$200m and average assets under management of US$4.8bn.
Advisors are preparing for "a fundamental reset in the business of advice" rather than a single disruption, said Dave Goodsell, executive director of the Natixis Center for Investor Insight.
Their immediate priority is helping clients protect portfolios in a volatile market, while the longer-term challenge is adapting to AI-powered tools, younger investors and evolving expectations.
Despite the scale of the shift, advisors "still see a path to growth," he said.
Traditional financial professionals remain the main source of competition today, the survey found, with 72 percent of North American advisors naming them as their biggest rival.
That picture changes over five years, advisors said, as only 21 percent expect traditional rivals to stay on top while concern about self-directed tools climbs to 40 percent.
Canadian advisors already see more competition from automated platforms than their US peers do with 26 percent citing them as their biggest competitor today compared with 5 percent of US advisors.
Advisors are also turning to AI to strengthen their own businesses, according to the survey.
Two-thirds (66 percent) said AI can drive market growth for the next two decades, 70 percent said it can free up more time with clients, and 76 percent said advisors who adopt it will gain an advantage.
Even so, 61 percent reported that integrating AI has been harder than expected, and 69 percent said investors take unnecessary risks when they turn to AI for advice.
That risk underscores the value advisors place on human advice.
Nine in ten (89 percent) North American advisors said they are focusing on personal relationships and accountability when they position their value against AI, the survey found.
Still, 18 percent believe AI will put them out of business, a concern three times higher among Canadian advisors than US advisors at 36 percent versus 12 percent.
Market uncertainty sits at the top of advisors’ concerns, the survey found, with 64 percent of North American respondents ranking rising geopolitical uncertainty among their leading worries and 88 percent expecting it to fuel more market volatility.
With 68 percent reporting that clients want to hold more cash, advisors said their task is to keep clients disciplined without overcorrecting.
The most common investor mistakes today, North American advisors said, are reacting emotionally to headlines, cited by 65 percent; trying to time the market, cited by 60 percent; and holding unrealistic return expectations, cited by 52 percent.
The pattern differs by market.
US advisors more often flag emotional reactions, at 73 percent versus 42 percent in Canada, while Canadian advisors more often point to tax mistakes, with 53 percent saying investors ignore tax implications compared with 33 percent of US advisors.
More than half of North American advisors said investors need equities for their higher long-term growth potential (56 percent) and for growth that can outpace inflation (55 percent), while nearly half (49 percent) said fixed income can act as a counterbalance to equity exposure.
Advisors are facing two generational shifts at once, the survey found, as client wealth moves to heirs while the advisory workforce ages.
North American advisors said they retain a spouse’s assets an average of 73 percent of the time after a client transition, but retention falls to 56 percent for next-generation heirs and to 45 percent when they manage assets for both a parent and an heir.
More than four in ten said they are increasingly worried about retaining heir assets with concern far higher in Canada than in the US at 63 percent versus 39 percent.
The same shift is creating openings, according to the survey.
Nearly eight in ten North American advisors (78 percent) said the wave of advisor retirements is a significant opportunity to grow their business, even as 66 percent said it will widen the advice gap.
A talent challenge looms, the survey found, with 44 percent saying they struggle to hire young advisors, a difficulty sharper in Canada at 67 percent versus 37 percent in the US.
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) said they are taking active steps to capture next-generation assets including specialized planning for younger clients, expanded digital tools, added AI capabilities, new prospecting channels such as social media, and hiring younger advisors.
The advisors best positioned for growth will pair technology and scale "with the personal relationships, accountability and behavioral coaching that investors continue to value," said Gad Amar, head of Western Europe distribution at Natixis Investment Managers.
He said tools like model portfolios and tax-aware construction let them personalize at scale while working more efficiently.
