“Industry Insights” covers trends in the financial planning industry.
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As has been the case for several years now, the outlook for financial advisors appears rather favorable. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook:
“Employment of personal financial advisors is projected to grow 15 percent from 2016 to 2026, much faster than the average for all occupations…Job prospects for personal financial advisors should be relatively favorable, compared with prospects in other financial sector occupations. Those who obtain certification will likely have the best prospects.”
Of course, the thought has been that robo-advisors will take some jobs. The OOH continues:
“The emergence of “robo-advisors,” computer programs that provide automated investment advice based on user inputs, will partially temper demand for personal financial advisors. However, the impact of this technology should be limited as consumers continue turning to human advisors for more complex and specialized investment advice over the next 10 years.”
Industry expert Michael Kitces also believes the demand for advisors continues to outpace supply:
“And the rising talent shortage is increasingly evident in the latest industry benchmarking data of the 2018 InvestmentNews Compensation and Staffing study, which shows that advisory firms are being forced to hire Service advisors from outside the industry and poach Lead advisors from competing firms just to fulfill their talent needs, due to the lack of up-and-coming next-generation Support advisors. And the shortfall is especially evident amongst the largest independent advisory firms that are experiencing the fastest growth rates and are overwhelmingly seeking to hire Support and Service advisors to deepen their bench.
