Daniela Furtado is a self-described ‘ChatGPT-aholic.’
As the busy founder of a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½-based marketing agency, Furtado relies heavily on the generative artificial intelligence platform to summarize conversations with clients or partners.
“My job puts me in a position where I’m constantly giving people direction and feedback,” say Furtado, “so it feels like I’ve learned the skill of prompting years ago and I’m just using this now for budgeting and investing.”
Furtado is part of a growing army of Canadians who aren’t just using AI to decipher a confusing text message or whip up a dinner recipe from a few simple ingredients, but to help them manage their finances and investments.
According to a 2024 poll from BMO, among the 33 per cent of Canadians who reported using AI to manage their money, some of the most common uses for the technology included learning more about personal finance topics, creating and updating household budgets or financial plans, finding new investment strategies and building savings.
Rising yields on the fixed-income investment are making them more attractive these days as stock
AI tools can help you lay the foundation for the necessary planning habits, says Anthony Tintinalli, head of specialized sales at BMO.
“AI is really good at giving you information, but it’s not good at sort of balancing the emotional component when it comes to your finances.”Â
Experts agree that while AI can be helpful if you already have a basic knowledge of financial topics, AI assistants and chatbots often lack the nuance needed to make personalized decisions around how you spend your money and work towards specific goals.
“If you’re coming in with little knowledge, then I think you might not even know what the right questions to ask are,†says Josh Sheluk, a portfolio manager and chief investment officer at Verecan Capital Management.
In Furtado’s case, she was instilled with good financial habits from a young age.
Now, as a business owner, she works with a CPA and financial adviser to set and plan financial goals for her company, as well as herself.
When Furtado started exploring the idea of an investment property, she first consulted financial experts to determine how large a mortgage she could afford.
Using this information, she used ChatGPT to refine her search for a location using specific criteria, which included proximity to water and within a three-hour driving distance from ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½.
“The conversation didn’t start and end with ChatGPT,†says Furtado. “It started and ended with professionals, people that are experienced.â€
On the budgeting side, Furtado uploads a spreadsheet of her expenses to ChatGPT to track her spending.
The key, she says, is to feed the tool the right data, and then ask follow-up questions as if you were talking to a friend or colleague.
“I’ll be like ‘give me percentages of how much I spent on different things, tell me how much I spent on going out versus groceries, do you notice any trends?’â€
The questions can get specific.
“I could say, ‘If I want to save X amount of money going forward, where do you think realistically I should cut back my spending to reach that goal?’â€
Tintinalli cautions that it’s important you’re not sharing personal information outside of a firewall for privacy reasons.
While not everybody will be comfortable feeding their data to a chatbot, says Furtado, using AI to help her track spending gives her more control over the type of analysis she’s looking for.Â
AI assistants often lack historical context that a financial adviser or professional would gauge.
As a financial advisor, Sheluk asks his clients a series of questions to unearth more information about their financial situation and their priorities.
He also learns about his client’s level of knowledge in budgeting or investing before offering them solutions.
When he experimented with ChatGPT and described an individual as having minimal knowledge in finance, the tool began offering solutions right off the bat.
Consumer advocate and auto writer Lorraine Sommerfeld recommends buying from a dealer registered
“At least in my experience, bombarding clients with a whole bunch of different items to tackle is not going to be an effective way for that individual to make any progress whatsoever,†says Sheluk.
When it comes to financial advice, the personal touch is still crucial.
“Remember, AI is going to answer a question that you have,†says Tintinalli. “I think it’s important to meet with an adviser or a financial planner when it comes to sort of help balancing what your priorities are and what you are emotionally attached to, and how do you balance the values that you as an individual have versus the question that you’re asking.â€
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation