The honeymoon is over

Financial planners and paraplanners have received a dose of reality as fast growing salary packages show the first signs of faltering.

Salaries for planners and paraplanners have remained fairly flat over the past 12 months, with the only major increase coming in Sydney and Melbourne. According to the 2001 Hays Personnel Services Salary survey, the average salaried planner took home only about $1,300 more last year, an increase of less than 3 per cent, or about the same as inflation.

However, those planners who have put in the hard yards to gain their Diploma of Financial Planning (DFP) or become Certified Financial Planners (CFP) have fared better than those who have neglected study. Not surprisingly, these professionals also commanded the highest salaries sitting in the range of $65,000 to $120,000.

Sydney and Melbourne advisers have leapt ahead of their interstate colleagues. While planners in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra recorded no increases in salaries for the year, their Sydney and Melbourne counterparts recorded increases of up to 10 per cent across the categories of unqualified, DFP qualified and CFP qualified.

And paraplanners, who have seen wages boom over the past couple of years, also reported a flat year. The only bright spot was in Melbourne where the average salary increased up to 10 per cent.

The huge range of salaries in paraplanning also remained prevalent. Non-DFP qualified paraplanners were earning between $24,000 and $60,000 while DFP qualified paraplanners brought home between $30,000 to $80,000.

On the other hand, the funds management employment market continues to boom. Wages continued to rise across the board, particularly at the senior management levels.

Hays Banking financial services senior consultant Matt Gowan says supply of paraplanners is quickly catching up with the demand.

"There has been a smaller number of [paraplanner] jobs registered with us, and by far more jobs for experienced planners registered than paraplanners reflecting the need to put staff on board and have them working straight away," Gowan says.