“With a team approach, you could easily have two qualified advisers as a primary with you for around 150 clients each, and then have two teams you work with, so around 300 clients,” Theobald says.
A roundtable hosted by Professional Planner and HUB24 last year heard InvestBlue CEO David Stephen describe the firm’s “Project 300”, which utilises AI and offshoring to increase client numbers to 300 per adviser.
Kelly Wealth Services managing partner Brent Kelly says his firm supports 327 ongoing service clients with just two senior financial advisers.
“Efficiency is the cornerstone of our success,” Kelly says.
“Over the past two or three years, we’ve transformed our workflows, systems, and processes to optimise operations.”
Kelly says this workload equates to six to seven meetings per week per adviser, including both review meetings and new client consults.
“Despite these numbers, we maintain capacity to onboard one or two new clients per month, carefully selected based on minimum annual service fees,” Kelly says.
Viola Private Wealth founding partner Charlie Viola believes the ideal mature client book is between 90 and 120 clients and about $1 billion in assets under management.
“We encourage advisers to be entrepreneurial and do what they’re good at, and we will provide the support structures around them to be successful,” he says.
“We have great systems and processes that will allow advisers to have perhaps slightly larger client books, and we over apex the level of support per adviser.”
| Ways to increase client book size |
| Systematise everything: Efficient workflows are the backbone of handling a high client load without sacrificing quality. |
| Delegate strategically: Empower admin and support staff to take ownership of tasks that don’t require adviser expertise. |
| Invest in partnerships: External compliance and strategy support can free up internal resources for growth. |
| Prioritise client fit: Select clients who align with your service model and fee structure to maximize value and efficiency. |
| Source: Kelly Wealth Services managing partner Brent Kelly. |
Forest Wealth financial planner Sam Ryma says low touch point clients might only want to catch up once a year to plan the next year.
“For a book like this, with the right support, it isn’t unreasonable to say this adviser can manage 400 clients,” Ryma says adding that would include two meetings a day for 40 weeks a year.
“For this type of client base, you would charge somewhere between $2000 to $4000. If we say the average client is paying $3000, that adviser is turning over $1,200,000. There are of course expenses, but it would still be quite a profitable business.”
Clients seeking three to four meetings a year and speaking every month or two would be more time–consuming, which an adviser might be charging $20,000 to service, managing around 60 clients.
Business Health principal Rod Bertino doesn’t believe there’s a magic book size number, saying the number of clients an adviser can service is influenced by a number of factors.
For starters, the actual client value proposition and the services provided vary greatly, and the higher the “touch” and the more services provided, the fewer clients can be serviced.
More support staff usually results in the advisers being able to spend more time with clients, allowing more clients per adviser. The implementation of technology and the strategic goals of the practice also play a part.
“If the advice firm is in rapid growth mode or is maintaining its current level and not looking to add new clients and increase workloads,” Bertino says.
Practices have various ways to count clients – a husband and wife could be viewed as a single client by one firm, and two clients by another. And if they have children, they may be treated as a family unit, and so as one client, he says.
The revenue per client averages $3852, which directly impacts on practice profitability, which sits at 28.4 per cent, according to Business Health’s data.
“As practices adapt and evolve to this every changing marketplace, we believe that new business models will develop – while some clients require…ongoing service/management, others perhaps will only need point in time advice and this could lead to a smaller ongoing fee level plus a fee for service as needed,” Bertino says.
Wealth Architects director and principal adviser Kim Siauw agrees there’s no right or wrong book size, adding that high–quality books often have fewer clients with higher average fees.
These books tend to generate stable revenue while requiring fewer resources, he says.
“A clean book – where most or all clients are consolidated on a few platforms – simplifies integration and reduces compliance and administrative burdens,” Siauw says. “Fragmented books require more effort and resources to consolidate.”
Thank you to everyone for their contributions to this important discussion. Special recognition goes to Rod Bertino and Kim Siauw for their insights into building an ideal client book. The true value of a practice lies not just in client numbers but in a disciplined approach to defining an ‘ideal client’ and crafting a ‘service package’ aligned with the planner’s expertise and market position.
Efficient client management is tied to a strong Business System, incorporating technology, procedures, and disciplined management. Insights from Brent Kelly, David Stephen, and others highlight how systematisation, delegation, and strategic alignment enable sustainable scalability.
Practices like Kelly Wealth Services and Viola Private Wealth showcase how streamlined workflows and support structures allow advisers to manage larger client books while maintaining quality and profitability. Conversely, as Kim Siauw notes, high-value client books with fewer clients offer stability and efficiency, showing there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
Ultimately, as Rod Bertino stated, the client value proposition, service model, and practice goals dictate success. Whether high-touch for fewer clients or efficient systems for larger books, success lies in aligning your business model with expertise and market demands while adapting to a changing industry.