Most Australians who seek financial advice are still only doing so in their fifties as they prepare for retirement, Yellow Brick Road s financial planning survey revealed.
In a national survey of 1,000 people, only 22% of respondents said they have used a financial adviser and many of those were 55 years of age and over (40%).
The reasons people gave for not using a financial adviser earlier included the belief they don t need one (63%), cost (34%), reputational worries (15%), perception that advisers are only for the wealthy (14%) and embarrassment in the state of their finances (12%) (See note 1).
Yellow Brick Road says that waiting so long to get a financial plan is a huge mistake.
ABS data shows that almost two-thirds of Australian retirees are relying on government welfare as their main source of personal income. While half of Australians were independently funded when they first retired, this drops significantly as time passes and their funds dry up. (See note 2.)
Furthermore, women make up 70% of pensioners and are at a much higher risk than men of running out of money due to longer life spans.
Yellow Brick Road spokesperson Lyndsey Douglas said: Too many Australians are relying on government welfare because their superannuation, annuity, dividends, interest or rental property income isn’t lasting the distance in retirement. If you’re only just getting financial advice when you’re close to retirement, there’s significantly less that can be done to make your savings stretch further. The real advantages in having a planner come if you start earlier in life.
Yellow Brick Road s research showed that younger age groups (18-24 and 25-34) don t believe they needed a planner (65%) and many didn’t know what planners actually do (25%).
We are on the verge of a national epidemic of pensioner poverty thanks to a large percentage of people having too little to sustain lengthening life spans. The younger generations dont grasp the benefits of building wealth early on and that time and compound interest are a powerful pair when it comes to creating a comfortable retirement. Providing opportunities for young people to get financial advice and make smart financial decisions in their early years can set them up for success the rest of their lives,Ms Douglas said.
Ms Douglas said people are still being held back because of the industry traditionally hasn’t provided simple, trustworthy and affordable financial advice, and has seemed out of reach for regular Australian families.
Yellow Brick Road is determined to change peoples perceptions about financial advice and provide Australians a true alternative to the traditional model. Wealthy people often became wealthy because they had a plan and we want to lead the charge in disrupting an industry that hasn’t provided for the majority, she said.
Older generations said their catalyst for getting an adviser was their proximity to retirement, whereas younger generations were motivated by buying property and investing in the share market.
At Yellow Brick Road we believe that everyone would benefit from quality financial advice to help reach individual financial hopes and dreams,she said.
We are working hard to make financial advice accessible and affordable to younger generations of Australians so that they get assistance well before retirement age. There are now programs in the market like our robo-technology tool Guru which provides stepping stones to help more young people get some simple tips and coaching to get started on the right path.
Notes:
1. Survey allowed respondents to choose more than one answer. Therefore percentages will add up to more than 100% but represent the percentage of the whole that choose that answer.
2 Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia, July 2012 to June 2013.
