Osaic CEO Jamie Price Says AI Could Help Ease Advisor Shortage

Osaic CEO Jamie Price believes artificial intelligence could mitigate a looming national shortage of financial advisors by transforming the roles of the firm’s 9,000 registered assistants.

Speaking at the ConnectED conference in Atlanta this week, Price suggested that AI-driven automation may allow support staff to take on more client-facing responsibilities, potentially easing the pressure on the industry’s shrinking human capital pool.

The Osaic AI Strategy:

Targeted Workforce: Osaic aims to upskill approximately 9,000 registered assistants to handle client-facing tasks previously reserved for senior advisors.
Automation Objective: The firm seeks to offload administrative burdens to AI, allowing assistants to move from “maintenance” roles into advisory positions.
Scale Requirement: Price emphasized that significant capital investment in AI is necessary to maintain competitiveness against larger industry players.

The 100,000 Advisor Shortage Metric

The primary driver behind Price’s pivot toward AI-enabled staff upskilling is a projected deficit in the professional advisory workforce. While projections vary, a McKinsey & Co. report from last year estimated the advisor population will decline by 0.2% annually over the next decade.

When factoring in the rising wealth within the U.S. population and an increased consumer willingness to pay for human financial advice, the math becomes difficult for traditional firms. That same McKinsey report anticipates a shortage of roughly 100,000 advisors by 2034. This gap makes it harder for firms relying solely on traditional recruitment and retention models to succeed.

Wealth Management reported that Price has spent several years warning audiences about these shortages. However, the integration of AI has led him to reconsider the severity of the crisis.

“It’s still going to be a shortage, but maybe we have work to do in helping your assistants actually become much more client-focused, taking more things off our hands faster than we otherwise might have thought about it,” Price said during the conference’s opening session.

Upskilling the Registered Assistant Ecosystem

Osaic views its current roster of 9,000 registered assistants not just as support staff, but as a “gigantic ecosystem of future advisors.” These individuals typically hold Series 7 or FINRA Securities Industry Essentials certifications, providing a regulatory foundation that makes them prime candidates for expanded roles.

Cindy Hamel, who recently transitioned from heading Osaic’s W-2 employee channel to her new role as head of business operations and executive, noted that office inefficiencies often lead to lost revenue. Hamel observed that many advisors are forced to turn away new business because their current staff is bogged down by administrative tasks.

By automating these routine duties, Hamel believes the firm can use its "embedded base" to fill the advisor pipeline. This transition would allow assistants to manage client maintenance while gaining the capacity to prospect or service referrals that would otherwise be rejected. For the assistant, this path provides a built-in client base as they transition into formal advisory roles.

The following table summarizes the projected demographic and operational challenges facing the wealth management sector:

Metric/Factor	Projected Impact/Data Point	Source/Context
Annual Advisor Population Change	-0.2%	McKinsey & Co. projection over the next decade
Projected Advisor Shortage (by 2034)	~100,000	McKinsey & Co. accounting for rising U.S. wealth
Osaic Registered Assistant Pool	~9,000	Internal Osaic workforce data

Scale and the Cost of AI Implementation

The ability to execute this transition depends heavily on a firm’s ability to fund and deploy large-scale technology. Price argued that the industry is entering a period of intense consolidation where scale becomes a survival mechanism. He warned that firms lacking the capital to invest in AI risk being outspent and eventually pushed out of the market by larger competitors.

However, the cost-to-benefit ratio of these investments remains a moving target. Price noted that the pace of AI adoption is tied directly to the evolving economics of the technology itself.

“You tell me what token costs are going to be in the next five years, and I’ll tell you how fast I feel comfortable running,” Price said regarding the speed of AI investment.

The Main Street Impact: 401(k)s and Client Access

For the average American investor, this shift in wealth management mechanics has direct implications for service quality and cost. As the advisor shortage persists, the “human touch” in financial planning could become a premium service, potentially leading to margin compression for firms that cannot automate effectively.

If firms successfully use AI to upskill assistants, retail clients may see more frequent touchpoints with professional staff, even if those staff members are not yet senior advisors. Conversely, if the shortage is not addressed, the rising wealth in the U.S. may face a service bottleneck, where middle-market clients struggle to find affordable, professional guidance for 401(k) management and estate planning.

Institutional investors will likely monitor how firms like Osaic manage the transition from high-cost human labor to a hybrid model of licensed assistants and AI. The success of this strategy will be measured by whether the firm can increase its capacity to handle referrals without a linear increase in headcount or overhead.

Osaic's move toward a scaled, AI-integrated model follows its recent acquisition of the $1.5 billion PNC Private Bank team by Raymond James, as the industry consolidates through large, tech-enabled deals.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational and market analysis purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always consult with a certified financial professional before making investment decisions.