Vanguard Survey: Advisors Embrace New Technologies, but Still Lack Time to Focus on Client Relationships

VALLEY FORGE, PA (September 15, 2026)—Financial advisors are increasingly using AI and portfolio management tools to boost efficiency, but results from a new Vanguard survey also reveal that many still lack the time to focus on what matters most for growing their business: client relationships. The national survey of financial advisors found that 72% of advisors wish they had more time to devote to prospecting and deepening existing client relationships. The findings suggest that while the financial advisor toolbox may be expanding, meaningful efficiencies remain untapped.

“Time spent with clients is the currency of growth for financial advisors,” said Eve Cout, Head of Advisor Solutions, Financial Advisor Services, Vanguard. “For more than two decades, Vanguard Advisor’s Alpha research has shown that advisors create their greatest value through relationship-oriented services like behavioral coaching, wealth management, and financial planning. Technology has the potential to create more capacity for that work, helping advisors improve client outcomes while growing their business.”

AI Adoption Is Widespread, but Its Full Potential Remains Untapped

AI adoption among financial advisors continues to grow, but most firms remain in the early stages of implementation. Advisors primarily report using AI to support administrative tasks such as drafting emails (38%), conducting research (35%), and taking meeting notes (27%).

“Many financial advisors have only begun to scratch the surface of AI's potential,” said Lauren Wilkinson, Chief Information Officer, Financial Advisor Services, Vanguard. “To fully realize the benefits of AI, firms will need to evolve from using the technology to assist with tasks to using it to automate them. Doing so can unlock more time for higher value work.”

Financial advisory firms report several hurdles to broader adoption and automation. Compliance and home office hesitance (37%) emerged as the leading barriers preventing advisors from doing more with AI. Advisors also cited a lack of time to learn new capabilities (34%), limited proficiency (31%), and concerns that AI would undercut their value (22%) as obstacles to more extensive use.

Advisors Seek Solutions That Free Up Time for More Personalized Advice

Beyond AI, advisors are also turning to portfolio management solutions to streamline investment implementation and build more scalable practices, with model portfolios emerging as the leading option. When evaluating these solutions, advisors cite investment performance and track record (68%) as their most important consideration, followed closely by cost (51%). Yet despite the growing adoption of portfolio management tools, nearly one-third of advisors (32%) still manage portfolios entirely on their own.

"Model portfolios help advisors get one of the things they need most: time. Research suggests advisors can save more than 400 hours a year using model portfolios¹,” Eve added. “The real value isn't just the time saved; it's what advisors do with it. The best advisors use that capacity to spend more time with clients, deepen relationships, and grow their practice."

The desire to create more human-to-human capacity reflects a broader business reality: relationships remain at the center of advisor growth. Advisors identified referrals from existing clients as their most fruitful source of new business, while investors have cited trust, personalization, and investment performance as the factors most likely to inspire a recommendation².

Together, the findings suggest advisors are embracing technology not simply to improve efficiency, but to use those efficiencies to create more time for the relationship focused work that is most critical to long term practice growth and client success.

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1 Cerulli Associates, 2023. Analyst Note: Responses are from practice management professionals.

2 IARC Practice Management Research 2026. Vanguard.