Between Now and Success Dan Haylett and Alan Smith: AI Is Compressing Technical Advice to Zero
Mar 26, 2026
Dan Haylett, a marketing director and financial planner experimenting with AI workflows. Alan Smith, a UK-based planner and CEO who has adopted AI in practice. They debate AI's rapid commoditization of technical advice. They discuss empathy's role, regulator and fiduciary risks, firm redesign for AI-first workflows, and which advisors will prosper as the industry bifurcates.
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Travel Agent Analogy For Advisory Bifurcation
- Steve compared travel agents: commodity bookings collapsed while high-end bespoke agents thrived after the internet.
- He used 1995–2024 US data showing a 41% per-capita drop in travel agents to illustrate bifurcation.
Paraplanning Jobs Face The Biggest AI Risk
- Technical/paraplanner roles are most at risk because machines already outperform on calculations and reporting.
- Alan predicts future hires will favor creative, worldly people and psychology-trained staff over spreadsheet experts.
Plan Growth With Flat Headcount
- Use AI to hold headcount flat while scaling revenue as a forcing function for creativity and process redesign.
- Steve and Dan described task automation enabling growth without proportional hires and advised planning with that constraint.