The ways different AI tools can be used in advice practices was highlighted in a fast-paced focus session at Financial Advice’s NZ’s 2026 conference last month by Panos Leledakis, President of the International Financial Architects Academy and Financial Advice NZ campus faculty member, who outlined a myriad of AI digital marketing strategies.
In part, Leledakis’ session could be seen as a taste of the comprehensive AI in Advice Certificate Course he runs for Financial Advice NZ, which has won accolades from past attendees.
Anna Cuming, of Professional Investment Services Manawatu, says her business was using AI in a very light way before the course, mainly for basic content support like drafting emails or simplifying wording in client communications and had recently implemented Marloo.
She says the AI was helpful, but not really embedded into how the firm runs the business.
Since Cumings did the Financial Advice NZ course, which is designed to build capability and technical fluency in AI tools, systems and applications tailored to the financial advice sector, the company has started using AI more intentionally across the business.
Cuming says this encompasses “…refining client communications and financial plan wording, to supporting marketing via video and content creation, idea generation, writing code, using tools we otherwise wouldn’t have known about and improving internal efficiency. It’s become more of a tool we actively use, rather than something we occasionally lean on.”
…the biggest shift was learning how to prompt properly and structure outputs so they’re actually useful…
She says the biggest shift was learning how to prompt properly and structure outputs so they’re actually useful.
“That alone made a big difference. Also, the focus on practical application, things like improving client communication and creating content, was easy to implement straight away and aligned well with how we already operate. I have actually also developed my own avatar and chatbots, our chatbot is now embedded in our website and was simpler than I expected.”
As to whether it has made a difference to the business so far, Cuming says they’ve already seen improvements in efficiency and consistency, particularly in how they communicate with clients and produce written work.
“It’s saving time without reducing quality, which is a big win. Looking ahead, I think it will continue to enhance productivity and allow us to spend more time on higher-value, client-facing work.”
…The opportunity isn’t just efficiency, it’s actually lifting the overall client experience…
She says PIS Manawatu is only scratching the surface so far, and the next step is building AI more into systems and processes “…things like automation, client onboarding, and more personalised communication at scale. The opportunity isn’t just efficiency, it’s actually lifting the overall client experience.”
She adds that the course has opened the firm’s eyes to what’s possible ”…and our business has gone from strength to strength because of it.”
Sue Mihakis-Tierney, of Sue Tierney Mortgages, says prior to the certificate course she barely used AI at work, and mainly just for recording software. Since doing the course, one thing that has been huge for her is voice recordings which she now uses for diary notes and to voice emails.
The online course, which runs once a week for two hours over 14 consecutive weeks, has also seen Mihakis-Tierney discover a tool called Easy-Peasy.AI with a lot of functionalities, which she’s now trained as a bot for the company.
If she needs research into products, she can ask the bot to scour different policies and ask the questions about what might be suitable for a client, who is perhaps not the type of client she deals with day-to-day. Instead of waiting to get hold of a BDM, with Easy-Peasy she can access all the information she needs.
“Another fun one is Suno.com which means you can create your own songs and music and compose a ditty for someone.”
…AI lightens the workload…
She has also just started playing around with AI tools and a tele-prompter for creating videos for social media, and has used voice recordings to write social media postings.
Mihakis-Tierney says AI lightens the workload, although she has not yet used it for one-to- one postings. She says the point is to give clients something that is relatable.
“The biggest thing people think is that they will not have time to do the course, but you really do not have time NOT to do the course,” she says.
She doesn’t see AI as taking jobs “…it is just helping us to do a better job.”
She says Leledakis made it clear using AI is not a sprint, and she hasn’t implemented everything as yet, but it has taught her to do things one-by-one and go back to the tutorials if she needs to.