Demand for advice rises
The demand for financial advice is quickly rising, according to a report by Investment Trends, with 2.6 million Australians looking to visit an adviser in the next two years.
The Investment Trends September 2013 Advice & Limited Advice Report, which was based on a survey of more than 5,400 consumers, found half a million Australians started seeing a financial planner in the last 12 months, offsetting the half a million who stopped.
Senior analyst Recep Peker pointed to the increasing consumer sentiment over the last year.
"Investor confidence has been higher in 2013 than it had been the preceding 18 months, and their share market return expectations have increased to match this," Peker said.
"After years and years of decline in the usage of financial advice, improving investor confidence has seen the number of active planner clients stabilise at 2.4 million."
A particularly pronounced demand for advice comes from industry super fund members.
"An interesting question is whether industry funds are equipped to match this rising demand," Peker added.
Despite 2.6 million people indicating they were planning to look for an investment adviser in the next two years — which is 24 per cent up from last year — not all will do so.
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