HLB Mann Judd partner Michael Hutton said that he predicts the new education standards for advisers, particularly for new entrants, could make it very difficult to attract younger people to the financial advice industry.
“The pathway to becom[ing] a financial adviser is quite long and arduous once the new rules come in,” Mr Hutton said at a recent HLB Mann Judd event in Sydney.
“For the younger advisers coming through, it’s becoming a very long road. I think the university course restrictions are going to be too tight.”
HLB Mann Judd partner Jonathan Philpot agreed that the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority could have made the pathways more flexible for new entrants so that those with related degrees only had to study a few extra subjects rather than a whole degree specifically on wealth management.
“They could have made it more open so that if you do a commerce degree, you can just choose a couple of wealth management subjects and then start to specialise from there,” Mr Philpot said.
“They’re basically saying that you got to have a wealth management degree, which means that from school you need to decide that you want to become a financial adviser. Not many kids are going to decide that, particularly in our current environment.”
I totally disagree with this article I don’t think these requirements put young people off the industry, I have a bachelor of commerce with a major in finance, I started working in stockbroking and then funds management and now I have decided to be a financial planner.
All I have to study is a graduate diploma in financial planning which is a maximum of 8 units, even though I have studied finance which is a related degree and it means I understand finance and economics but there is still a lot of things about superannuation and financial planning I need to learn about.
So I think that is very fair to ask career changers to study a graduate diploma and even if you have studied a bachelor of commerce it doesn’t mean you have any relevant knowledge, you could major in IT or management or marketing all of which have nothing to do with financial planning
Agreed. I have a B.Bus (banking & finance and economics major) which means we only have to do a grad dip (once FASEA approves them in a few months time). Only thing that annoys me is that it’s impossible to carry across credits from my bachelor degree even though I did complete some wealth subjects and an FP subject. The education companies offering the grad dips want you to pay another $1.5k for an additional subject you don’t really need …any way, you’re right about the superannuation and retirement/estate planning. No business/commerce degree really covers those in as much detail. Happy to do the study
Academics making rules. There is a clear conflict of interest. A commerce or accounting degree is an excellent start place for financial planning. A supplemental course on top of that degree picking up the relevant subjects would be an appropriate pathway. Also to say CFP is worth nothing is a disgrace.
Isn’t an accounting degree already considered a ‘relevant’ degree. I.e. would only need to conversion units.
You would be a complete idiot to complete a financial planning qualification as an 18 year old rather than a more broad based business / commerce degree. I’m all for raising the education standard but I have also told numerous kids not to bother and do something else which they will enjoy as this industry (its not a profession unfortunately) is cactus.
If you haven’t been aware of the inevitable move toward degree based education for FPs you have had your head buried in the sand. Our firm has had a minimum degree based plus CFP educatiion for FPs since 1997. FP is a profession and clients deserve and expect apporopriately qualifies advisers to adress their finaincial lives. Overdue as far as I am concerned
Education doesn’t weed out the crooks and shonks – it just makes them smarter and teaches them how to “play” the system. How do you think the banks and other institutions got away with all their hijinks for so long?
You can teach someone ethics until the cows come home, but so long as the industry is based around conflicted remuneration models, commission-based fees and kickbacks you will never eliminate the dodgy operators.
Why would you want to be a FP? Unlimited liability in hindsight, unlimited paperwork that a client does not value the time to it takes to meet the government requirements and if you make one mistake a regulatory enforcement that wants to drive you broke or push you out of the industry for life. There are better things to study and have a pleasant life.
45 yrs in the industry and numerous existing qualifications means nothing.
Why would i bother!
Young people should consider their future carefully before investing their lives in an industry being ripped apart by useless bureacrats.
Its not meant to be easy!