By Stephen Ong, Co-founder of Vault22
Over the years, countless conversations with people asking for investment advice reveal a recurring pattern. On the surface, their finances look good, strong income, diversified portfolios, regular savings. But when you delve into the details, a very different picture emerges.
In leading financial hubs like the UAE, many of the globally mobile have multiple bank accounts, investments with different brokers or platforms, idle cash earning little to no interest with debt sitting in the background. It is challenging to make the best decision without full visibility.
Today’s financial lives are fragmented across platforms, dynamically changing every day, yet financial advice continues to rely on simplified profiles that do not reflect how people actually live and make decisions.
Artificial intelligence with behavioural learning changes that.
Financial planning needs to move away from what people intend to do, towards what they actually do, to produce a more reliable indicator of outcomes. Instead of relying on a snapshot profile and stated goals, AI continuously analyses behaviour; how people spend, save, react to markets, and make decisions throughout the week through to life changing events.
Users often describe themselves as long-term investors, but their behaviour tells another story, as they may sell the moment markets become volatile. It is not planned, it is reality. This behavioural data is far more useful than any financial assessment questionnaire.
AI has now moved beyond organising financial data and starts interpreting it in context. Thousands of customers hold millions of dollars in excess cash with little or no interest while carrying high interest debt. It seems obvious when visible, but traditional advice surfaces this too late, often in a quarterly review when the opportunity to act has already passed.
AI changes the timing, where advice can happen in real time and on the go.
AI advisors grounded in real behaviour, real-time data, and continuous learning can identify inefficiencies as they happen, highlight risks before they escalate and deliver insights at the exact moment decisions need to be made, from budgeting and goals to investing. That is when behaviour can still be influenced and have a positive impact on outcomes and clients’ wealth.
The shift towards timely and behaviour-led guidance improves consistency, which has historically been the weakest link in personal finance. Evidence shows that interventions aligned with real financial activity can increase savings rates by 15 to 30 percent, demonstrating how incremental changes can lead to better long-term outcomes.
At the same time, AI is redefining financial literacy.
For years, the industry has focused on education, assuming that if people know more, they will make better decisions. But access to knowledge is not the challenge. It is how to apply that knowledge in different scenarios and execute in a timely manner. AI embeds learning directly into action. It explains why something matters in that moment, shows the impact over time, and reinforces behaviour through experience. Over time, this builds a far more practical form of financial literacy, one that is lived, not taught.
This shift is particularly relevant in today’s financial environment, where there is a lot of untrained advice and noise from social media, and people are managing cross-border income, tax jurisdictions, multiple bank accounts and investment platforms.
In this increasingly dynamic environment, static advice loses relevance quickly because it cannot keep pace. AI-driven systems are better suited to this complexity as they can consolidate financial data into a unified view and respond dynamically to users’ data as situations evolve, providing individuals with a hyper-personalised advisory service.
By consolidating fragmented financial lives into a single, evolving view, AI-driven platforms provide something that has been missing for a long time, a 360-degree financial view and clarity with intelligent, data-driven guidance.
As AI becomes more embedded in financial decision-making, trust is critical. People need to understand why recommendations are being made but also that their money and investments are safe. Partnering with leading investment managers ensures AI-driven financial guidance is combined with financial products managed by experienced finance professionals, making sophisticated financial planning accessible to the mass affluent.
