Financial Planning in Australia

The Financial Planning Industry in Australia has me perplexed, just like I used to be when my math teacher taught algebra!

-Regulatory costs are increasing

-Leading to financial planners leaving the industry 

-Leading to less people receiving advice but more people wanting advice

The table below highlights the situation well:

Year	Consumers Who Got Financial Advice	Number of Advisors	Consumers Who Want Financial Advice but are not Receiving It
2018	13.9%	27,959	NA
2019	12.2%	23,511	21%
2020	11.2%	20,674	30%
2021	10.1%	17,351	29%

(Source: 2022 Australian Financial Advice Landscape)

So basically we have an overregulated market, leading to people wanting to get financial advice, but being unable to.

Australians with a shit ton of cash in the bank are still able to economically see a financial planner.

Australians with a smaller amount of cash in the bank (like me lol) face a dilemma. 

If there was a shortage of hairdressers and the prices skyrocketed we would all get the clippers, watch a few youtube videos and have a crack!

That is what Australians who cannot access a financial advisor were doing.

The issue is ASIC has clamped down on financial content online, making this more challenging. 

Making the situation even weirder:

-An industry is overregulated leading to pent up demand

-People try to self educate, leading to some dodgy operators

-ASIC shut down online content, leading to more pent up demand for affordable financial advice

The Solution

-Hopefully this self corrects over the next few years with well thought out deregulation

-An Australian with a moderate income and moderate savings should be able to receive good financial advice at a reasonable price.

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