Planners chase the big dollars

Chris Vine

With insufficient financial advisers to meet increasing demand, salaries are skyrocketing, with senior planners at the lower end of the scale taking home packages of as much as $250,000 a year, as revealed by Profusion Group in Money Management’s 2007 Salary Survey.

According to Chris Vine, financial planning manager of the specialist financial services recruiter, a shortage of good senior advisers is keeping demand high, and this is reflected in the packages being paid, which are often bolstered by cars, superannuation and other benefits including bonuses.

What’s more, bonus size has also swelled from the traditional 10 to 30 per cent it once was to a much higher figure today.

“There is a shortage of good talent, and there has been the turnover of planners changing jobs,” Vine said.

“We [recruitment companies] are all chasing the same people when a position arises.”

However, while some planners may be lured to a new practice by the temptation of a higher salary, there are those in the industry who believe individuals that regularly take this option may be hurting their careers.

Financial Services Partners chief executive Geoff Rimmer said there would always be movement at the bottom end of the quality pool, but feels that good advisers remain more static within their chosen dealer group.

“The sub-$200,000 in earnings level of planner is really fluid. They tend to have a different advice model, with not a lot of resource capability and other staff working for them,” he said.

But he feels that while some of these more mobile planners may be chasing higher earnings by moving between practices, he thinks it ultimately ends up disadvantaging them, because they miss out on the supervision and the induction that more career-minded planners receive.

He also believes it can end up reflecting poorly on the individual planner, who may need to explain an erratic job history.