Osaic CEO Jamie Price hopes artificial intelligence will allow the firm’s roughly 9,000 registered assistants to handle client-facing work and help offset a national advisor shortage, Wealth Management reported.
Price spoke during the wealth firm’s annual ConnectED conference in Atlanta, telling attendees that branch assistants with proper regulatory certifications could take on more client responsibilities as AI manages daily operations.
Projections on the coming labor gap remain debated, but a McKinsey & Co. report last year estimated that the U.S. advisor population will decline by 0.2% annually over the next decade. That trend points to a shortage of roughly 100,000 advisors by 2034, driven by rising wealth and increased demand for human guidance.
Price called the firm’s registered assistants another gigantic ecosystem of future advisors
during an interview at the conference. He urged firms to register everyone on their teams, arguing that training poses a larger hurdle than licensing.
Registered assistants typically support advisors with daily operations while holding a Series 7 or FINRA Securities Industry Essentials exam. Cindy Hamel, head of business operations, noted that advisors often turn away business due to office inefficiencies. Automating administrative tasks leaves assistants with an embedded client base to upskill into next-gen advisors, according to Hamel.
Price also emphasized the necessity of scale for modern wealth firms, warning that smaller competitors risk being outspent and pushed out of business. That scale directly impacts AI deployment, as firms must be large enough to fund technology across their networks.
You tell me what token costs are going to be in the next five years, and I’ll tell you how fast I feel comfortable running,
Price said regarding internal AI investment speeds.
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