The robo-advisor grows up into an agentic financial planner

Today: robo-advisors automate allocation and rebalancing — useful but narrow.

The next five years: the category expands into holistic, conversational planning that spans budgeting, debt, tax, and goals — and can take action, not just advise. Mass-affluent customers get something close to a private banker's attention at software cost.

The AI relation: language models make the advice explainable and personal at scale; agents make it actionable. The human advisor moves upmarket to complex, high-touch relationships.

Signal: advice is being unbundled from assets-under-management fees. Watch who can deliver planning, not just allocation, at scale.