How I Use AI to Manage My Portfolio (And How You Can Too)
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
How to let AI do the heavy lifting in portfolio management, for busy girls.
Investing can sometimes feel like just one more thing on an already overflowing to-do list—especially when you're juggling a busy career, social life, and everyday surprises. I totally get it—I used to feel swamped by all the financial jargon and endless spreadsheets. But then I came to think of how I used ChatGPT for all these tasks at work, like breaking down info or searching for specific data in huge documents. And I thought… Why not do the same for my portfolio and save myself all this trouble?
My best friend is a total finance bro. We have long conversations about inflation rates, corporate news and market movements. ChatGPT ended up being exactly like that, only more accurate and helpful (no offense, Rouchdi). The AI helped me craft an investment strategy that fit my unique goals and finances. It helps me stay on the right track to reach my personal milestones.
Whether you’re just dipping your toes into the world of investing or you already have a few stocks under your belt, I’m here to show you how to set up a ChatGPT project that will fine-tune your portfolio management skills. Let’s dive right in.
Setting up your ChatGPT project for investing
Alright, let’s talk about setting up your very own ChatGPT project for investing. Think of it as creating your personal investment workspace—a place where all your financial goals, ideas, and guidelines live together, so you don’t have to repeat yourself every time you ask for advice in a new conversation.
Your investment workspace: the basics
Imagine your project as a little container that holds everything related to your investing journey. When you set up this project’s instructions, you want to dictate how all your chats in this project will go. By doing this, you’re giving ChatGPT a head start by letting it know what’s important to you and how it should behave.
Start by sharing your financial goals. You don’t need to find your ultimate dream or try to quantify the amount you need to chill on a beach forever. Just try to go for a milestone you want to reach in the mid-term. Think into the not-so-distant future. What’s something tangible that you want? Maybe you’re dreaming of a vacation fund, saving for a down payment on a cute little apartment, or simply aiming to grow your portfolio to a specific amount (say, €20,000 or more). Whatever your dream is, jot it down in your project instructions.
For me, one of my primary goals is to create a revenue of dividends for my future self. This means that every time the AI makes recommendations for me, it will try to look for actions that get me closer to this goal. The more specific you are, the better. For example, in my case, some of my goals are:
“I want to grow my stocks holdings to €70,000.”
“I want to reach a revenue of 5.000 euros per year in dividends.”
The fun thing about setting up your instructions is that it forces you to think about the specifics, the tangible milestones you want to reach. Sometimes, investing can seem really abstract and distant. But if you write down tangible goals, suddenly the dream starts to take shape. Then, it’s all about making it a reality.
It’s important to also tell the AI how it is to behave. You want to set up rules as to what it can do and what it can’t do. The less instructions you give it, the more it is just going to roll with what you say, which can lead to misleading recommendations or irrelevant information - which kind of defeats the whole purpose of using the AI. Here are some more behavioral traits you can include:
“You are my financial advisor and you are always looking to help me achieve my financial goals.”
“You ALWAYS provide me sources of the data you give me. I want specific URLs of where information comes from.”
“You know that I do not like reading long financial reports. So, you ALWAYS break down complicated information into key practical insights. You always give me actionable recommendations.”
“You NEVER invent information. You do not give me any data that you cannot back up with a source URL from the internet.”
“You ALWAYS use this website to get performance data from financial assets whenever relevant: https://www.investing.com/markets/”
Be specific about what you’re interested in
Tell the AI about what types of investments catch your eye. Are you into tech stocks, sustainable energy, or maybe you’ve got a soft spot for brands that empower women? Maybe you’re not interested in dividends, maybe you want companies with the potential to grow and increase in value in the next few years.
Don’t be shy—let ChatGPT know which industries, companies, or markets spark your interest. Try to include the geographic markets you are looking to invest in, like the American market or or the European one. You can also include the sectors and industries you absolutely want to stay clear of. Here are some general examples you might say:
“I love eco-friendly companies and I want to steer clear of the oil industry.”
“I am interested in the topic of AI and want to invest in companies that are driving this industry.”
“I am interested in the healthcare industry in the United States.”
“I’m keen on tech but also curious about dividend-paying stocks.”
Share your investment experience and current portfolio
It’s super helpful to mention your level of investing experience. Whether you’re just starting or you’ve been trading for a while, this detail helps ChatGPT tailor its advice just for you. After all, if you’re a complete beginner, dense information and too many details can make the conversations difficult to follow. You want to signal how much information the AI can throw at you at once.
