Episode summary
The Real Role of AI in Financial Planning with Brad Joudrie
Resilient Advisor Podcast
· · Hosts: Jay Coulter · Guests: Brad Joudrie
Summary
Brad Joudrie argued that AI in financial planning is less about flashy generative chat and more about making advice auditable, faster, and scalable inside firms. He said Conquest Planning was built to reduce the 12 to 17 hours it can take to construct a plan by replacing trial-and-error modeling with a system that pre-runs strategy permutations and surfaces the next best action.
He framed the company’s approach as an expert system rather than a generative tool, emphasizing that calculations are rooted in local tax code and must be traceable down to each number in a plan. Brad said that matters because large firms need compliance guardrails and cannot afford advisor-facing AI that produces answers they cannot verify.
On distribution, he said Conquest already serves a large share of traditional advisors in Canada and is expanding in the US through partnerships and integrations. He also said the platform is moving toward an advisor-facing AI workflow where Conquest powers the planning engine inside broader agentic experiences, rather than replacing the advisor interface itself.
Key takeaways
- Brad Joudrie said Conquest uses an expert system, not generative AI, because financial plan outputs must be auditable and traceable.
- Brad said the platform is designed to cut the 12 to 17 hours typically required to build a financial plan by removing trial-and-error strategy testing.
- Brad said Conquest can replace multiple point tools at firms, not just e-money, MoneyGuidePro, or RightCapital, because it sits inside a broader advice workflow.
- Brad said large firms use compliance workflows in Conquest to set guardrails and reduce the need for manual review of every plan.
- Brad said Conquest is moving toward advisor-facing AI agents through MCP-style integrations, with the planning engine powering the calculation layer.
Notable quotes
“AI is no longer theoretical in wealth management”
“the ethos of this business has been making financial advice more accessible to more people”
“On average it was between 12 and 17 hours to construct and build a financial plan”
“we call them strategies, right into our engine and essentially run them as as a combination against each other”
“it is not generative in nature”
How the episode opens
AI is no longer theoretical in wealth management. This week alone, Altruist's new AI tool, Hazel, launched tax planning AI for financial advisors that moves directly into one of the most technical and defensible parts of the advisor's value proposition. If tax strategy, financial planning, and scenario modeling are becoming AIdriven in real time, what does that mean for the traditional financial planning process in your practice?
Today, we're talking about whether AI powered planning platforms like Conquest are just better tools or are they the foundation of you building a better practice?
You're listening to the Resilient Advisor podcast. This episode of the Resilient Adviser is brought to you by the Titleist Advisor Network, where independent financial adviserss become resilient, high-growth business owners. Since 2003, we've been private equity free, helping advisers build real equity in their firms.
Learn more at joint titleist.com. Welcome to the Resilient Advisor podcast where we bring industry experts to help you build your business your way. My name is Jay Coulter and my guest today is Brad Judrey who is the CEO at Conquest Planning.
Brad, thanks for coming on the podcast today.
Happy to be here Jay. I appreciate the opportunity and time. I'm looking forward to the discussion. — Yeah, let's start at a high level. Could you give viewers and listeners a little bit of your background? — Sure. Yeah. So I've I've been a industry vet in the in the um technology space. So in software for for a number of years now just over about two and a half decades. Um last 10 or so 12 to be specific have been spent in financial services. Uh I really grew a passion for financial advice and financial planning uh through my stint with the original Navl plan product.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai in financial planning
- financial advisor adoption
- planning systems
- client decision quality
- advisory firm resilience
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Conquest Planning
Watch the episode
Watch “The Real Role of AI in Financial Planning with Brad Joudrie” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Resilient Advisor Podcast, this episode and its artwork belong to Jay Coulter, CFP®, CIMA®. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
