BMO Survey: One third of Canadians using AI to manage finances

Among the 33 per cent of Canadians using AI to help manage their finances, the most common uses include:

• Learning more about personal finance topics (45 per cent),
• Creating and/or updating household budgets (43 per cent),
• Identifying new investment strategies (42 per cent),
• Building savings (40 per cent), and
• Creating and/or updating their financial plans (40 per cent).

While AI is helping Canadians manage some aspects of finances, over two thirds (68 per cent) say AI cannot understand how emotions influence financial planning.

"AI is a transformative technology that can instantly analyze information and generate ideas, but people's relationship with money is complex, personal and emotional," said Gayle Ramsay, Head, Everyday Banking Segment & Customer Growth, BMO. "By making it easier to help manage finances, AI is proving a powerful tool to build financial literacy and make informed financial decisions, and together with guidance from a professional advisor, more Canadians can be empowered to conveniently manage their money, achieve their goals and make real financial progress."

How Canadians Are Using AI

The survey highlights how AI is continuing to shape how Canadians learn, work, and communicate, including:

• Reshaping Research: More than half (54 per cent) are using AI to ask questions about topics of interest and 37 per cent are using the technology for data analysis.
• Productivity Planning: Over a third are leveraging AI to build business, travel, exercise and meal plans (36 per cent) and manage their schedules (36 per cent).
• Changing Content Creation: Many Canadians are using AI in their creative process including developing written drafts (41 per cent) and photo and/or video editing (39 per cent)
• Accessible Intelligence: More than half believe AI can help people make more informed financial decisions (52 per cent) and makes financial planning more accessible for everyone (51 per cent).
• Optimistic Outlook: Many of those who do not currently use it for personal financial management are considering using the technology to learn more about personal finance topics (30 per cent), increase their savings (28 per cent), find new investment strategies (27 per cent), create and/or update their household budgets (27 per cent) and financial plans (25 per cent), and for retirement planning (22 per cent).

The AI Generation Gap

As Gen Z Canadians begin navigating life changes, over half (55 per cent) are leveraging AI to plan for upcoming financial milestones – more than any generation. Gen Z are the most likely to use AI to ask questions about topics of interest (79 per cent), create written drafts (72 per cent), build business, travel, exercise and/or meal plans (63 per cent), and manage their finances and investments (55 per cent).

The increased adoption of AI-powered tools coincides with Gen Z's ongoing life changes and their growing concerns about their finances. In the last six months, 24 per cent of Gen Z attended university or college, 20 per cent switched jobs, 15 per cent needed to make a large purchase such as a car, home, etc., and 13 per cent started a business. However, 91 per cent of Gen Z say concerns about their overall financial situation is the leading source of financial anxiety, followed by fear of unknown expenses (90 per cent), housing costs (86 per cent), and keeping up with monthly bills (82 per cent).

Sixty-one per cent of Gen Z believe AI can help people make more informed financial decisions and 53 per cent are confident AI tools can help them make real financial progress.