“Alexa, Can You Plan My Retirement?” Cognitive Resource Depletion and Human Versus Computer-Mediated Financial Planners

243 ostensible ‘investors’ interacted virtually with either a human, avatar, or cartoon financial advisor (within two cognitive resource depletion levels (a la Baumeister et al, 1998)). They then selected financial portfolios and communicated their risk preference, commitment and trust in an advisor, and mood. Results and implications are discussed.