Could an AI Co-pilot be Better Than Your Financial Advisor?
31 Jan, 2025
In this episode of The Curiosity Code podcast, Alex interviews Manish Jain, co-founder and CEO of Mezzi, a fintech platform revolutionizing wealth management using AI. With a rich background on Wall Street, including time at JPMorgan managing multi-asset portfolios, Manish combines financial expertise with a mission to provide individuals and families with holistic, personalized financial guidance. Manish shares how Mezzi addresses a major gap in the market: the lack of affordable, comprehensive financial advice for those who don't want to rely entirely on traditional wealth advisors. Mezzi enables users to aggregate their existing investment accounts, cleanse and normalize the data, and receive AI-powered insights for optimizing their portfolios. Manish dives into how the platform’s proprietary approach ensures data accuracy, tackling challenges like incorrect asset classification and stock splits to deliver reliable advice. He elaborates on Mezzi’s use of existing large language models (like OpenAI’s) and explains how the platform curates prompts and insights to prevent errors common in generalized AI tools. The conversation also highlights Mezzi’s versatility—serving both as a co-pilot for those who self-manage their investments and as a complement for users working with financial advisors. Manish discusses the broader implications of AI in wealth management, predicting that as AI continues to drive down costs and democratize access to financial knowledge, traditional business models like charging 1% of assets under management will face disruption. He also reflects on lessons from managing large portfolios on Wall Street, emphasizing the importance of clean data and effective communication. Finally, Manish shares practical advice for fintech founders, particularly around building relationships and engaging continuously with stakeholders. He underscores how Mezzi’s growth has been fueled by partnerships with investors, including backers from major tech companies, and by a focus on user engagement and trust. This episode offers an in-depth look into the future of AI-driven wealth management and provides valuable insights for investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals navigating this evolving landscape.

Alex: Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of the Curiosity Code podcast. We extend our warm welcome today to Manish Jain, an innovator at the intersection of finance and technology. As the co-founder and CEO of Mezzi, Manish is transforming the way individuals and families manage their wealth using AI. With extensive experience on Wall Street and as a venture investor, Manish combines financial expertise with a passion for empowering smarter financial decisions. Manish, it's a pleasure to have you with us. Could you begin with sharing about Mezzi and the mission that drives your platform?

Manish: Yeah, Alex, thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. Yeah, sure. Let's jump into why we're building Mezzi. Let me give you a little bit of background on myself. I've been around personal finance and finance my entire life. I don't know how many people can say that or would want to claim to be able to say that, but my first memories of finance were going to the office with my mother, who's a financial advisor, and accompanying her and helping her with her paperwork in exchange for vending machine candy bars. And so I've kind of been around, you know, conversations around retirement and stocks and things like that from a very early age.

Manish: Actually, as I kind of wanted to get more experience in the space, I started really taking an interest and studying and then saying, okay, well, I want to go and learn from the best on Wall Street. So my first job was at a regional office of a major wealth management firm. And what I saw there was, I thought I was going to learn all about investing and putting money to work. And what I quickly saw was that mutual fund salespeople would come in and pitch different mutual funds to advisors who would then sell those funds to their clients. Often these were expensive funds, charging a large percentage of assets.

Manish: And what I started to realize was that advisors were not, at least in this case, investment experts. And so I said, well, I want to go and learn from the best investment experts. And that took me to Wall Street where I was at JPMorgan as an equity research analyst. I was researching stocks and making recommendations, but also setting up my own investment accounts—brokerage, retirement, Roth IRA, traditional IRA. Later, my wife and I combined our finances, and when we had our son, we opened a 529 plan and custodial account for him. But throughout all of this, I wasn’t getting holistic advice on asset allocation.

Manish: From my experience, I knew that many financial advisors weren’t the best fit for managing my assets, and even if they were, it would be expensive—charging 1% of assets yearly, which could amount to millions of lost wealth over 30 years. We saw this gap: people who don’t want to fully rely on advisors have limited options. That’s where Mezzi comes in. Our mission is to provide holistic wealth guidance to help people make better decisions, optimize their portfolios, and achieve their financial dreams—whether that’s retiring early, traveling, or funding their children’s education.

