Despite technological advancements transforming the financial industry, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Regional Manager and Financial Strategist Teresa Dolan Michaels believes the relationship between a financial strategist and a client will always remain at the center of the industry.

Michaels began her financial planning career in 2008 after acquiring her accounting certificate from Robert Morris University. While entering the industry during a financial crisis, she learned a valuable lesson about the market’s challenges: You need to understand the personal side of investments as much as the financial side.

“You need to know the personal and relationship side of the industry because that’s what you need the most when things aren’t going well,” Michaels said.

After acquiring her Certified Financial Planning certificate in 2016, Michaels joined McKinley Carter. As a regional manager, she handles the office’s day-to-day operations and coordinates efforts among the team to ensure they’re “all on the same page.” She also tracks whether team members are continuing their education as needed and taking their paid time off.

As a financial strategist, Michaels works with her team to assist ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals in transitioning their illiquid businesses into liquid assets they can live off of in retirement. Michaels describes a liquid asset as something that can be sold on the market, while illiquid assets, such as a window in someone’s home, are more difficult to sell.

“We work with a number of small business owners who’ve worked their whole lives to build this business or practice, and now they’re getting ready to retire,” Michaels said.

“I help them think through the retirement process financially and help them make the right connections to attorneys and accountants.”

While she acknowledges the importance of knowledge regarding the financial side of the industry, Michaels believes building relationships is the key component of her profession. She noted that a good relationship with clients was essential for her role as a coach who teaches clients how to make financial decisions independently.

“Many people have the right concept of what they need to do, but they just don’t know how to mobilize it, how to put it in action,” Michaels said. “For that, we have to be very intimate with the financial conversation. Confidentiality is super important, and clients must have the faith, confidence and trust in you to keep that relationship private.”

Though relationships remain at the center of the industry for Michaels, she noted technological advancements have transformed the financial industry since she entered it.

Due to easier and faster methods of communication being available between clients and financial strategists, such as texting, Michaels said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission now monitors communication and business between clients and advisers more closely.

“The regulatory environment is trying to weed out bad actors, and they want to make sure that those signing up to be a fiduciary, which includes McKinley Carter, have the clients’ best interest placed above anything else,” Michaels said. “If our clients are placed above anything else, our actions must reflect that. We’re OK with this higher level of regulatory scrutiny because we place our clients’ needs above all else.”

Michaels noted the rise of the internet has also made trading and pricing “exponentially faster and immediate.”

Michaels believes technology will influence the financial industry even further in the future with the rise in popularity of artificial intelligence. Michaels does not believe AI could do “everything” that a financial strategist does, but she believes it could be utilized positively in the field.

“I think we would like to learn to partner with AI more than be represented by it, so I think AI is something to embrace,” Michaels said. “You can hardly put your finger on the impact AI will have right now, but I think it’s likely that we will collaborate with AI more than work against it.”