DIY Investor at the cutting edge as it educates and engages the next generation of investors

We’re thrilled to share a major update with the DIY Investor community as we employ artificial intelligence to unleash the power of the crowd, deliver limitless ‘what if’ scenarios and act as your personal money monitor on your road to financial independence – by David Wetz

In today’s complex financial landscape, making the right decision about savings, investments, and pensions can feel overwhelming and with so many products on the market and financial jargon everywhere, it is more important than ever for consumers to have access to independent and trustworthy information.

That’s why we’ve been working hard behind the scenes as our publishing world changes with the rise and integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Very soon, DIY Investor will roll out a brand-new suite of articles that move us towards being a platform that delivers more options and is more relevant and engaging as you seek to achieve your financial objectives.

For more than a decade our independent content has delivered unbiased viewpoints on financial products and services that put the customer’s interests first, helping readers make informed investment decisions and achieve better financial outcomes.

DIY Investor has its roots in comdirect, one of the pioneering internet stockbrokers that brought online trading to the masses fully a quarter of a century ago.

In those days, very few brokers served up content, considering themselves purely an execution venue; DIY Investor was a natural bedfellow as its trusted content – Explainers, Experience, Expert – created a community by educating those new to investing and delivering timely information to those less experienced.

If technology was the enabler in delivering access to investments and markets previously the preserve of the men in braces, so the unbelievable ‘crunching power’ of machine learning has allowed us to revisit and dare to improve on some of the staples of the industry we may have long taken for granted.

We’re used to having it drummed into us at the end of a full-page risk disclaimer that ‘past performance is no guarantee…’ etc etc, but what about if, after analysing masses of data and creating countless what-if scenarios, there is an overwhelming probability that the investment you are considering will perform as you would hope and your money will be safe.

If further comfort is required, how about invoking the power of the crowd by asking people just like you – same objectives, same experience, same financial circumstances – what they have done.

Life is all about choices as the saying goes, but independent coverage gives readers the opportunity to make genuinely informed choices, whether saving for retirement, investing, or seeking the best account for their goals.

Where we traditionally considered ‘risk’ we will major on probabilities; when once we considered products, we will describe outcomes.

‘We wanted to let you know a little about how we are changing our strategies to stay ahead of the curve, and put simply, advancements in artificial intelligence have truly transformed financial publishing’

Our transmogrification reflects, or perhaps contributed to, significant changes in the overall investment landscape which will have a dramatic effect on its future development.

In ‘FCA announces ‘targeted support’ to help people take more control of their finances’ Christian Leeming reported on the ‘once-in-a-generation’ support to help those on their journey to financial independence

In ‘Reeves announcement puts wind in the sails of Saver > Investor campaign’ the Chancellor not only announced that some risk warnings would be watered down, but also that the government would be actively seeking to convert cash savers into stockmarket investors.

‘Don’t wait for the state, start saving or work into your seventies’ delivered a stark warning of the consequences of doing nothing.

These seismic shifts mean that there is an even greater requirement to improve financial literacy and deliver the support and guidance that people will need, and that is the challenge that DIY is embracing.

Here’s our summary of what we see happening now

Harnessing the power of AI allows us to focus on three areas that we have always worked hard to achieve when delivering our published material.

• Firstly, AI now gives us the ability to ‘real time research’ in addition to using and utilising our own knowledge of the industry. We like to think that we have also contributed to this research with our many years of analysis and reporting because AI is only as good as the information it is fed! It allows us to scan and rapidly publish financial news – both here and worldwide; give market updates; report on regulatory changes; comment on and publish new product launches. It is a great assistant and ultimately helps us to ensure that every article reflects exactly what is going on.
• Secondly, it allows us to review our relevance and accuracy – something that is so key in today’s world of greenwashing and misinformation. It also helps us find and report on what we feel is current and relevant for your needs – our readers.
• And thirdly – the exciting change for DIY. We will shortly be sharing our next suite of exciting and engaging products with you, with articles that not only inform but also explain and compare. We now have the ability within our platform to distil complex features, rates, returns and other metrics into easy-to-understand formats, saving readers time and sometimes confusion given the complexity of some financial products.

This new suite articles will help identify trends and subtleties that even some experienced analysts may miss, and hopefully the combination of AI and our experience in this sector will provide new insights that further enrich what DIY Investor is all about – honest independent commentary that allows readers to review professional unclouded articles, ask the right questions, and go onto choose what’s best for them.

We hope you enjoy some of our forthcoming articles which will be badged as ‘spotlight comparators’ and ‘spotlight explainers’.