Beyond the professional year: from employee to practice principal

Financial Newswire Contributor

15 June 2026

OPINION

The financial advice profession spends a lot of time discussing how to attract and support new advisers, but far less time talking about what happens when experienced advisers decide they want to build businesses of their own.

Yet that transition may be one of the most important stages in an adviser’s career.

The Professional Year (PY) has brought a much more structured pathway for new financial advisers. It provides a framework for them to be properly supervised and become technically competent and ethically grounded. That foundation matters but it is only the beginning, because once an adviser completes their PY, gains significant experience and decides to start their own practice, that structure largely disappears.

This is the gap the profession does not talk about enough. While supporting entry into the profession is essential, enabling early-stage business owners, or as we call them, ‘Newstart advisers’, is just as important.

Newstart advisers represent the future of the profession. Investing in them early creates the conditions for long-term, mutually beneficial relationships as their businesses grow and mature. More broadly, it strengthens the profession’s capacity at a time when adviser numbers remain under pressure.

Newstart advisers are educated, client-focused professionals who need solid business foundations, including access to affordable technology, operational support, mentoring and measured accountability.

In our experience, Newstarts are typically in their early 30s, often based in capital cities, with five to eight years in advice roles. Many have previously worked in large institutional environments or established practices. They know how to provide advice and build strong client relationships, what they have not yet done is run a business.

Will, an AMAFA adviser in his 30s with years of experience in advice, described the move into practice ownership as more challenging than providing advice itself. Starting with no clients, he quickly realised the pressure was not technical knowledge but practical realities: setting fees, building referral pipelines, selecting technology and managing day-to-day operations alone.

What proved critical for Will was access to support and infrastructure: compliance systems, CRM platforms, paraplanning and virtual administration, along with access to experienced people who had walked the path before him. This helped him focus on clients while building a sustainable practice.

Tammy now runs her own regional practice in Queensland. Her career began more than 20 years ago with a major bank. Over that time, she developed expertise in complex areas such as Centrelink and aged care advice. Despite extensive qualifications and multiple rounds of education, she eventually faced redundancy. It was a turning point that propelled her towards starting her own practice. It was not competence that made her hesitate, but confidence. She was concerned about managing everything alone.

In her first year she had no clients and limited resources. Software costs and staffing would have made the move prohibitive. Having affordable access to systems, technology, paraplanning, administrative and business development support, meant she could run a professional practice from day one, without carrying heavy overheads early on.

Now, after doubling in size, Tammy faces a new challenge: managing growth without losing the personal, client-first service that motivated her to start out on her own. She is cautious about expanding too quickly, recognising that rapid growth without the right structure can erode quality. Again, it is support and systems that can help practices like Tammy’s sustainably manage the growth phase.

This evolution of support is important. Newstart advisers often need hands-on guidance and regular check-ins as they build confidence and processes. Over time, that support becomes more strategic, shifting from frequent operational conversations to periodic oversight as the business matures. Licensees in this space must do more than oversee compliance; they must provide perspective, accountability and commercial insight.

Marybeth joined as a Newstart adviser more than a decade ago, starting from scratch. Today she leads a multi-service practice employing around 30 staff and offering financial planning, taxation and mortgage broking. It is a reminder to licensees that investing early in capable advisers can translate into enduring professional outcomes over time.

A sustainable profession needs both a strong PY pathway for new advisers and a viable transition into business ownership. PY advisers can be embedded within existing practices, allowing them to learn under supervision while minimising financial strain on the practice.

Education requirements, CPD tracking and compliance oversight could be centrally supported by the licensee, reducing the administrative burden on individual practices. In effect, this creates an incubation phase, allowing advisers to develop within an existing business, build confidence and capability and take on greater responsibility over time, whether they remain within that practice or eventually pursue ownership.

When structured well, the approach benefits all parties. Established advisers build capacity at a manageable cost and potentially create a succession pathway. Provisional advisers receive hands-on mentoring and real-world experience. Newstarts gain the support they need to grow sustainably. Licensees build deeper, longer-term relationships with advisers as their businesses mature, and the profession strengthens its pipeline beyond simple entry numbers.

As adviser numbers remain constrained and succession planning becomes a growing concern across the industry, supporting advisers through the transition from practitioner to business owner is no longer a niche issue. It is a profession-wide challenge.

The future of financial advice depends not only on who enters the profession, but on who is supported to stay, grow and lead it. If we want more advisers tomorrow, we must support those building sustainable practices today.

Mario Finocchiaro is AMAFA National Operations Manager.