For busy advisors, summer reading doesn't have to be light fare.LawrenceSawyer/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
I don’t read a lot these days. Like a lot of new parents, I lack the time and attention span to watch most movies in one sitting, let alone absorb a book.
The one I’m currently reading – in embarrassingly tiny increments, likely blowing past library due dates – is called Dad Brain, by psychologist Darby Saxbe. It explains how fatherhood changes men’s brains, including some longer-term cognitive benefits.
In the short term, however, my list of “Things I Wish I Was Reading” grows. This week brought a few new additions.
In our pre-August tradition, Globe Advisor asked top economists, advisors and behavioural finance experts about the books advisors should be reading this summer to understand clients and this moment in time. The selections cover wealthy families, market crashes, decision-making and, yes, artificial intelligence.
A couple of advisors also told contributor Kelsey Rolfe that reading is a way to get inside their clients’ heads, helping them understand how different backgrounds shape people’s views on money, or how they experience life transitions such as menopause.
Reading is a wonderful tool for building empathy and understanding other perspectives. I look forward to one day returning to it, when the perspective of an 11-month-old isn’t quite so all-consuming. Until then, the list grows.
Here’s Globe Advisor’s summer 2026 reading list for advisors who want to use vacation time to catch up on reading that could help build their business.
For those in the mood for more mainstream holiday reads, here’s the Globe’s summer books preview.
Must reads
Awash in AI: With all the money pouring into artificial intelligence, a growing number of companies are branding, or rebranding, themselves as AI firms, raising the spectre of “AI washing.” Rita Silvan reports on how to spot it.
Unsuitable risk: Wealth management firms and advisors have become remarkably comfortable talking about subjects once considered too private, such as dementia and divorce. Yet, topics such as gambling, sports betting and the growing range of speculative products that have become mainstream forms of entertainment are largely absent from advisor-led conversations. Kendra Thompson says that’s becoming a suitability issue.
Finding you: For more than a quarter-century, being found online meant one thing for financial advisors: focusing on search engine optimization for high rankings in Google searches. To show up in conversations with AI, that has evolved into answer engine optimization. Danny Bradbury explains the difference.
More from The Globe
Prenup ick: Prenuptial agreements are meant to bring clarity and certainty in the event a marriage breaks down, yet most Canadians still avoid them due to the financial cost and emotional toll.
AI in the DIY: Questrade Financial Group Inc. is letting investors connect their online brokerage accounts to AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT. The integration allows clients to ask AI assistants questions about their portfolios, market conditions and watchlists using their own account data, Meera Raman reports, and investors can also draft trades through the AI assistant before approving them through the Questrade app.
Inflation bites: The cliché of the poor senior on a fixed income is way overdone, writes Rob Carrick, but inflation still bites for retirees. Here’s his system for dealing with it.