A few months ago, clients of Manikaran Singal started walking in with printouts. Each one was an AI-generated review of their portfolio, and each came with the same question: “AI says this about my portfolio. Do you agree?”
Singal is chief financial planner at Good Moneying Wealth Planners, a Sebi-registered investment adviser, and he uses AI heavily himself. He does not object to it. “Better-informed investors usually make better decisions, and AI has made financial knowledge far more accessible,” he told Mint. It has also pushed people to ask sharper questions and care more about their finances.
The trouble is what happens next. One prospective client asked him, “If AI has already analysed my portfolio so thoroughly, what additional value does a financial adviser really bring?” Singal called it a reasonable question, but the wrong one. The better one is what happens to investor behaviour when analysis and seemingly personal guidance arrive instantly and almost free.
The pause has vanished
The principles of investing have not changed, Singal said. What changed is how easily people react to uncertainty. After a market correction, anxious investors used to wait a while. That wait has nearly disappeared. A portfolio can be reviewed in minutes, so emotions never settle, and if one answer is unconvincing, another prompt or another AI platform is seconds away.
He described a client who came back within weeks of a review, though income, goals and market conditions were unchanged. “What had changed was simply his desire for another review after someone suggested trying a different prompt.” AI, Singal concluded, is not just making analysis easier. It is making continuous analysis effortless.
Some doubts need action, he said. “Many simply require patience.”
Attention is the cost
Second-guessing has a price. Going over long-term decisions that do not need fixing drains time and mental energy, and Singal calls attention “a priceless resource.” He would rather see it go into professional and personal skills, physical and mental health, and time with the people who matter most.
“Answers are not the same as decisions,” he said. Good decisions still take judgment, context and the discipline to hold to a considered plan.
His advice is to treat AI as a learning partner. Use it to grasp complex ideas, test assumptions and frame better questions before a big financial move. Do not reach for a fresh review every time the market makes you uneasy.
“Technology will continue to become smarter. But the scarce resource in investing is no longer information,” Singal said. “Increasingly, it is judgment, attention and the discipline to stay committed to decisions that were made thoughtfully rather than emotionally.”
