The Missing Layer: Advice

Amy Chou, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Product at Addition Wealth

A Conversation with Amy Chou of Addition Wealth on AI-Powered Financial Guidance, the Human-Technology Hybrid, and Why Auto IRA Participants May Need These Tools Most

Here’s a question that gets good debate: is access to a retirement savings account “good enough” if no one helps you figure out what to do with it?

We’ve made coverage-expanding strides in recent years. You’ve seen the stats—coverage is up. Funded accounts are up. But enrollment isn’t the finish line. For the millions of workers now saving—many for a long time, many for the first time—the real challenge is making informed decisions about their financial lives.

A growing number of companies are working to close that gap. One of the most interesting to cross our path recently is Addition Wealth. We sit down with Amy Chou, the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Head of Product, to talk about what they’re building and learning.

Note to readers—we’re taking a deep dive on one company here not to provide an endorsement, but to illuminate some of the ways new technologies are being woven into thoughtful service models. We hope you find this useful.‍ ‍

Setting the Table: Who Is Addition Wealth‍ ‍

If you don’t know them yet, Addition Wealth is a financial wellness company headquartered in New York. The company partners with plan sponsors, financial institutions, and RIA firms to deliver personalized financial guidance to individuals. Personalized—still the missing link in all but the most high-end savings programs.‍

Addition’s model blends digital tools, AI-powered recommendations, and access to vetted financial advisors to help people make better decisions about their money. That includes retirement accounts, but can also encompass a person’s whole financial picture.‍

The company’s B2B platform enables insurance providers, asset managers, retirement companies, and other large enterprises to white-label or co-brand financial wellness experiences at scale.[1] One example of this multi-channel capability is the deep partnership with Edward Jones, which is currently rolling out the platform to its practice teams.[2] Addition Wealth also works directly with plan and program sponsors.‍ ‍

Most of the time, but not always, current plan participants are the primary target. In a number of cases, Chou explains, their clients are also reaching out to individuals who are eligible for a plan but not yet participating—a bigger population than we’d like to see. We like access, and we really like access with use.‍ ‍

But How Does It Feel: Human, Digital, Human‍ ‍

We’re familiar with how non-retirement tools use data to guide recommendations. One of our households uses Rocket Money to organize family finances. By linking accounts (and paying a subscription) we get all kinds of useful data and timely tips about how to do even better. Credit Karma does something similar in an adjacent space. But despite the many retirement accounts we maintain, we’ve never received anything in those realms that feels at all similar—or natural. So, we have to ask: can it be better, and how?‍

Maybe it can. In this example, Addition Wealth is usually working through plan sponsors so they start with a fairly rich set of data about individuals—benefits information, payroll data, and personal finance account information—that informs the support they provide. The platform uses this data to power “next best decision” and “next best action” recommendations, helping users understand not just where they stand financially, but what specific step they should take next. The concept enables a more complete, native, and practical starting point for user engagement.‍

The approach is powered in part by integrations like the company’s partnership with Finch, which provides real-time HRIS and payroll data syncs so that an employee’s financial dashboard stays current.[3] When a participant gets a raise or changes a retirement plan contribution, Addition Wealth can reflect that immediately rather than waiting for a monthly data file.‍

This is valuable—but we know that tech itself can only go so far to meet a full set of human needs. In this model, when decisions reach the point where human involvement may be beneficial, users can click through and make an appointment with a live advisor. It’s intended to be a seamless step up—ensuring that human advice gets deployed where it’s most valuable.‍ ‍

Chou and her colleagues believe a hybrid offering is stronger than a digital-only or human-only experience.[4] We’re inclined to agree—if the seams are invisible to the user.‍ ‍

What They’re Learning: Flexibility Is the Strategy‍ ‍

When we ask Chou what Addition Wealth is learning as its offering scales, her top comment strikes a chord: technology and capabilities are advancing so fast that no one knows what the ultimate solution set will look like, or how it will be delivered. (Just think back to the tools you were using only two or three years ago—some seem ancient now.)‍ ‍

