Advice fees jump by 40% in 5 years

As many as 9 in 10 advisers plan to lift their fees further on the back of inflation, interest rates, and other cost pressures, research from the Adviser Ratings Landscape Report has revealed.

In the past year alone, advisers have increased their fees by 5 per cent, with the median client now paying $3,710.

However, Adviser Ratings revealed that while some advisers are charging as much as $13,000, others are only asking for $1,000 which, it said, is still double the amount most consumers are willing to pay.

The research also revealed that the 5 per cent increase witnessed in 2022 came in well below that recorded over previous years, with a 16 per cent leap in fees seen in 2020, following a further 8 per cent in 2021.

Interestingly, while looking further into consumers’ capacity to pay for advice, Adviser Ratings found that the number of those willing to pay between $2,500 and $5,000 rose to 19 per cent last year from 4 per cent a year earlier.

At the same time, those willing to cop a $500 to $1,000 fee fell to 10 per cent from 21 per cent in 2021.

Mid-2022, research from the University of South Australia revealed that over 80 per cent of lower income consumers who have never accessed financial advice believe there is no value in doing so. Moreover, what also emerged is that over 95 per cent of consumers believe a value range of $0–$999 is reasonable.

Among already advised clients, a range of $0–$999 was cited as reasonable for initial development and implementation of a financial plan by over 70 per cent of consumers, the study — funded by Magellan Asset Management, Centrepoint Alliance, the Financial Planning Association of Australia, and the Financial Planning Education Council — suggested.