Research on how clients find advisors
Studies built from the public graph, SEC filings and fee-only firms' own websites.
Original research · October 31, 2026 How AI assistants recommend financial advisors We asked ChatGPT and Perplexity to recommend fee-only financial advisors in 100 US and Canadian cities. Every answer named firms, almost 8 on average, but the two assistants agreed on fewer than 1 in 5, and a change of wording changed most of the list. 7.9firms named in the average answer18%overlap between the firms ChatGPT and Perplexity named for the same city77%of answers cited at least one fee-only firm's own website as a source40%of answers told the reader to look the advisor up on the SEC's adviser search before hiring Sophia Carrington · 6 min read
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