For this reason, Chou—wearing her product manager hat—stresses the importance of building flexibility into the product offering to meet people and the technology where they are as both evolve. In a landscape where AI capabilities are shifting by the day and participant expectations are moving just as fast, she cites rigidity as a real risk.‍ ‍

Industry research backs this up—and offers caution at the same time. The Transamerica Institute’s Prescience 2030 study, which surveyed more than 300 retirement industry experts, finds that AI is anticipated to be a major catalyst in plan administration and participant experience—but notes that significant questions remain about how governmental oversight will keep pace and where legal liability will fall if AI-driven recommendations produce undesirable results.[5]‍ ‍

An Accenture report published in late 2025 estimates that improvements in participant recordkeeping experiences and engagement could unlock up to $405 billion in 401(k) assets under administration by 2034—with AI integrated with behavioral economics as a key driver.[6] It’s a big opportunity—and the path forward is likely to demand exactly the kind of adaptive approach Chou describes.‍ ‍

Does It Work? The Numbers‍ ‍

Metrics matter, and Chou shares several from the company’s internal studies.‍ ‍

On the participant side, Addition Wealth is tracking improved financial health and improved confidence in decision-making. Chou cites a 70% increase in decision confidence among users who engage with the platform’s personalized tools and resources.‍ ‍

For advisor users—the financial professionals who leverage Addition Wealth’s tools to serve their own clients—Chou reports growth in assets advised in the range of 10 to 20%, along with significant increases in productivity for client-facing decision support activity.‍ ‍

External studies reflect related results. A World Economic Forum analysis finds that 85% of financial advisors in a survey of 300 professionals reported winning clients specifically because of their use of advanced technology.[7] And the 2025 PLANSPONSOR Participant Survey finds that while 50.8% of respondents most trusted a financial adviser as their source for retirement planning guidance, the Winter 2026 Invesco survey reports that 55% of participants would trust an AI-powered tool more than a family member to manage their retirement investments.[8]‍ ‍ ‍

The Auto IRA Opportunity: Is There One?‍ ‍

We ask Chou directly whether the kind of personalized financial guidance her company provides is relevant for programs like state Auto IRAs, or whether—because of the data halo 401(k) plan sponsors can provide—it works better in that market.‍ ‍

Short answer: though state programs work under different data models, users in the Auto IRA space may need these services more than others. Chou says they’re often less likely to be connected to the kind of financial tools and resources that come with a traditional employer-sponsored retirement plan. Many are saving for the first time, working for small businesses that don’t have a benefits infrastructure, and navigating financial decisions without the support that 401(k) participants take for granted.‍ ‍

Chou acknowledges that some elements are naturally more challenging in the Auto IRA space. You’ll receive less data on an Auto IRA participant in advance than you would from a participant in an employer-sponsored plan, simply because in the employer context there’s a richer data set to draw from—payroll data, benefits elections, census information.‍ ‍

But she also describes an intake protocol designed to address this gap: a process that asks a number of simple, straightforward questions to assemble what she calls a “mosaic” of information about an individual—enough to inform and support the advice process. In addition to what individuals supply directly, the company subscribes to a range of third-party data services that can supplement with financial information and support their services.‍ ‍

This could be very interesting for the Auto IRA ecosystem. Today’s Auto IRA users are largely on their own when it comes to financial decisions beyond the contribution itself.[9] Can we close the advice gap while we’re working to close the coverage gap? If we can get comfortable with the quality of the service, approaches that blend smart tech—and eventually human advisors—could work.‍ ‍

Looking Ahead: Trump Accounts and the Expanding Tech Landscape‍ ‍

We ask Chou what she’d like to see happen in the retirement ecosystem in 2026 and she responds without hesitation: one of the most interesting things happening right now is the launch of Section 530A “Trump Accounts.”‍ ‍

Chou references comments by Luke Pettit, the Treasury Department’s Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, at a recent SPARK gathering where Pettit discusses federal preparation for the launch of Trump Accounts and the current state of implementation.[10]‍ ‍

