How much should an adviser be earning in your state?


A national recruitment report has revealed how much a financial planner can expect to see in payrise when they progress to senior levels.
The staffing report from Hays, which surveyed over 4,400 professionals across Australia and New Zealand, detailed the average pay in different states for financial planning roles.
For financial planners, the highest average salary was found in Sydney at $120,000 followed by Melbourne at $110,000.
Queensland and Tasmania advisers received $105,000, Canberra received $102,000, Perth received $100,000 while Adelaide and Darwin had the lowest at $95,0000.
However, as an adviser progressed up the ranks, this rose to $140,000 for a senior financial planner, $170,000 for a financial planning manager and $230,000 for a head of financial planning (all in Sydney, the highest-paying city).
Across all states, there was an average $17,500 bump when one moved from working as a financial planner to a senior financial planner with Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Perth and Canberra all reporting $20,000 salary increases.
However, the move from senior financial planner to head of financial planning varied much more by state. In Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland, the average rise was $88,000 but in Canberra, an adviser would see a $28,000 rise or a $35,000 increase in Tasmania.
For a paraplanner, one based in Sydney could earn $90,000 with the amount dropping down to $85,000 in Melbourne and Perth and $71,000 at its lowest in Darwin. However, there was a smaller rise when one ranked up to a senior paraplanner of around an $8,000 rise.
Looking at the expectations of employees and employers in the overall banking sector, 31% intended to remain with their current employer beyond this financial year, 21% of businesses were set to increase permanent headcount and 89% believed skill shortages would impact operations or growth.
The top factors driving turnover were an uncompetitive salary, lack of promotion opportunities and poor management style.
Almost half (49%) were more confident to ask for a payrise this year and 57% of employers said they had offered higher salaries than planned.
While 52% of employers said they were planning to give a 3% payrise, the same amount of employees said they felt a 6% one would better reflect their performance.
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The age old conundrum of salary vs fee for productivity, much like the debate of commissions vs "fee for service". How can an employee even consider asking for a raise in salary unless their "productivity" increases commensurately? If that means raising fees as opposed to being able to serve more clients, then it is simply exacerbating the accessibility to advice issue further...
$80,000-$90,000 for a Paraplanner and $95,000 for an Adviser? That is seriously odd stuff. One goes to jail for a spelling mistake, and the other gets thanked for a great job, a bonus, and off we go and quietly fix it due to a tight employment market. Wow.
Or go drive a Dump Truck in a Coal Mine 7 days on 7 Days off for $160k to $200k package.