Demand for advice rises
The demand for financial advice is quickly rising, according to a report by Investment Trends, with 2.6 million Australians looking to visit an adviser in the next two years.
The Investment Trends September 2013 Advice & Limited Advice Report, which was based on a survey of more than 5,400 consumers, found half a million Australians started seeing a financial planner in the last 12 months, offsetting the half a million who stopped.
Senior analyst Recep Peker pointed to the increasing consumer sentiment over the last year.
"Investor confidence has been higher in 2013 than it had been the preceding 18 months, and their share market return expectations have increased to match this," Peker said.
"After years and years of decline in the usage of financial advice, improving investor confidence has seen the number of active planner clients stabilise at 2.4 million."
A particularly pronounced demand for advice comes from industry super fund members.
"An interesting question is whether industry funds are equipped to match this rising demand," Peker added.
Despite 2.6 million people indicating they were planning to look for an investment adviser in the next two years — which is 24 per cent up from last year — not all will do so.
Recommended for you
Advisers at DOD Bookkeeping, which received an $11 million penalty last week, received as much as 40 per cent of their remuneration via a bonus when clients purchased a property via a SMSF, according to court documents.
Private wealth manager Escala Partners has launched an end-to-end investment platform to strengthen its alternatives capability as clients seek sophisticated vehicles.
Perpetual Wealth Management has hired two advisers from Ord Minnett as part of five hires, just weeks after the rival firm announced it had picked up six from Perpetual Private.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a Perth financial services firm following payments to its clients by the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort after a failed managed investment scheme.