You’re familiar. Trump Accounts—created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and codified in Section 530A of the Internal Revenue Code—are tax-advantaged savings accounts for children under 18, structured as a special-purpose IRA. Contributions can begin as early as July 4, 2026, and are capped at $5,000 per year. A federal pilot program will provide a one-time $1,000 government contribution for eligible children born between 2025 and 2028. Employers may also contribute up to $2,500 per year.[11]‍ ‍

In a February 2026 comment letter the SPARK Institute urged Treasury to ensure that the private financial services industry is fully invested in the success of these accounts and that parents have clear pathways to use private IRA providers.[12] The retirement services industry is watching closely as implementation details take shape.‍ ‍

Beyond Trump Accounts, Chou highlights the broader opportunity to use advanced technologies more effectively across a range of spaces—through financial institutions, through registered advisors, and through both plan sponsors and Auto IRA programs. The connecting thread: technology can help more people make better decisions, but only if the delivery systems are designed with flexibility and the user in mind.‍ ‍

The Bottom Line: We’re Keeping Our Humans‍ ‍

In our final exchange, we ask Chou what else is on her mind. She’s quick to respond.‍ ‍

Despite the constructive capabilities now available and beginning to be used more steadily, Chou emphasizes that humans are not going away. From her perspective, these tools simply help humans do their work more effectively. At the end of the day, it’s human-to-human advice that will continue to be important—simply supported in a very efficient way by the kind of AI-powered tools now entering the market.‍ ‍

This lines up with recent participant comments. The 2025 PLANSPONSOR Participant Survey finds that while participants are increasingly open to AI-powered tools, more than half say that human oversight and clarity on how decisions are made would increase their trust in those tools.[13] The future of retirement advice isn’t human or technology. It’s human and technology, working together in a way that’s smarter than either alone.

‍ About Amy Chou

Amy Chou is Chief Operating Officer and Head of Product at Addition Wealth. A founding team member, Amy oversees product, sales, HR, finance, and operations. Before joining Addition Wealth, Amy worked at Jet.com and Uber, where she led Business Intelligence for UberEats US & Canada. She began her career on the trading floor at J.P. Morgan. Amy holds a B.S. from Santa Clara University. Want to talk further? You can connect with Amy on LinkedIn and by email.
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[1]Business Wire, “Addition Wealth Announces AI-Powered B2B Financial Wellness Platform For Enterprises,” July 16, 2025.

[2]Edward Jones Ventures, “Edward Jones Ventures Invests in AI-Driven Solutions,” press release, February 3, 2026.

[3]Finch, “Addition Wealth Delivers Real-Time Financial Insights with Finch,” August 2024.

[4]Finovate, “FinovateFall 2024 – Addition Wealth,” September 25, 2024.

[5]Transamerica Institute, Prescience 2030: The Next Wave, cited in NAPA Net, January 27, 2026.

[6]Accenture, “Transforming the Retirement Participant Experience,” November 2025, cited in PLANSPONSOR, January 9, 2026.

[7]World Economic Forum, “AI Could Make Financial Advice More Equitable and Resilient,” June 2025.

[8]PLANSPONSOR, “Integrating AI With Behavioral Economics Can Improve Retirement Outcomes,” January 9, 2026, citing the 2025 PLANSPONSOR Participant Survey and the Invesco Winter 2026 DC Participant Pulse Survey.

[9]Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives data via PLANSPONSOR, “State Auto IRA Programs Lead to More Employers Offering Plans,” December 30, 2025.

[10]ICBA, “ICBA Congratulates Luke Pettit on Confirmation as Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions,” July 15, 2025.

[11]DLA Piper, “Employer Contributions to Section 530A Trump Accounts: Key Points,” March 2026.

[12]The SPARK Institute, Comment Letter on Trump Accounts, February 20, 2026.

[13]PLANSPONSOR, “Integrating AI With Behavioral Economics Can Improve Retirement Outcomes,” January 9, 2026, citing the Invesco Winter 2026 DC Participant Pulse Survey.