Also, give a quick rundown of what your portfolio looks like, in case you already have one. You could share something like, “I currently own 5 shares of Coca Cola, 3 shares of Apple, and 1 share of Walt Disney”. This will be important when you ask how your portfolio would react to certain scenarios or how the companies in your portfolio have been doing financially.
Set some ground rules
You can also set up guidelines to let ChatGPT know your comfort zone. Maybe you’re all about low-risk investments or you prefer a mix of growth and dividends. Perhaps there are sectors you want to avoid entirely. You want to tell it how much risk you’re willing to take, what things it shouldn’t recommend to you.
Think of it like giving your barista your exact coffee order so that every cup is just right, or specifying that you have an important soy allergy. These guidelines ensure that every piece of advice is aligned with your personal risk tolerance.
Keep it dynamic and evolving
As your goals change or you learn new things about investing, you can easily update your instructions. This makes your ChatGPT project a dynamic financial advisor that grows with you. All your past conversations are saved, so you can always go back and see how your strategy has evolved.
Setting up your ChatGPT project might sound a bit burdensome at first, but it’s really just about having an open, ongoing conversation with yourself about your finances. Once you’re set up, you’ll have a dedicated space where you can ask for weekly news updates, run analysis on your favorite stocks, or even simulate different market scenarios—all without drowning in endless spreadsheets or complex reports.
By investing a little time upfront to set up your project, you’re creating a reliable, personalized tool that helps you stay on track with your financial goals—all while keeping things totally manageable.
Using AI to find the right strategy for you
Now that you've set up your personalized ChatGPT project, it's time to dream big and start planning your ideal portfolio—one that is as unique as you are. This is when you can turn abstract goals into a clear, actionable plan without any of the usual overwhelm.
Start with your goal
Think about what you want to achieve. Do you envision a portfolio worth €20,000? Maybe you're aiming for a steady stream of dividend income or a balanced mix of growth and stability.
Write down your financial goals and be specific—this makes your dreams feel tangible. Share what excites you about investing. Whether it’s supporting sustainable companies, investing in tech innovation, or avoiding industries that don’t align with your values, let the AI know your interests and your pet peeves.
Creating a timeline
Next, map out a timeline to reach your milestone. Start by assessing how much you can comfortably set aside each month. With the AI’s help, you can estimate growth based on historical trends and your risk tolerance. For example, if you’re planning to invest €200 each month, ChatGPT can help you project how long it might take to hit that €20,000 goal. This timeline isn’t set in stone—it’s a flexible guide that will help you budget your finances today.
Plan with practical details
Once you’ve outlined your goals, use ChatGPT to put together a practical plan. This means not only setting your targets but also breaking down your finances:
Budget your monthly contributions: Determine how much you can save and invest each month.
Estimate your growth: Use historical data to get a realistic picture of how your investments might grow over time. It helps you give the AI a specific place to look for this information, like a website you trust. I chose https://www.investing.com/.
Set milestones: Celebrate the small wins along the way. For instance, once your portfolio reaches €5,000, take a moment to acknowledge your progress before setting new targets.
Explore different strategies
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to building a portfolio. Some of us might lean toward a mix of safe, blue-chip stocks for stability, while others might be open to a dash of higher-risk, higher-reward investments. AI can help you explore various strategies tailored to your goals. You might try a core portfolio with safe, long-term investments, or you might opt for a more diversified approach that includes emerging markets or tech stocks. The key is to experiment until you find the strategy that feels right for you.
Keep it flexible and fun
Remember, planning your portfolio with AI is all about making the process manageable and enjoyable. Your plan can and should evolve as you learn more about the markets and refine your personal goals. With AI, you have a tool that can adjust your strategy based on new information or changes in your life—whether that’s a job change, a new interest, or a shift in your financial priorities.
The recurring tasks: how I keep my portfolio on track
One of the most difficult parts of investing is making sure things don’t spiral out of control. You want to keep things flexible enough that you react to things, while staying focused on your main goal. I found this quite difficult to balance with my job and with life in general - hence, the recurring tasks my buddy, ChatGPT, does (so I don't have to).
You can achieve this by simply adding “recurring tasks” in your project instructions. You tell it what each task involves, what the AI is supposed to look at or for and how to give this information back to you. I simplify the process by adding a specific command/prompt such as:
“You will perform this task when I give you the command: XYX”
Quarterly SW analysis: deep diving into the details
Once every quarter, I switch gears for a more in-depth look at the companies that make up the pillars of my portfolio. All publicly-traded companies have to publish their financial documents for any shareholder to read, but actually reading them is a massive chore unless you’re an accountant. For someone like me, few things out there could be more boring.
