AI Summary
5 min readWill AI Displace Financial Advisors?
The live-recorded episode opens with Michael and Ben in Miami, fresh off a dinner where crude oil futures spiked 27% overnight and the S&P 500 dropped 2.2%. Bitcoin was flat. "It's very bizarre that the buyers just keep on stepping in," Michael says, comparing the market's resilience to Rocky IV. But the market talk is just the warm-up. The core of the episode is a two-part exploration: first, whether AI will make financial advisors obsolete, and second, whether private credit is a bubble waiting to pop. Both conversations are driven by listener skepticism and media narratives, and both end up challenging the panic.
The AI Threat: History Rhymes
The AI conversation starts with a listener email. The listener had been experimenting by feeding his financial documents into various AI platforms and asking them the same questions that online financial personalities answer. His conclusion: the AI answers were "more thorough, and often better than the human quote experts." He argued that financial advice "seems like the perfect prey for AI to take over almost immediately."
Michael admits he had his own "hot sweats" about this five or six months ago. But after a dinner conversation with Michael Kitsis, an industry consultant, he invited Kitsis on stage to make the case for calm.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Show Intro & Market Check** - Michael and Ben open the live show from Miami, noting crude oil's 27% spike and the S&P's resilience.
- 2 (05:15) **Live Show Kickoff & AI Email** - The hosts start the live segment and read a listener email questioning whether AI will make financial advisors obsolete.
- 3 (09:50) **Interview: Michael Kitsis on AI & Advisors** - Michael Kitsis argues that AI is not an extinction-level threat for financial advisors, using historical precedent.
- 4 (22:24) **Interview: Phil Huber on Private Credit** - Phil Huber from Cliffwater defends private credit against media claims of a bubble.
- 5 (39:00) **The Roast Battle** - Michael and Ben roast each other based on a listener email and their kids' jokes.
- 6 (45:35) **Wrap-Up & Exhibita Plug** - The hosts close the show, promoting their charting software and a new monthly commentary report.
- 7 Standout Quotes
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
On episode 455 of Animal Spirits, Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson are live from Future Proof Citywide in Miami talking with Michael Kitces and Phil Huber about the wealth management business in the age of AI, the private credit crisis of confidence and a very special Animal Spirits roast.
This episode is sponsored by Teucrium and Janus Henderson Investors.
- Find out more at https://teucrium.com/agricultural-commodity-etfs
- Learn more at https://www.janushenderson.com/
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Find complete show notes on our blogs:
Ben Carlson’s A Wealth of Common Sense
Michael Batnick’s The Irrelevant Investor
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Investing involves the risk of loss. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be or regarded as personalized investment advice or relied upon for investment decisions. Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson are employees of Ritholtz Wealth Management and may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this video. All opinions expressed by them are solely their own opinion and do not reflect the opinion of Ritholtz Wealth Management.
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