What if every financial advisor had a team of AI workers — not tools, not chatbots, but real digital co-workers handling the operational heavy lifting?

In this episode of Money Matters, host Chris Hensley sits down Jonathan Michael, Director of Growth at TIFIN AXIS, to break down what AI agents actually are, what they are not, and how they will transform wealth management operations over the next decade.

Jonathan is a two-time founder with over 10 years of experience in EdTech and WealthTech. Today, he’s focused on solving wealth management’s biggest scaling problem: operational bottlenecks. His vision is simple but powerful — give advisors an AI-powered digital workforce so they can serve more clients, more deeply.

In this conversation, we cover:

What an AI agent is vs. a chatbot

Why AI workers are better described as digital co-workers

How agents automate middle- and back-office workflows

Why structured prompt engineering is now a compliance requirement

How to reduce AI hallucinations with verification loops

Claude vs ChatGPT for financial advisors

Small language models, data sovereignty, and infrastructure

Why data — not the model — is the real bottleneck

What the RIA of the future will actually look like

If you’re a financial advisor, RIA, or wealth management leader trying to understand how AI will really impact your firm — this episode is essential listening.

00:00 – Why advisors will have AI workers
01:02 – Chatbots vs AI agents explained
03:45 – What makes an agent truly “agentic”
07:05 – Advisor workflows AI does better than humans
10:12 – Claude vs ChatGPT for advisors
13:40 – Structured prompting & compliance risk
18:05 – Reducing hallucinations with verification loops
23:10 – Small language models & data sovereignty
27:40 – Why data infrastructure is the hard part
30:45 – The RIA of the future with AI co-workers

🔗 Connect with Jonathan Michael

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-michael

YouTube: AI for Wealth @jonathanmichael-jm

Newsletter: Wealth Management Prompts

TIFIN AXIS: https://tifin.com/axis

🎙️ About the Show

Money Matters is hosted by Chris Hensley and explores the intersection of money, technology, and the future of financial advice.

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