ChatGPT helps me dive into the investor relations pages of key companies, like McDonald’s or Coca-Cola, pulling out the latest reports, transcripts, and earnings calls. I provide these specific websites in the instructions for this task.
This “SW analysis” lets me understand each company’s strengths and weaknesses, and I even get insights into how the market has reacted to their latest updates. This deep dive not only reinforces my confidence in my long-term holdings but also guides any adjustments I might need to make to keep my investments aligned with my goals. If something is starting to go wrong in these companies, I want to know about it and keep that in the back of my mind.
The command I use for this task is: “run SW analysis”.
Weekly OT analysis: keeping up with the news
Every week, I tell ChatGPT to run an “OT analysis” that scours the latest financial news for any opportunities or threats that might affect my portfolio. This means that whether there's an unexpected market shift, a new regulatory change, or even a global event that could shake up the stocks I own, it tells me.
If something big happens to a company I have and it’s on the news, chances are I can’t truly profit from it. Timing the market is notoriously difficult and time-consuming and I got a full-time job. Let’s get real.
However, it is important to stay on top of news. Here’s a practical (and real) example:
When DeepSeek shocked the world and Nvidia’s stocks took a dive, there were a few days there when Nvidia’s stock was still trying to recover while they investigated this brand new company no one had ever heard of before. Nvidia’s stock is pretty much back on track now, but knowing about this little situation meant I could scoop up a few more of their stocks for cheap. I also now know that there are asian AI companies that managed to deliver top-notch AI without relying on Nvidia’s chips, signaling a potential threat in the future.
By staying on top of these updates, I can adjust my strategy if need be—whether that means seizing a new opportunity or safeguarding against a potential risk—all without spending hours sifting through endless articles.
I trigger this entire process by simply going to a new chat and typing: “run OT analysis”. Together, these two recurring tasks make up a SWOT analysis of my portfolio.
Hypothetical scenario analysis: staying on my toes
Sometimes, real-life events can loom large over the world before they actually take place, so I use AI to simulate “what if” scenarios.
Whether it's a trade war between the US and other economies, geopolitical tensions or even all-out war, I ask ChatGPT to help me understand how these scenarios could impact my portfolio—both the potential downsides and any potential hidden upsides.
Here’s a silly but practical example: As soon as there were talks of the US imposing tariffs on imports from other countries, I ran the hypothetical scenario of a trade war in my AI. My portfolio includes both American companies (such as Caterpillar) and Canadian banks (like the Royal Bank of Canada). The analysis told me that Caterpillar’s business would likely suffer, because it relies on buying materials from all over the world to operate. The Canadian bank might also suffer if the Canadian Dollar weakens, as a result of the trade war. There are, after all, few to no winners in a trade war.
This exercise isn’t about predicting the future with absolute certainty; it's about being prepared and knowing which moves might help me minimize risks or even capitalize on opportunities when the market takes an unexpected turn.
Other Creative Ways to Use AI for Your Portfolio
Here are a few creative ways to let AI work its magic on your investing journey:
Bite-Sized Financial Summaries: AI can distill lengthy reports and earnings calls into simple, easy-to-understand summaries so you can grasp key points in minutes. Reading these documents can put almost anyone to sleep, so you might want to leave it to the AI.
Market Sentiment Tracking: Let AI scan news and social media trends to spot emerging opportunities or risks before they hit the mainstream. See how people are reacting to news and developments so consider what this means for your portfolio.
Tailored Investment Insights: Fine-tune your AI to provide insights that align with your unique goals and risk tolerance, making every piece of advice personally relevant.
Conclusion
Investing can feel like a complicated, overwhelming task - but it doesn’t have to be. With the power of AI as your ever-ready sidekick, you can transform your investment journey into an organized, insightful, and even enjoyable adventure. By setting up your own ChatGPT project, planning your ideal portfolio with clear goals and timelines, and using AI to keep tabs on market news and trends, you're taking a proactive step towards a brighter financial future. All the while taking some of the burden off your own shoulders, freeing up your time for other things in your life.
Remember, you don't need to be a financial expert to make smart decisions—just a curious mind and a willingness to learn. With AI, you can cut through the jargon, simplify complex information and build a portfolio that matches your lifestyle and goals.
So why not give it a try? Set up your project, define your dreams, and let ChatGPT help you navigate the markets!