A financial services firm is deploying Claude to provide investment information to retail investors. Legal requires that Claude never provide personalized investment advice (specific buy/sell recommendations for individual users). The product team wants Claude to be maximally helpful within this constraint. What system prompt design achieves this balance?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
You need a system prompt that lets Claude teach general investing without crossing into personalized recommendations. Have it explain how investment types and market concepts work, then clearly redirect specific buy/sell questions to licensed financial advisors with a clear explanation of why. That keeps it helpful while respecting the legal boundary.
Full Explanation
The correct design threads the needle between usefulness and compliance: Claude provides genuine educational value, such as explaining exchange-traded funds, risk diversification, market mechanics, and how to read a balance sheet, while maintaining a bright line against personalized advice, such as 'Based on your situation, you should buy X.' The system prompt should define this distinction explicitly with examples, and provide Claude a clear, respectful redirect for out-of-scope requests, with a clear explanation of why, such as 'For personalized investment advice tailored to your situation, please consult a licensed financial advisor.' The approach that instructs Claude to refuse all investment-related questions is unnecessarily restrictive, because educational content is not regulated investment advice. The approach that allows Claude to provide investment information freely but appends a disclaimer is legally insufficient in most jurisdictions; disclaimers don't transform regulated personalized advice into education. The approach that uses Claude's tool use to call a licensed financial data API and present only raw data without commentary limits Claude's educational value; presenting financial data without explanation is often less helpful and doesn't clearly prevent Claude from making advisory statements.