机器人抢饭碗 什么岗位较安全？

今天各个行业不断加入“机器人同事”，不少白领担心自己饭碗不保。而在个人金融问题上，掺杂着太多现实社会中的复杂情况和情感，或许这个岗位的你，暂时不用担心位置被取代？

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

venture capital风险投资

allure诱惑；吸引[əˈlʊə(r)]

lucrative赚钱的；合算的['luːkrətɪv]

onus义务；负担['əʊnəs]

enduring持久的；能忍受的[ɪn'dʒɔːrɪŋ; en-]

portfolio证券投资组合[pɔːt'fəʊlɪəʊ]

column专栏；圆柱['kɒləm]

quantitative定量的；量的['kwɒntɪ,tətɪv; -,teɪtɪv]

scenario情节；剧本[sɪ'nɑːrɪəʊ]

Robots can’t solve real-world financial problems（717 words）

By Jason Butler

Barely a week goes by these days without a new online or app-based investment service being launched. Many millions of pounds of venture capital money has flowed into these start-up businesses,based on the allure of lucrative,percentage-based fees for providing investment management.

Typically,these new digital investment firms offer a slick website or app with pretty and engaging graphics. After answering some simple questions,the customer is shown a range of potential investment outcomes,and then“guided”to an investment strategy before being invited to sign up to the firm’s investment service.

The site or app is generally free to use,but the main attraction is that services are cheaper than those provided by most traditional wealth managers,stockbrokers and financial advisers: the total cost for most digital investment services is in the region of 1 per cent a year,compared with between 1.4 to 2.2 per cent a year for traditional advice firms.

Most of these new digital investment providers do not provide personal advice,because this would make the sales process too complicated,few people would persevere to the end and it would represent a higher risk for the provider. Instead,they provide“guidance”,which puts the onus on the customer to make the right investment choice,with much less protection than offered by a full advice service.

It makes sense,therefore,to compare these digital guidance services with other non-advised options. Vanguard,for example,offers a range of risk graded index investment portfolios through its LifeStrategy range at an all-in charge of 0.24 per cent a year.

A typical investor with taxable,Isa and pension accounts,using a low-cost investment platform,such as that operated by Alliance Trust,would bring the total cost to no more than 0.3 per cent a year — or less for portfolios above £500,000. Indeed this is how I invest my family’s portfolio.

As well as not really being low cost,digital investment providers are not set up to diagnose and address the real financial problems most people have — and are therefore unlikely to deliver enduring value.

A digital investment website has the sole aim of selling the company’s investment portfolio services and in that respect they are like a man with a hammer,who sees every problem as a nail. Yet putting capital into an investment portfolio isn’t always the right answer: debt reduction,building a cash reserve,making lifetime financial gifts or investing in a business may be more appropriate.

Aside from financial organisation（which I tackled in my last column) the most important financial task many people need doing for them is“lifestyle financial planning”. This is not something well-suited to a digital service. It entails identifying and articulating certain aspects of the kind of life you want,taking into account your attitude to money,psychological biases and personal circumstances. It also involves the quantitative aspect of how to make your money last your lifetime under various“what if”scenarios,using financial planning software and sensible underlying assumptions.

Doing it well requires a good deal of personal information,effective financial scenario modelling and a tax strategy. Although technology can streamline elements of this service,the emotional,coaching and collaborative aspects,together with the complexity of the tax system,mean it does need the input of a human adviser.

As I’ve said before,many people would benefit from lifestyle financial planning advice,which is charged on a fixed annual fee. The problem is that most established financial advice firms have very high costs which they have no incentive to reduce,and have become used to profit margins of between 25-40 per cent a year. They hide behind high,percentage based-charges levied on investment portfolios or charge a fixed fee that is so high it puts off many affluent potential clients.

In my view,the solution is not to spend many millions of pounds creating digital businesses that sell a painting-by-numbers investment solution for the price of a Picasso. Instead what’s needed is to rethink how to deliver a high quality,consistent and personalised lifestyle financial planning service at a fair price.

Good value and effective lifestyle financial planning can be delivered by blending the latest technology with experienced and well-qualified human professionals. It just requires a big vision,long-term commitment and a focus on customers’best interests.

1.Which one is not right about most apps from digital investment firms?

A. it is with pretty and engaging graphics

B. the total cost is cheaper than traditional ones

C. few apps provide personal advice

D. free to use is the main attraction

答案(1)

2.Why these apps can’t deliver enduring value as mentioned?

A. they are not set up to diagnose and address the real financial problems

B. there are much better new apps to take place the old one

C. they are robots in essence

D. it is not really being low cost

答案(2)

3.What is the solo aim of these digital investment firms?

A. to be professional harmers in lifetime

B. to sell their investment portfolio services

C. to address the real financial problems

D. to build a cash reserve

答案(3)

4.Which one of the following is not mentioned as a necessary to do“lifestyle financial planning”well?

A. a good deal of personal information

B. advance technology

C. effective financial scenario modelling

D. a tax strategy

答案(4)

(1) 答案：D.free to use is the main attraction

解释：大多数应用都是免费的，但这不是主要的吸引因素，最主要的是其提供服务的费用比传统的股票顾问和财务顾问便宜。

(2) 答案：A.they are not set up to diagnose and address the real financial problems

解释：由于这些数码顾问被创建之初就不是为了诊断和处理大多数人的金融问题，因此难以产生持续的价值。

(3) 答案：B.to sell their investment portfolio services

解释：事实上这些公司的目标就是出售自己的投资组合。

(4) 答案：B.advance technology

解释：生活方式理财计划是很多人急需考虑的，做好它需要大量的个人信息,有效的金融场景建模和对复杂税收策略的了解，这些意味着人类咨询师不可或缺。