Alex: That’s a neat product. I came across a similar challenge myself when I began investing—confusion and limited advice. You had the Wall Street background, but many people don’t.

Manish: Exactly. Many people assume if you work in finance, you know everything about investments, but that’s not true. The financial world is very specialized. Equity research analysts aren’t necessarily expert stock pickers, and financial advisors may not have deep investment knowledge either. People at dinner parties assume anyone working on Wall Street can give them market advice, but the truth is far more complex.

Alex: Right. The financial services industry is massive. Now, let’s dive into Mezzi’s AI. It provides advice traditionally available from high-cost advisors, right? Can you explain the AI models or algorithms behind it and how they handle complex investments like multi-asset portfolios and tax optimization?

Manish: Sure. While I’m not the technical founder, I have deep experience in financial data. AI needs clean data to work properly. Our process starts by aggregating users’ existing accounts—brokerage, retirement, alternative investments—using platforms like Plaid or Finicity. We pull that data and immediately normalize and cleanse it. For example, if a stock split occurs or an asset is mislabeled as an ETF instead of a stock, we correct it to ensure accuracy in asset allocation and performance reporting.

Manish: Let’s say you own Tesla. Over the last few years, Tesla has undergone multiple stock splits. If your brokerage history doesn’t account for those splits, your tax and performance data will be off. So we correct and clean that data before delivering AI-driven insights. This allows users to see how their portfolios perform against benchmarks or optimize for taxes.

Alex: That’s impressive. AI insights sound useful, but many fintech startups struggle to seamlessly integrate AI. What challenges did you face while developing Mezzi’s AI capabilities, and how did you ensure transparency and user trust?

Manish: The biggest challenge was ensuring data consistency across users with different types of investments. We’ve solved about 80% of these issues, but it’s a continuous process. We’re transparent about AI’s limitations and disclose potential inaccuracies. We stay closely engaged with users to improve constantly. Users benefit from interactive insights and conversations with our AI-driven portfolio co-pilot.

Alex: How does Mezzi compare to traditional wealth advisors? Do you plan to collaborate with advisors in the future?

Manish: Great question. Mezzi is designed for users who want to self-manage their investments or take a hybrid approach. Many users split their assets—some with advisors, others self-managed. With Mezzi, they can track and adjust overall asset allocation. For example, if both you and your advisor invest in tech funds, you can spot the overlap and make adjustments to avoid overexposure.

Manish: Some users bring insights from Mezzi to their advisors, creating better collaboration. We complement advisors instead of replacing them, providing users with deeper knowledge and control over their money.

Alex: Given your background at JPMorgan managing large portfolios, how has that experience shaped Mezzi’s approach to data and technology?

Manish: Working with JPMorgan’s $300 billion multi-asset portfolio gave me a deep appreciation for clean, reliable data. The “garbage in, garbage out” concept is critical in finance. We’ve taken that lesson to heart at Mezzi by investing heavily in data cleansing. One of our core features is combining users’ personal investment data with live market data to deliver actionable insights, like asset allocation strategies or tax optimization.

Alex: AI is transforming wealth management. How do you see its impact on both institutions and individual investors?

Manish: Institutions will see efficiency gains as AI automates internal processes and reduces costs. But the real disruption will be in their business models. Wealth managers traditionally charge 1% of assets under management, but as AI makes advice cheaper and more accessible, these fees will likely decrease. For individual investors, AI democratizes access to financial knowledge, helping them take control of their investments without needing expensive advisors.

Alex: What advice would you give to fintech entrepreneurs or investors navigating this evolving landscape?

Manish: Build relationships and continuously engage with stakeholders. Even if initial conversations don’t lead to immediate results, nurturing those connections can open doors later. Also, don’t wait for perfection to share your vision. The fintech space moves fast, and adaptability is key.

Alex: Manish, thank you for sharing your insights on AI and wealth management. This was a fascinating discussion.

Manish: Thanks, Alex. I really enjoyed it. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss Mezzi and the future of fintech.

Alex: And for our listeners, don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share. See you in the next episode!