Only half of advisers would recommend financial advice as a career to a family member
24 November 2014
New research from the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) reveals that only half of financial advisers would recommend the profession to a member of their family as a potential career.
The research, carried out for APFA by NMG Consulting, shows that just 51% of financial advisers would recommend that a family member took up financial advice as a career, and just 1 in 20 plan to hand their business to a family member when they retire.
Chris Hannant, Director General of APFA, said:
“Whether you look at this from a glass half full or glass half empty perspective, the fact is for every adviser who would recommend financial advice as a career there is one who wouldn’t. There are some common factors likely to be behind this. Members tell us regularly that the burden of bureaucracy and costly regulation are real issues. Ultimately, they may be tainting what is a vitally important profession. This needs addressing.”
APFA’s research also finds that a quarter (26%) of the financial advisers surveyed plan to sell their business when they retire, and a further quarter (26%) have no succession plans at all.
Chris Hannant added:
“The financial advice industry has arguably never had a more important role to play in helping people make good financial decisions. The legacy of today’s firms should be a vibrant and healthy profession tomorrow. This means ensuring all firms have succession plans in place when the time is right, but it’s also about the regulator doing more to reduce the burden on advisers and ultimately making the profession a more attractive career option.”
ENDS
