Goldman Sachs is wagering that family fortunes will keep needing human advisors

A skeptic would say the chatbots now taking on routine advice will move up the wealth ladder in time. Business Insider's reporting draws the line at complexity. Chatbots may be able to serve many middle-class and mass-affluent investors, but a fortune brings problems such as a billionaire planning how to split money among family members ^[19]. John Mallory, Goldman's global co-head of wealth management ^[15], answers by counting the people an advisor has to satisfy. "Now you've actually got to think about all the next generation decision makers who might care about very different things," he said ^[8]. The whole bet rests on that forecast about heirs, and the reporting includes no data on whether heirs prefer a person to software.

Goldman's hiring plan also depends on a second prediction about AI. John Waldron, the chief operating officer, expects the technology to create more, and wealthier, ultrawealthy people ^[9]. "We serve the wealthiest people in the world, large family offices, ultra-high-net-wealthy folks," he said in a September podcast interview with Blackstone's Christine Andersen, where he flagged private wealth as a big future priority ^[10].

The training shows what the relationship is for. The first three weeks cover wealth advisory basics, Goldman's platform and the breadth of its financial tools ^[14]. After a mock call, Mallory said, a recruit may have felt "good vibes" and won the account but still "didn't do half of what the platform had to offer" ^[11]. He describes the modern advisor as a "financial doctor" ^[13]. I think the soft skills are being taught as the route by which Goldman's products reach a family. Whitney Pigott, a new advisor who previously held finance and strategy roles at Amazon and other companies, compared the work with briefing senior leaders who wanted different levels of detail ^[16]. "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," she said ^[12].

The cost arrives before the revenue. This summer's class implies about 92 recruits a year earlier, so Goldman added roughly 28 people to the intake ^[17][18]. The summer's hiring commits the bank to carrying a bigger cohort through an apprenticeship year with working advisors ^[5]. Next summer's class adds to that load if Waldron's plan to keep hiring in large numbers holds ^[3]. He has already said how long the return takes. "It's a slow-burn," he said. "You grow into this role." ^[4]