The average financial adviser is becoming younger

Australian financial adviser numbers now look set to stabilise at around 15,500 as adviser exits continue to taper in the wake of the last financial adviser exam while being offset by new entrants, particularly provisional advisers.

And the profession has become decidedly younger, with a significant majority of advisers now having 24 years or less experience.

And there are signs that it is becoming younger still with Provisional Advisers making up the bulk of new entrants.

After hundreds of adviser exits generated by the last adviser exam, there have been two successive weeks of stability or minor growth in the Financial Adviser Register (FAR).

And while the end of the calendar year is expected to give rise to an uptick in departures, detailed analysis reveals that there is no longer a significant over-60s cohort remaining in the profession which traditionally makes up the bulk of calendar year exits.

According to WealthData director, Colin Williams there are only around 1,200 advisers remaining in the profession who started their careers on or before 1 January 1983.

Where new entrants are concerned, Williams said the number of new and Provisional Advisers has increased steadily all year and is a massive improvement to what was being seen 12 months ago.

“While it would be great to see more newcomers, it is becoming obvious that more advice firms are becoming confident and see value in starting brand new advisers,” he said.

Key Adviser Movements This Week:

Net Change of advisers (-1)

27 Licensee Owners had net gains for 34 advisers

25 Licensee Owners had net losses for (-33) advisers

2 new licensees commenced and (-1) ceased

8 Provisional Advisers (PA) commenced and (-1) ceased.

Summary

This week’s small loss of just one adviser indicates that the adviser market has stabilised after the numbers fell dramatically at the start of the month, due to advisers being removed for not passing the Financial (FASEA) Exam. The growth in Provisional Advisers is still going well and quite broad across the advice sector, which is a sign that advice firms are more comfortable taking on new advisers.

Growth This Week

A total of 27 licensee owners notched up net growth this week. Insignia up net 3, hiring 4 and losing 1. Two hires being Provisional Advisers, one at Consultum and the other at Shadforth.  RI Advice picked up 2 advisers including one from Crown Wealth and lost 1 adviser. Boston Reed also up by 3, including 1 Provisional Adviser and an adviser who was re-hired (admin issues?).

Oreana up plus 2 with both advisers switching across from MCA Financial Planners. Oreana and now close to triple figures up to 97 advisers. MCA slip to 20 advisers. NTAA via SMSF Advisers network up by 2 as are Bluewater Financial Advisers who had advisers switching across from Axies, part of the Spark Financial Group.

22 Licensee owners had growth of plus 1 including Macquarie Group, Bell Financial,  Morgans and both new licensees.

Losses This Week

UniSuper are down by (-4) advisers and none have at this stage been appointed elsewhere. Perpetual down by (-3) and to date, not reappointed elsewhere. Three licensee owners down (-2) including AAN Wealth Management, MCA and Crown Wealth. 20 licensee owners down (-1) including AMP Group, Centrepoint, Sequoia, and WT Financial Group. The one licensee that closed lost 1 adviser.