Alisdair Barr, Matthew Fenning: People in advice: nurturing the next generation of advisers

All professions need to attract the future generation to assist with the design and delivery of the best possible services. This session considers how to work with associate advisers, how to attract, incentivise and retain the future leaders, and business owners, of the profession.

SPEAKERS
Alisdair Barr, founder, Striver
Matthew Fenning, managing director, Advise Wise
Moderator: Laurence Parker-Brown, content producer, Conexus Financial

Key Takeaways

• The financial planning industry has fortified its future talent pool by introducing a qualifications pathway to the profession, but there is a consensus that it still hasn’t figured out how to win the hearts and minds of young adults.
• Striver’s Alisdairr Barr reckons Barr the supply and demand for advisers is “way out of wack”, and that the pipeline for talent is “not naturally great”.
• According to Matthew Fenning the industry hasn’t quite figured out how to pitch itself to young adults yet. With the current adviser exodus expected to bottom out at under 15,000 advisers in the next few years according to Adviser Ratings – down from 30,000 in late 2018 – marketing advice as a profession may prove to be just as big a challenge as rolling out FASEA’s education platform.
• The good news is that the suite of changes brought about by the Financial Advice Standards and Ethics Authority have made the industry much more attractive in the long run, Fenning continues, and has “helped position us as a genuine profession in the eyes of the public”.
• According Barr, there is a whole generation of young adults and career changers that are starting to see advice as a valid profession, especially coming out of university. However, the quantum of advisers coming into the industry is nowhere near enough to make up for the outflows.