What financial planning looks like when it follows the customer

Financial planning has a timing problem. People are expected to think about their financial lives at defined moments – when they meet with an advisor, change jobs, buy a house, have a child, or start thinking seriously about retirement. But most money decisions happen in between those milestones: Should I pay down this credit card or keep the cash in savings? Spend more on rent and push my home-buying goal further away? These decisions may seem too small or immediate to warrant a meeting with a financial planner, but they can shape whether someone ultimately reaches their goals and when.

SoFi Coach is a useful example of how financial planning could evolve in an AI-driven world. Launched this summer as an AI-powered financial guide, Coach has already been used by more than 200,000 members in a recent 30-day period, generating nearly half a million conversations. The questions span the traditional boundaries of financial planning: 31% focused on investing, 29% on budgeting and cash flow, 19% on debt and loan payments, 11% on retirement, and 6% on net worth.

Members may not think they’re building a financial plan when they use Coach, as they’re simply trying to make sense of the money decisions in front of them. But those decisions add up over time, pointing to a different model of financial planning that fits into everyday life and evolves continuously rather than being revisited only at set intervals.

Making financial planning part of everyday decisions

Lauren Anastasio, Principal Financial Planning Expert at SoFi, has spent years talking with members about their finances. One thing she has heard repeatedly is that people sometimes feel their financial situation is not important or sophisticated enough to warrant professional advice.

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