How we work
Intelligent workflow design and AI systems orchestration.
We help firms like yours consult on the right AI tools, train the team to use AI, and build custom AI solutions. Every engagement starts with the RIA AI Opportunity Map: a two-week review that shows where to consult, train, or build. Vendor-neutral. Buy what already works. Build only the gaps.
Built by a former Head of Trading and Research at an RIA. The same person runs the Map, the training day, and the build.
Independent firms only. RIAs, hybrid advisors, and IBD affiliates who control their own technology decisions. If a parent bank picks your stack, we are probably not a fit.
The front door
RIA AI Opportunity Map
We go through your workflows, your technology, your data, and what your current vendors already cover, then name the places where AI is worth real money to you and is not already solved better by something you can buy.
- Fixed price
- $2,500
- Duration
- 2 weeks
- Deliverable
- Written map + ranked 90-day plan
- 01A list of every place in the firm where AI would actually help
- 02What the software you already pay for covers, so you do not rebuild it
- 03Where work stalls between systems, and why
- 04What each fix is worth, in hours and in dollars
- 05What your CCO will need to sign off on
- 06Whether your data is in good enough shape to build on
- 07What to buy instead of building, named vendor by vendor
- 08A ranked 90-day plan you keep either way
- 09One build specified in enough detail to hand to anyone
You are not paying us to sell you a build. You are paying us to determine what should be bought, integrated, customized, or built.
The wealthtech AI landscape, and where we fit
Every layer of your stack now ships AI. We map what your tools already cover, recommend the best product where one exists, and teach or build only where nothing serves your firm.
The honest read of the 2026 market: most standardized workflows now have credible products. The question for your firm is not "can AI do this," it is buy the proven product, integrate what you own, build the firm-specific gaps, and govern everything.
A crowded market of capable AI notetakers, and every major CRM now ships its own. Several are expanding into cross-system actions.
Buy the right one for your stack. We help you select it, wire it into your CRM, and supervise what it writes and does.
Funded vendors now ship AI-assisted account opening and transitions for standardized stacks, some listed in custodian provider directories.
If a product fits your custodian and CRM, we integrate it and make sure a person approves anything that matters. We build only where your stack or exceptions fall outside what they serve.
Mature for tax documents, and custodian tools now extract data into Excel and CRMs. Thinner for estate, insurance, and odd brokerage statements.
Buy the proven tool where one exists. We extend the same extraction pattern only to documents nothing on the market reads for you.
Every custodian and portfolio platform is adding AI inside its own walls, including natural-language layers across their own modules. It stops at the edge of their product.
Sit on top of whatever you run. We connect the pieces and automate the work between them: reconciliation, cash and RMDs, constraints, tax lots, trade-list prep.
Content drafting is a commodity, and several compliance vendors ship AI marketing pre-screen.
Buy it. We make sure the retention pipeline and Marketing Rule process around it hold up in an exam.
Products increasingly orchestrate across systems for standardized stacks. Mixed custodians, legacy tools, Excel, and firm-specific exceptions remain underserved, especially below $500M.
This is where we build: your CRM, portfolio system, and custodian data working together, with a named person approving the work before it goes anywhere and an audit trail behind every step.
Compliance platforms are adding AI features, and examiners now ask how firms supervise their AI. No dominant product inventories and tests the AI a smaller RIA already uses.
We inventory every AI tool in the firm, document vendor risk, set approval levels, test outputs, and keep exam-ready evidence, all in one place. This wraps everything above.
Which specific tools?
That is part of the engagement. The Opportunity Map, a review of your workflows that shows where AI helps and where you should just buy software, covers what your existing vendors already handle and makes a buy, integrate, build, or govern call on every finding. We do not sell software or take referral fees, so the recommendation serves your firm, not a commission.
Governance wrapper on everything
Approval gates, audit trails, and a written policy the principal owns. Compliance is the architecture, not a footnote. Governance is also a standalone engagement: AI Governance and Assurance.
A person approves it, every time
Anything client-facing and every Trade Order list is a draft until a named person signs off. Advisors will not buy unsupervised AI on life savings. We design for that.
Client data stays where it belongs
Client information and account data never go into free consumer tools. Firm-approved accounts, a written map of what flows where, and Reg S-P diligence on every vendor that touches client data.
Recordkeeping by default
Material prompts and outputs that inform advice or client communications are retained with timestamps (Rule 204-2). Built for the exam, not just the demo.
No AI-washing
We teach the Delphia / Global Predictions cautionary tale. Do not market AI capabilities the firm does not use. Wealth Systems and Expert AI Labs are not an RIA, broker-dealer, custodian, or law firm.
Questions firms ask
Our rebalancer already computes drift. Is this redundant?+
No. Rebalancers compute drift and propose rebalances. Training and our builds cover the manual workflow around them: reconciliation exceptions, cash raises, RMDs, client constraints, tax lots, and a trade list a human signs off on. We work with whatever you run today, including Excel.
We already use an AI notetaker and our platform is adding AI. Why this?+
Vendors own AI inside their own products, and it stops at their edges. Kitces research keeps finding that integration, not another AI feature, drives tech satisfaction. We teach and build the work that falls between the systems you already pay for, plus the portfolio-ops prep vendors under-serve, with a person approving anything that matters. And where a product is the right answer, we tell you to buy it.
What about compliance and the June 2026 Reg S-P deadline?+
Accountability is the first topic of the day, and it comes back when we cover compliance and marketing. You leave training with a policy draft, a list of every AI tool the firm uses, plain rules for which data may go where, and a vendor-diligence checklist. What we build stops for a person to approve and records who approved it. We are not a law firm. Your CCO and counsel remain the authority.
Is this a software product?+
No. Training teaches your team. Done-for-you builds systems in your environment. You own what we build. Nothing multi-tenant to log into. Demos use fake data.
What does this cost?+
The Opportunity Map is $2,500 and takes two weeks. You leave with a written map and a ranked 90-day plan whether or not you hire us next. Training and builds are scoped on the first call. No subscription and no long-term contract.
Will you promise hours saved?+
No. The defensible floor from St. Louis Fed research is roughly 2.2 hours per week among generative-AI users. Vendor claims on the meeting cycle are illustrative and attributed. We measure your baseline in the 30-day roadmap and let your numbers speak.
Virtual or on-site for training?+
On-site is one day. Virtual is a full day or two half-days. Same curriculum either way.
How large can the training team be?+
Up to 15 people: advisors, CSAs, ops/trading, billing, CCO, and principal. The owner should attend governance, the portfolio-ops anchor, and the roadmap at minimum.
What do we need to prepare?+
A 30-minute call, laptops for training, paid firm-provisioned AI accounts (not free consumer tiers), and a light sanitized data pack when we get to hands-on work. No real client PII on the projector.
Book a 30-minute call
We decide together whether the Opportunity Map, training, a build, or a combination is next.
Thirty minutes with the person who would run the work, not a sales development rep. Tell us about your firm and we will come back with a time, plus an honest read on whether we are the right people for what you need.
Or call (678) 524-6180 · info@expertailabs.com