Michael Zagari has been using AI in his practice since late 2022, and with that experience comes a critical eye for the latest fad
Each month at WP, we offer a slate of articles and content pieces that go deep on a particular topic. This month, we're focusing on AI in wealth management.
Michael Zagari, Investment Advisor & Portfolio Manager at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth in Montreal, has used generative AI tools in his working day since they first hit the market in late 2022. An early adopter by nature, Zagari started using generative AI as a communications aid. He would ask a large language model to copy edit his emails, to draft initial communications, or to critique his work. From those simple uses, he has seen AI and its applications in his practice expand, folding it into almost every aspect of his work.
Because of his belief in AI and his experience using it to drive greater productivity, Zagari has also crafted a critical eye for the latest AI-powered tool or platform. He explained where he has seen AI drive value in his practice and where he hasn’t, and how that experience informs the tests he now puts to other AI vendors. As the advisory business moves further and further into this area of technology, he outlines how other advisors can hone their critical eye for AI tools.
“It sounds cliche but [AI] allows me to scale the business. It literally does because I'm scaling it from a relationship based perspective where I'm having close relationships. But it doesn't matter how many relationships you tag on to the practice, the quality of the relationships stay there because I'm able to scale it properly with the tools I have,” Zagari explains. “Incorporating AI into our service has created a word of mouth referral system where I’m building assets and the clients are growing organically.”
Where Zagari finds AI uses
Beyond those communication cleanups he started with, Zagari has added a host of AI automations into his daily work. Those include meeting booking links and calendar tools with AI overlays that allow him to schedule and plan more efficiently. It also includes a new means of powering investment research. It also includes assistance with translation services, vital for working in a bilingual and multicultural city like Montreal.
Through his Bloomberg terminal, Zagari has access to a tool called ASKB, which applies an AI chatbot to Bloomberg. That allows Zagari to ask plain-language questions which the AI will interpret and answer pulling from Bloomberg’s wealth of investment data. This allows Zagari to pull out the earnings calls of a small modular reactor company from Q1 and Q2, using the AI tool to identify key differences and stated delivery on goals. That kind of research can be a powerful tool in the hands of a portfolio manager.
Marketing and communications remains a straightforward area of AI application as well. Zagari adds that in addition to copy editing and translation, using AI to draft presentations, put together slide decks, and collate key messaging points can all result in time saved for direct client connection.
Where not to apply AI, and how to test a vendor
As keen as he is on the use of new technology, Zagari stresses that even AI-powered communication requires a human touch. He gives the example of clients who would always prefer a phone call. Flipping them a link to an automated calendar is not going to make them feel well served. He says that advisors need to know when to go old school to help their clients.
Advisors also need to be critical of AI outputs. Fact checking and clear sourcing are key to any AI-generated content, and challenging the AI model on anything it has generated can often catch those AI errors. While AI can often tell users that their ideas, questions, and perspectives are all “great,” Zagari says that the models can be trained to give clearer and more critical responses to their human users. AI can be trained to be less sycophantic, making it more effective. Zagari also notes that sometimes AI output can appear impressive, but it doesn’t clarify. Every communication that he uses AI to edit or draft, he says, must then be tested under the simple question of whether it makes things more or less clear for the client. AI generated content can seem impressive, but clarity should always be the goal.
Zagari applies the same tests to AI tools that vendors will try to offer him as well. For operational AI tools, Zagari notes that decisions tend to happen at a dealer level. Those decisions, though, should be made with a view to how any AI tool integrates with the other tools on a dealer’s shelf, he says. Many AI vendors will focus on marketing solutions for advisors and when he deals with those vendors, Zagari says he avoids AI lead generation tools “like the plague.” As much as he uses AI in his communication, he doesn’t trust these marketing platforms to make a positive first impression. They give the impression that his practice is impersonal, he wants it to be anything but. As much as he sees AI benefitting his practice, he argues that authenticity should remain core to every advisor’s approach.
“Be authentic, be real. Use AI as an enhancement, not as a replacement in your practice,” Zagari says.
