Keith Cullen at the Professional Planner Advice Policy Summit. Photo: Jack Smith

The advice industry will lose the best part of 1000 advisers come 1 January 2026, WT Financial Group managing director Keith Cullen believes.

The start of the 2026 is the deadline for advisers to hold a relevant tertiary qualification, but ASIC reported there are several thousand advisers who do not meet the education standard or qualify for the 10-year experience pathway exemption.

“I think there’s 1000 advisers out there that won’t have done the qualifications that are planning their retirement for the 31 December,” Cullen says.

Addressing the advice gap will be a core issue explored at the Professional Planner Licensee Summit, which will be held in the NSW Blue Mountains on 23-24 June.

Cullen will be part of a panel session discussing the necessary reforms and business opportunities that could help improve access to advice.

He believes the low number of advisers is not going to change until significant reform to the education standard is passed.

Sponsored Content

“Until we fix what constitutes a relevant degree, which I call the shambles that FASEA created, that’s not going to change,” Cullen says.

“We had somewhere between 110,000 and 120,000 people graduate with different business degrees last year, including, for example, about 35,000 with commerce. 480 did a financial advice degree – no wonder we can’t grow the profession.”

Cullen says he thinks previous Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones proposed changes to education standards for advisers are “excellent”.

At the Professional Planner Advice Policy Summit in February, Jones unveiled changes to education requirements including having to complete a specialised degree in financial advice.

The proposal allows for individuals to complete a degree in any relevant discipline, including commerce and economics.

To ensure professional standards are maintained, those holding a tertiary degree looking to become an adviser must still complete four core units, a professional year and complete the adviser exam.

As the government did not have time before the federal election to pass the education reform, the industry will now look to new minister Daniel Mulino to open the pipeline to new entrants.

“It’s been exactly what we’ve been advocating for, for the last three or four years, which is you need to get back to a relevant degree – lower case r and d – which is what they were always supposed to be,” Cullen says.

In January, Cullen described the limited scope of what constitutes a relevant degree as a “supply disaster” for the industry and maintains this position.

However, if Mulino can open the pipeline to new entrants as Jones intended, both students and those looking for a career change, Cullen predicts the profession will be back to 20,000 to 25,000 advisers in five years.

Centre stage

Cullen says his focus for his advisers is to ensure they are spending as much time as possible in front of clients.

“Our real focus with advisers is to make sure that they’re using technology appropriately, that they’re not wasting potential client facing time – too many of them still are.”

He references Adele Martin’s comment that advisers should be more like Beyoncé, taking centre stage instead of spending time backstage performing menial and administrative tasks.

“It’s a great way to think about it,” Cullen says.

“Most advisers are on that path, either through reorganising the way that they run their administration, through applying technology, or through looking at merging with other businesses to get the economies of scale out of it.”

According to recruiters, advice practice M&A has caused recruitment to plateau, as firms looking to scale up are resorting to mergers to do so.

Vivere Group CEO Chris Gordon found a flatline in the demand for advice roles and attributed it to an increase in M&A deals taking place to build scaled-up firms.

“Frankly, from an investment perspective, we’d be just as happy, if not happier, to apply that money to advisers hiring new people,” Cullen says.

He adds with the entry of private equity investment into the advice space, the money is there for firms to scale without merging with other practices.

“It’s a lot cheaper to go and hire 10 people and get them sitting in front of clients.”

‘Everyone’s scared’

The other mechanism the government plans to use to expand access to advice is the introduction of the so-called “new class of adviser” that can work for super funds or licensees giving advice on APRA-regulated products.

Cullen says he thinks super fund members have a right to access the support they need, but regulatory restrictions mean super funds are scared to talk to their members.

“Everybody’s scared to talk to [their members] because they don’t want to be accused of providing personal advice,” Cullen says.

He says this area is where the proposed new class of adviser, which is yet to have an official name, could be beneficial to the industry, but says their role should be specific.

“This new class of adviser, they need to be able to provide what we would call personalised general advice,” Cullen says.

“As long as it stops short of being a professional recommendation or professional opinion and it is just information and fact-based.”

Instead of financial advice, it is rather “information and guidance” so members can understand the law.

Cullen argues if the environment in which the new class of adviser is providing information is well supervised and regulated, there is no need for restrictions on what they can talk about.

“If they’ve got a complex situation on the phone, they just say you need to get an adviser.”

The new class of adviser was meant to be included in Tranche 2 of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms, but it was left out of the first exposure draft and remains in Mulino’s hands, along with the rest of the incomplete legislation.

Advisers now wait in eager anticipation to see what Mulino will do first, with completing the DBFO reforms, fixing the CSLR and implementing changes the education pathway all left in his hands.

One comment on “Licensee head predicts 1000 advisers to depart by year end”
    Joshua Drake CFP

    It’s a great profession. We are extremely well paid and are afforded access to people and information that many people don’t . Existing advisers who don’t want t put in the effort will leave. I’m ok with that. New entrants are scarce because no-one knows what we do and the professional association isn’t getting cut through with aspiring teenagers. And I fell that the Licensees – with deeper pockets than many – spend more money fighting the system than promoting it. But hey, that leaves more for those who want it.

Join the discussion