The three paths to planning

Richard Klipin

Young Australians seeking a career in financial planning are following three clear entry paths, according to the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA), which has witnessed the early stages of an emerging trend among prospective advisers.

The first entry path is the ‘salary employee option’ and describes practices that groom their new employees before offering up equity in the practice.

The second, ‘family succession option’, describes the path taken by practitioners who bring their adult children into the business, and the third ‘entrepreneur option’ is said to be the ultimate entry path for many young advisers, who adopt skills learnt during a period of mentoring to establish their own businesses.

AFA boss Richard Klipin said the trend became apparent when the AFA turned its focus towards GenXT and the need to foster younger adviser talent, which will be one focus for the rest of the decade.

“It really is time for industry participants to accelerate their plans given the growing rush to retirement of a large number of financial advisers over the coming decade. The AFA has developed its outreach to young advisers and new entrants to help meet the growing talent shortage,” he said.

The AFA has already seen a 30 per cent increase in its membership following the establishment of the National GenXT Council targeted at advisers under 40 years of age. And almost half of the 600 attendees at the AFA National Forum were in the under-40 group, 50 per cent of which were female.