Goldman Sachs is betting that professionals who counsel the wealthy will have a strong future in the age of AI. The bank brought more than 120 new private wealth advisors into its four-week new private wealth advisor boot camp this summer, its largest class ever, and 30% larger than last year's. AI chatbots, which are increasingly capable of doing more of an advisor's work, may be able to serve the needs of many middle-class and mass-affluent investors.

But managing a fortune requires navigating thorny situations like helping a billionaire plan how to split their money among family members. Those services will require a very human touch, and Goldman is training its newest financial advisors not just on financial products, but on the soft skills that will keep clients coming back. "Chemistry" is essential in a business where more than half of Goldman's private wealth clients have been with the firm for more than 10 years, said John Mallory, global co-head of Wealth Management.

As more than $100 trillion passes between generations, advisors who once focused on building a relationship with one wealthy client and trying to "find the right tone and tenor" to relate to them now involve many more parties, he said. "Now you've actually got to think about all the next generation decision makers who might care about very different things," Mallory said. At Goldman, private wealth is a growth opportunity. The firm's COO, John Waldron, flagged it as a big future priority in a September podcast interview with Blackstone's Christine Andersen.

"We serve the wealthiest people in the world, large family offices, ultra-high-net-wealthy folks," Waldron said. He expects AI to create more, and wealthier, ultrawealthy people. Waldron said that the bank's plan is to continue to hire large numbers of private wealth advisors, knowing that the relationship-building game is a long-term one. "It's a slow-burn," he said. "You grow into this role." A core part of Goldman's four-week program, which ran from late July to mid-August, focuses on something nearly untrainable: how to get clients to like and trust you.

This shift toward relationships reflects a long evolution of the wealth advisor from personal broker to "financial doctor," Mallory said, someone to find the right financial solutions for whatever ails your pocketbook. In the first three weeks, they learn the basics of wealth advisory, Goldman's platform, and the breadth of financial tools. The final week focuses on putting this all into practice, building a business, and understanding how it applies to clients. Some training sessions are straightforward talks. Others ask advisors to spot issues in a client's portfolio or jump on mock calls in front of the class.

To focus on relationships, PWAs must give advice to simulated clients. Sometimes, tenured advisors roleplay financial whizzes looking to quiz you on your stuff, but they can also be a "much less sophisticated person," Mallory said. Learning when and how to switch approaches is part of the job.

This is one area that made new private wealth advisor Whitney Pigott feel confident she could do the job. In previous roles as a finance and strategy executive at Amazon and other companies, she had to explain complex subjects to senior leaders with different appetites for detail. "In corporate finance, I had some leaders that wanted to dive into the details, while others wanted a high-level overview," Pigott said, comparing it to wealth management. "Similarly, you're going to have clients who want to deeply understand each investment solution, and others who will put a lot of trust in you and want things communicated in a different way."

Advisors graduate after four weeks to their "host team," a working private wealth advisor with whom they apprentice.

They continue to train throughout the year with a library of videos and additional training, totaling 250 hours of training in the first year. Relationships are core to the role, but none of that matters without the expertise. You need "verbal dexterity," said Mallory, to be able to explain highly complicated topics to all sorts of clients, and you also need to know those products inside and out. This can lead to surprising feedback for new advisors after completing a mock call.

You may have felt "good vibes" and won the account, but you "didn't do half of what the platform had to offer," Mallory said. Generative AI is already helping clients ask "much better questions," said Mallory, which also means clients will bring "tougher questions" to their meetings. But advisors also have generative AI tools like GS Assistant, which Pigott said was essential for understanding the very complex financial solutions they're bringing to clients. "For me to go speak to a potential client about any strategy, I need to master its mechanics inside and out," she said. "Who uses it?

When would they use it? What are the potential outcomes? What are the potential risks?" She recently used AI applications to research and contextualize sophisticated risk management strategies for clients with heavily concentrated equity positions. And while AI can provide a helping hand, the best resources for navigating complexity are the advisors who teach, mentor, and become colleagues of the future PWAs.

Pigott is back in Seattle, working alongside and learning from an advisor with over 20 years of experience advising clients in Seattle for Goldman Sachs. "I have had these mentors and peers for the summer, and now I'm paired with a senior leader who is invested in my success," she said. This ability to communicate clearly, cultivate relationships, and synthesize information provides a line of defense against AI taking wealth advisor jobs, especially with the wealthiest clients.

"I think it changes how we spend our time, but not why," said Beau Burbach, who started at Goldman as a Houston-based private wealth analyst in 2021. "We have to be able to read into what is unsaid," Burbach said. An LLM also can't offer "accountability," said Burbach. "They want to be able to pick up the phone and call." That doesn't mean every interaction needs to remain human.

Advisors used to show off their "white-glove service" by writing their cell number on a business card and saying, "You can call me at 11:30 on a Saturday night," said Mallory. As Goldman's clientele, which skews older, passes on their money, new clients might be more willing to get basic questions answered digitally. "To be honest, I don't want to call you on Saturday at 11:30 at night in my pajamas," Mallory said.