The need to attract and nurture the next generation of financial advisers is a huge issue. But what type of skills will advance our industry further in the future?
Advice businesses of tomorrow will require more than IFAs and administrators. They will need people with the skills to drive continuous digital customer engagement and help firms stave off the competition by delivering a high-quality, personalised service.
But where can firms find this talent, while promoting the profession to the younger generations and ensuring existing advisers have the tools to improve productivity and realise real growth.
Here are some ideas.
1. Adviser academies
Industry consolidation means we have seen a rise in the number of large advisory firms. With this comes the potential for more adviser academies, which can develop new talent in greater numbers.
Such academies can help offset the loss of traditional salesforce training programmes offered by banks and life offices, which in previous generations were the entry point for many people.
2. Growing your own
The best advisers are often the ones that work their way up through the ranks. Not only do they gain the necessary qualifications and an understanding of the firm’s ethos, but the first-hand experience gained through dealing with customers, lenders and product providers can be invaluable.
It can also be a safer route for the firm because going out and recruiting an experienced adviser can be expensive and risky. Growing and nurturing your own people minimises the chances of someone leaving after a year and taking clients with them.
3. Improving industry perception
Many younger people simply do not hold financial advisers in the same standing as lawyers or accountants. It’s frustrating because the earnings potential and positive impact you can have on people’s lives in my opinion is greater as a financial adviser
We must do more as an industry, but government policy could also help. For example, implementing compulsory programmes for students to learn how to manage their own money.
The more people understand about how to manage their own finances, the more it could open up financial advice as a career option to help others.
4. Career changers
People changing careers and moving into financial services could be a rich source of future talent.
In particular, the rise in AI and robotics could eventually create a wave of experienced workers looking for a new career as their first careers are automated.
Financial advice is a people profession, which is focused on your ability to engage with someone and do the right thing for them. It’s about having the right core beliefs and attributes.
Life skills and the ability to engage with people is a skill held by many. If they can get through the exams, what is stopping them becoming a new source of advisory capacity?
Targeting other professions with relevant transferable skills and providing a clear pathway into financial advice through a tailored training programme remains an opportunity for us all.
