Attracting new talent will continue to challenge advisers in 2023

Speaking to ifa ahead of the holidays, chief executive of Lifespan Financial Planning, Eugene Ardino, predicted that attracting new entrants into the financial advice industry will continue to be a challenge in 2023 and beyond.

He, however, flagged positive signs with Professional Year entrants gaining momentum and licensees, and large organisations, committing significant recourses to support advice practices to take on new entrants.

“According to Wealth Data, provisional advisers totalled 355 of a total adviser number of 15,899 in November 2022. This doesn’t sound like much, however, given this time last year, Professional Year entrants were almost non-existent, the signs are more positive, but we still have a long way to go,” Mr Ardino explained.

“At Lifespan, we have seen a rise in our practices investing in new entrants, particularly as the tight recruitment environment is placing increasing pressure on growing adviser firms,” he continued.

In October, Wealth Data founder, Colin Williams, told ifa that while “it’s not particularly concentrated”, more firms are definitely hiring provisional advisers.

“It is vital for this to keep going, as the profession will always lose advisers to retirement and others who may change careers,” Mr Williams said.

He explained that while advisers are often discouraged from hiring provisional advisers due to mainly commercial reasons, the practice is becoming much more commonplace.

“While the program for PAs may look complex and costly, as more firms take them on, everyone will learn and make the process that much easier,” he noted.

Also talking to ifa at the time, Mr Ardino said that “with the mass exodus of advisers from the profession over the last four years, it has never been more important to try to attract new entrants and to have the infrastructure in place to work with them”.

“This has been a real challenge for the profession with all the legislative change combined with difficult market and economic conditions, but hopefully we see some easing from a legislative change point of view in the short term.”