Key financial planning trends to watch closely in 2026

29 Jan 2026 , 11:55 AM

HOW FINANCIAL PLANNING WILL CHANGE IN 2026

Financial planning is about having a methodical and intelligent plan to achieve your medium term and long-term financial goals. It is not just enough to plan your goals; they must also be put into action through asset allocation, actual investments, and regular monitoring. The financial planning universe has been changing for the last few years, but 2025 has seen some sharp changes. These changes are likely to mark some paradigm shifts in 2026.

Consider some trends. Technology was always central to financial planning, but in 2026 we could move to more of robotics, use of AI in financial planning etc. Financial planning was always about the customer, but we could see financial planning getting more customer centric. Thirdly, financial planning has generally been about equity, debt, and liquid assets. The rest were small in comparison. We could see a greater role for alternate assets. Let us move to 5 important financial planning trends for 2026.

TREND 1 – MAKING FINANCIAL PLANNING MORE CUSTOMER CENTRIC

In financial planning, the big question for the financial planner was always; how they would get paid. For a long time, financial planning was an adjunct to sales of financial products like mutual funds, bonds, and insurance policies; and it still is. However, customers are getting exasperated with that approach. The concern for them is not about distribution or about commissions. It is about whether financial planning puts the customer at the centre.

That is going to be the big change in 2026. As competition heats up among financial planners and customers become more demanding, the automatic result will be a higher level of customer-centricity. In 2026, the financial planner will no longer be talking about good investment products in the market. The focus will be on products that are good or bad for you. This deep customer-centricity was long missing, and that is all set to change.

TREND 2 – REACHING OUT EFFECTIVELY TO A YOUNGER AUDIENCE

That is going to be the real challenge in 2026. The young earning members between the ages of 25 and 40 are likely to become the biggest market segments for financial planning. Most of them are likely to see big money; either through their earnings, or through asset values accumulated by their parents, or legacies passed down. There will be billions of dollars in the market looking for smart long-term allocation for financial goals.

The young audience is not going to be easy to please. Get prepared for an audience that asks a lot of questions, is unabashed about expressing their own views, wants to know more about alternate assets, and is willing to take higher risk. For most of them, the start has been a lot easier than the previous generation, so their risk appetite and approach to asset classes is very different. Most financial planners will soon require separate financial planning verticals working for the young audience. That could be an interesting shift in 2026.

TREND 3 – CHANGES IN DIVERSIFICATION AND ASSET ALLOCATION

For a long time, diversification was about buying another mutual fund or buying debt. Not any longer. Today investors have choices like index ETFs, gold ETFs, silver ETFs, bond ETFs, hybrid products, hybrid funds, multi-asset funds etc. The equations of 2026 will not be just about equity and debt. It will be about equity, debt, gold, silver, REITs, commodities etc. Financial Planners will have to figure out how to allocate across these asset classes.

In the last few years, the only asset class people have known are equity, debt, and gold. Now we will see planned exposure to actives, passives, thematic ETFs, smart beta products, REITs, INVITs, crypto asset exposure etc. Many of these assets have their own legal and tax implications, which is why financial planning is going to become a lot more complicated in 2026. Asset allocation and diversification will no longer be just a discrete choice.

TREND 4 – MARRYING TECHNOLOGY, UI, AND RESULTS

In the last few years, there have been efforts on DIY models like robotic platforms, automated advisors etc. That was the basic version. In 2026 we will see more advanced version of the use of technology. Use of artificial intelligence to mine through large mountains of data to arrive at sharp conclusions will be assumed to be the new normal. Most financial planners will have to focus on creating more appealing user interfaces (UI).

The big challenge for financial planning will not only be about integrating AI into their platforms, but to also prove that it is delivering the results. Financial planners need to identify metrics and the right persons who can work on such complicated roles. At the end of the day, financial planners have to demonstrate to their customers that they can use AI and ML effectively, that it is cost effective in the long run, and it is delivering results.

TREND 5 – REACH, RECALL, AND ROBUSTNESS

Finally, what will decide if the financial planning will work? The first requisite is reach. Today, technology has made customer acquisition scalable at minimal added cost. Financial planners must look at a continuous funnel of customer acquisitions to offer scale and cut business costs. The second challenge in 2026 will be recall. How to embed a product or solution in the minds of smart, young investors in the brief time window available?

Perhaps, the biggest shift in financial planning in 2026 will be that it will have to be a lot more robust that what it is now. Financial planning will have to be proactive in anticipating shifts and advising customers to prepare accordingly. In a volatile market where asset fancies are changing each year, such robustness will hold the key. Above all financial planning models will have to be a lot more flexible to accommodate more asset options.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR INDIAN INVESTORS

Here are some key takeaways for investors from this trend shift expected in 2026.

• As financial markets become more complicated, structured financial planning is going to be all the more essential to preserve and grow wealth.
• The choice of alternate investments is expanding rapidly and financial planners must learn to incorporate them. Investors must demand greater access too.
• Use of technology, DIY, and AI will be the new normal. However, all this does not reduce the importance of human expert intervention in the financial planning process.
• Like portfolio strategy, even financial planning has to adapt to more volatile markets and asset classes. That will be the big challenge for 2026.

Year 2026 promises to be a watershed year for financial planning industry. One thing is certain; demand will explode and the onus will be on the financial planners and service providers to match up to this demand burst.

 

LLM Summary Year 2026 is likely to pose several challenges for the financial planning segment. However, it will also be a decisive year, which will separate the men from the boys. Today, financial planning is becoming more of a technology business. However, the more it becomes a technology business, greater is the need for human touch and human intervention. After all, most people would still be comfortable with a known person advising them on money matters than leaving the finer aspects to an inanimate machine. The global and domestic markets became a lot more volatile and unpredictable in 2025; and that trend is likely to continue into 2026. That has two implications. Financial planners must tune up their systems, solutions, and approach to suit this increased volatility. Clients must also brace themselves up for a much sharper risk-reward balance. It also means that financial planners must help customers scout for more options beyond traditional equity and debt to effectively manage risk, returns, liquidity and taxes. The next few years will see billions of dollars passing from one generation to another in India. The spillover effect will be huge. The result will be a surge in demand for financial planning; that is acute and sophisticated. Year 2026 could just be the start of this trend!