Prudential: Future bright for advisers

Vince Smith-Hughes

Its 2018 Adviser Barometer found more than two out of five (41 per cent) advisers and firms expect the number employed across the industry to grow in the year ahead with 79 per cent happy to recommend financial advice as a career.

The findings show a huge change from 2016 when Prudential first surveyed advisers’ attitudes. At that time 11 per cent were predicting growth in adviser numbers and only 44 per cent would recommend advice as career. Last year nearly two out of five (38 per cent) predicted growth while 70 per cent recommended advice as a career.

However, there are worries about where new recruits are going to come from – just 40 per cent of advisers say there are enough new advisers coming into the profession compared with 48 per cent in 2017.

There is plenty of work for new advisers. One in four (25 per cent) questioned say they are working more than 50 hours a week compared with just 14 per cent in 2017. Prudential’s research found the rise in working hours is driven by a combination of business growth as well as compliance and regulation.

Nearly half of advisers (48 per cent) say business growth has meant longer hours while 44 per cent say increasing compliance requirements mean they put in longer hours with 30 per cent saying the impact of tax and regulatory changes has lengthened their working week

Vince Smith-Hughes, director of specialist business support at Prudential, said: “Demand for advice is growing and that is reflected in the increasing optimism about the future from advisers and the hours they work. The numbers happy to recommend advice as a career is a great story to tell for the industry but there are concerns. Key among these concerns are around where new recruits will come from. However, the recent demand for advice shows a vibrant profession, with some advisers running dedicated graduate programs while others are naturally transitioning paraplanners across to advising.

Prudential’s research found 81 per cent advisers believe schools and universities need to do more to promote financial advice as a career – and more than three out of four (77 per cent) want providers to develop their own recruitment programmes as the table below shows.