Is the average adviser generating $400,000 a year?

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

18 May 2023

New analysis has revealed just where the money is going in the financial planning equation, with the average financial adviser generating around $400,000 and licensees picking up about between $15,000 and $40,000 per adviser.

The analysis to be released, in part at today’s Financial Newswire Platforms, Wraps and Adviser Technology Conference in the Hunter Valley forms the basis of a report on the factors going to the broader profitability of the financial planning profession.

The analysis by WealthData principal, Colin Williams also shows that over the past decade it is the platform companies such as HUB24 and Netwealth which have emerged as the financial winners in the wealth management equation.

The analysis reveals that while large wealth management firms and fund managers have struggled over the past five years, mostly failing to keep up with average returns on the Australian Securities Exchange, platforms have prospered.

WealthData principal, Colin Williams said the analysis showed that HUB24 and Sequoia had recorded the greatest gains, while AMP, Insignia and funds manager, Platinum had recorded the greatest losses.

It shows that, by comparison, smaller and mid-sized wealth management firms have managed to track the ASX average in terms of return on investment.

Williams noted the average gross $400,000 per year being generated by advisers and said that early analysis indicated that licensees were collecting between $15,000 and $40,000 per adviser.

He noted external research which, 12 months ago, indicated that a typical financial planning practice earns close to $1.2 million a year.