How Paraplanning Has Changed with the Help of AI | Gareth Millard from Clear Path Paraplanning

Everyone in financial planning is arguing about whether AI is coming for their job. Paraplanners are feeling it first. So I sat down with Gareth Millard, founder of Clear Path Paraplanning, who has spent 28 years in the profession, from churning through quotes at a product provider at 18, to going Chartered, sitting the CFP, and this year finally backing himself to launch his own outsourced paraplanning business. We got into: - How he fell into it at 18 as a quotes administrator, and the 28-year road that led to going out on his own - The AI tools he actually uses day to day (Copilot for spreadsheets, interrogating meeting-note transcripts), and the exact point where he refuses to let it near the work - Why being “just a document producer” is a dangerous place to stand right now, and what replaces it: an end-to-end, second-opinion service on a level with the adviser - Chartered vs the CFP, and why he built a financial plan from scratch across 64 spreadsheet tabs just to prove he could - The honest reality of going solo after 28 years employed: the freedom, the pricing headache, and finding clients in a crowded market - Why he wants a partnership and not a shop window, and why he keeps his content authentically his in a feed full of template AI posts One line that stuck with me: “I don’t think AI takes jobs. It takes tasks.” If you’re a paraplanner, a financial planner, or you’re weighing up going solo, there’s a lot in here you can steal. Chapters: 00:00 Who is Gareth Millard (and Clear Path Paraplanning) 01:05 How Gareth fell into financial planning at 18 02:07 28 years and several firms: the career path 03:40 When lifestyle planning and cashflow modelling clicked 07:15 Why he launched Clear Path this year 08:27 Chartered vs CFP: building a plan from scratch (all 64 tabs) 13:22 The AI tools he actually uses (Copilot and meeting notes) 16:07 AI and authentic marketing: the “template post” problem 18:52 His ideal client: a partnership, not a shop window 20:56 Will paraplanners cease to exist? 25:28 Employment vs self-employment 29:01 The pricing problem nobody warns you about 34:18 The importance of doing hard things 35:37 Where AI has to stop: it takes tasks, not jobs 37:59 His biggest mistake in year one 39:43 Learning to love the business side