The Betashares Financial Opportunity Index surveyed 52,000 households across the country to analyse their capacity to invest. According to the research, nearly 1.3 million households have the capacity to invest their savings.
Within those households, the average spare cash flow is $37,000 – underscoring a clear opportunity for financial advisers looking to capture this potential.
The top five Australian suburbs with the highest spare cash flow and financial opportunity are:
Source: Betashares
Betashares noted that middle-income suburbs in particular are driving spare cash flow within Australia.
It explained: “Many of the suburbs featured at the top of the spare cash flow and financial opportunity index are not traditionally affluent but have strong cash flow, suggesting that middle Australia is resilient amid cost-of-living challenges.”
Moreover, rural and semi-rural areas are also performing well, the index found, indicating that the capacity to invest is not confined to urban areas.
“Areas like Barmera (South Australia) and agricultural towns in Tasmania reflect that regional Australia is showing signs of strong financial opportunity.”
Earlier this year, Money Management explored why Brisbane-based advice practice Wealth Architects was looking to expand via acquiring regional firms with strong client pipelines.
Managing director Callum Mitchener said in March: “Country people are looking for help. These firms have a massive pipeline of new clients. They have people knocking down their door; there’s a year’s worth of work out there for them. It really blew our minds.
“These people have farms, and they want their kids educated on finances and dealing with the money in anticipation of taking over the business. In other cases, they want to sell the farm and want advice on that, or they have already sold, in some cases for millions of dollars, and they don’t know what to do with that cash.”
In October, Wealth Architects acquired regional advice firm PKF Wealth in Tamworth as part of its strategy to provide financial advice to regional communities.
