Planning career paths for the future

What will the next 10 years mean for your career? One thing that is for certain is that the evolving nature of the financial planning industry will continue to present a broad scope of possibilities and opportunities for planners.

Shaping such opportunities will be factors such as education, age, industry experience and planners’ career expectations.

For younger planners, 10-year career plans may focus on achieving the entry-level education criteria, breaking into the industry and proving themselves, while those planners in the mid-range of their careers could be more focused on securing equity participation in their groups.

More senior planners may be focused on maximising the value of their business and putting appropriate succession plan strategies in place.

Taking a broader look at the future of the industry, Motivated Money principal Peter Thornhill says the role of the financial planner in the future will become more aligned with the client rather than the product supplier, an outcome fuelled by client expectations.

“There is a lot of ground to be made [by planners], according to consumers. Some still don’t see where the value add is,” he says.

Technology is also pushing changes in the future, creating greater choice for consumers and the ability to monitor and manage their money at minimal or no cost.

Thornhill says education, both for advisers and clients, will also continue to be a future focus, and as client awareness increases, so too will demand and service expectations.

But while the financial planner of the future will have industry and business issues to adapt to, they will surely come from a solid base, no matter what age they currently are.

According to AMP financial planner Andrew Heaven, the basics of being a good financial planner will remain the same.

“The financial planner of the future needs to have the skill set we have now, but must also develop the flexibility to operate at all levels and be comfortable in all industry environments. But the fundamentals never change. To be a good financial planner you need to listen well, be pragmatic, be an effective communicator and have the technology knowledge,” he says.

Irrespective of where planners are in their financial planning careers, the next 10 years will pose unique challenges for planners at their differing career stages.

“The only constant I’ve seen has been constant change, and I expect the industry will be totally different in 10 years time,” Heaven adds.

Heaven has 12 years industry practice and he sees one of the main focuses for planners in the future as the move towards specialisation.

“The day of the general practitioner will fade away, and specialists will work within the more general practitioner firms,” he says.

For Heaven, the trend towards specialisation is linked to the supply and demand increase of financial planning services and the expectation that retiree client numbers will climb steadily over the next 10 years.

As well as the continued segmentation of the type of advice given, Heaven also identifies that the way advice is given will be a factor of change.

“There will be more emphasis on strategic planning rather than product placing, and I think the client will see the value in strategic advice rather than product placement,” he says.

To this end, Heaven has also identified the necessary strategy for the success of his own business going forward. That is, working on determining the value given to clients and focusing on that in order to attract like-minded clients.

“There will also be a realignment of client expectations, and financial planners will be seen as an integral part of the management. Clients will consult a financial planner in the same way they would with accountants and lawyers,” Heaven says.

Guest McLeod client adviser Andrew Harrison is one of the newer players in the industry, with seven years industry experience. At this stage of his career, Harrison also says that financial planners in the future will have a greater emphasis on the client relationship.

“[Financial planning] is becoming a profession in its own right and is moving away from the typical investment-based style of advice,” he says.

“There is a new direction towards the project management of a client’s total financial affairs, rather than just a few pieces of it.”

In the next 10 years, Harrison says the financial planner will be a relationship co-ordinator, building on the traditional financial planning relationship to also offer services in other aspects of an individual’s life, such as lifestyle issues or travel arrangements.

“The financial planner will be the hub of everything that is part of the client’s financial life. They will be the co-ordinator and then outsource the implementation of other services,” he says.

Harrison’s vision reflects some of the responsibilities he already has within Guest Mcleod.

For older clients unfamiliar with technology and hesitant about using a computer, Guest McLeod co-ordinates the purchase of a computer and then arranges the installation and a consultant to teach the client. Harrison says this is a model for the future.

Ian Wickens & Associates principal Ian Wickens has a few years over Harrison and Heaven, having been involved in the financial planning industry for 37 years.

While Wickens agrees the industry is changing and will continue to do so, he highlights the issues of importance for financial planners in the 50 year age group.

He says for them, education is a focus, and that the CFP designation is just the beginning, making older planners face decisions about what to do with their business in the future.

“I think you will see people my age leaving the industry because of now needing further study,” Wickens says.

“Some of my colleagues have said it took so long to get through the DFP that they will leave the industry before doing more study. They will become dinosaurs before their time.”

But Wickens has decided to continue his study and take on a Bachelor of Commerce at Perth’s Curtin University. And he says there will be even more importance on tertiary qualifications in the future, particularly commerce and macro-economic knowledge.

Wickens also sees the adviser/client relationship changing in the future.

“In the future, people will be looking for more, and the client will be asking what can the adviser add to my situation,” he says.