How AI reduced the need for a virtual assistant: Show Me Your Stack

Welcome to “Show Me Your Stack,” a series from Financial Planning in which we interview those who deliver financial advice to learn what tools they rely on to make it happen. Rising client expectations are driving the need for more powerful tech tools, and we’re digging deep to find out why advisors prefer certain solutions.

When Gabriel Kaplan started using artificial intelligence-related tools, he saw an immediate shift in his needs for outside help.

He is the founder, investment advisor and financial planner at Wealth Habits in White Plains, New York. A solo advisor, Kaplan’s firm has around $70 million in assets under management (AUM).

READ MORE: How to land bigger clients with deliberate tech: Show Me Your Stack

Kaplan founded Wealth Habits in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis. He worked part-time until 2018, when he added financial planning on top of investment management in an effort to provide more holistic services.

“I’ve been focusing mostly on stock compensation and people with complicated tax situations,” he said.

READ MORE: How a solo advisor taps tech for top efficiency: Show Me Your Stack

Also a certified public accountant (CPA), Kaplan has a virtual assistant who works for him for 20 hours per month.

Well, they used to work 20 hours per month for him, anyway.

“I will be honest, with the latest advent of this AI stuff, I’ve been giving her less than 20 hours a month of work,” he said. “It’s just that the requests I used to give her, I can get it done in AI much faster.”

While the results of the AI tools aren’t always perfect, he is able to modify them afterwards. 

Kaplan said that where he still needs his virtual assistant’s help, at least for now, is when something needs to be fixed inside software he uses in his tech stack.

“There isn’t AI in most of these applications to fix stuff yet, but I know it’s coming,” he said.

Scroll down the slideshow to see what Kaplan feels are some of the most important pieces of Wealth Habits’ tech stack.