Amy Li, a Morgan Stanley financial advisor recognized as the 40th-ranked advisor on Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors list for 2026, shared insights on market dynamics, portfolio management, and the evolving role of women in finance during a recent interview.

Li, who immigrated from China to the United States in 2008, initially pursued music before transitioning into finance. She recalls arriving with just a suitcase and violin, with the suitcase proving more immediately practical. However, she credits the discipline learned through music for shaping her approach to wealth management, emphasizing the importance of integrating diverse perspectives to create harmony in clients’ financial strategies.

Her practice serves approximately 50 ultrawealthy families, with typical client net worth around $500 million. Li describes the current investment landscape as undergoing a significant regime shift, driven by three key structural trends: advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), a higher cost of capital linked to government debt, and an increasingly fragmented geopolitical environment. These factors, she notes, have altered global capital allocation in fundamental ways.

Addressing client concerns about AI, Li argues that the critical opportunity lies not in the technology itself but in its wider application across industries such as industrial automation, healthcare, and energy infrastructure. She suggests that investors focus on the second phase of AI adoption, where companies leverage the technology to enhance profitability, rather than merely investing in AI infrastructure companies.

Li advises clients to remain invested but to adopt a more selective approach amid the fading era of broad, beta-driven market gains. She underscores the renewed significance of fixed income for income generation and stability, along with a strategic role for alternative investments.

Regarding alternatives, Li views them as essential components of modern portfolio construction, not merely supplementary. She highlights private credit’s attractive yields compared to public markets but stresses the importance of diligent underwriting. Infrastructure and real estate also play growing roles, especially in areas related to AI-driven power demands, data centers, and reshoring efforts. Morgan Stanley’s expanded direct private-market platform has enabled access to such investments previously limited to institutional investors. Nonetheless, she cautions clients about illiquidity, fees, and manager risk inherent to alternatives.

Li acknowledges the complexity introduced by private investments, high interest rates, and global tax considerations, which require integrated solutions beyond traditional portfolio advice. For founder families with multigenerational wealth, she often acts in a chief investment officer capacity, overseeing asset allocation, liquidity management, risk frameworks, and governance aligned with broader family goals.

Reflecting on her trajectory, Li notes that early in her career, she aimed to be the most technically knowledgeable advisor but later realized her distinct advantage lay in connecting various professional advisors—lawyers, accountants, bankers—across languages and borders to craft coherent financial plans. To deepen her expertise, she earned an executive MBA from Wharton.

Li also highlights the increasing influence of women in financial decision-making. She observes more women founders, executives, and investors taking lead roles, as well as a growing presence of women family members in wealth succession planning, especially within Asian families. She emphasizes that many women seek comprehensive understanding beyond performance metrics, valuing contextualized financial planning, which presents expanding opportunities for female advisors and decision-makers alike.