Poll Results – The Trend Continues

The current rate of decline in the number of financial advisers will continue next year. So say four in five respondents taking our latest poll.

If this majority is correct – and there’s logic to support this view, then the advice industry may have effectively halved its numbers by the end of 2022 from where it was at the beginning of 2019. As we noted last week (see: …Declining Adviser Numbers), another (net) 20% reduction in adviser ranks over the course of 2022 will reduce numbers to just over 13,000 – and with no real certainty that this will be the point at which numbers plateau before the commencement of a recovery phase.

In some quarters, there will be an argument that this significant decline in adviser numbers has been needed in order to refresh the sector and set the foundations for re-building consumer trust in financial advice.

The reputation of financial advisers has traversed a rocky road since the fallout following the Global Financial Crisis in 2007/8, but it has been subject to a round of regulatory reforms since the GFC – to which all advisers have been subject – that have been disproportionately severe when taken in the context of the indiscretions of a few.

Whatever your point of view, however, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that consumers across the socio-economic spectrum (but particularly low-to-middle income Australians) will suffer from a lack of supply of advisers from whom so many would benefit from much-needed advice, care and guidance when it comes to their financial affairs – to building and protecting the lives they seek to live.

Only time will give truth – or otherwise – to this poll outcome, but our poll remains open for another week and we welcome your perspectives, as always…