AI is moving into the work behind pension advice, from retirement calculations and investment reviews to client reports and regulatory checks. Donegal adviser Pascal Curran says his firm is using it as a second pair of eyes, while arguing that the time saved should give advisers more room to help clients.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
The Irish Examiner spoke with Curran, founder of financial services firm Advice First, and Michael MacGinty of digital services company MEANit about AI in pensions and financial advice. Curran says his firm uses AI across pension and retirement planning, research, calculations, investment reviews, client correspondence and preparation for annual reviews. He also says it can flag inconsistencies, missing information and possible mismatches between a recommendation and what the firm knows about a client.
MacGinty says pension providers are using AI to improve efficiency, but warns that staff need training and a clear understanding of how the tools can help. The Irish Examiner’s report also cites Microsoft research saying three in four knowledge workers already use AI at work, with almost 80% of those doing so without employer approval.
Why it matters
The examples make this more than a story about software drafting emails. AI is being used, according to Curran, in tasks touching calculations, investment reviews and recommendations for clients making decisions about retirement and savings. That raises practical questions about how advisers check its work and protect client information.
The distinction between assistance and advice matters. Curran describes AI as a way to challenge calculations and flag gaps, not as a substitute for professional judgement. The article gives practitioners’ accounts, not measured results showing how accurate these tools are or how widely pension firms have adopted them.
Our read
The most convincing promise here is not that AI can replace an adviser. It is that a well-checked tool might clear routine work and give advisers more time to explain consequential choices in plain English. In pensions, “the computer says so” is not a client-service strategy.
For firms, the useful next step is to be clear about which tasks AI touches, who checks its output and how client data is handled. For clients, it is reasonable to ask how a recommendation was reached and what a person has reviewed.
What to watch
- Whether pension and advice firms publish clearer rules for staff use of AI and client-data safeguards.
- How advisers check AI-assisted calculations, recommendations and regulatory sense checks.
- Whether firms can show that time saved improves client service, rather than simply increasing the workload.
Discussion spark: If AI helps with pension calculations and recommendations, what should advisers have to disclose to clients about how it was used?
Sources and evidence
- Source update (10 October 2026, 10:05 UTC)
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