‘Great loss of experience’: 1k advisers forecast to exit by 2026

As the 1 January 2026 education deadline looms, the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) is predicting as many as 1,000 advisers could exit the profession, triggering a significant experience loss for the profession.

Come the end of 2025, financial advisers who wish to continue operating are required to meet either the experience or education requirements. Those advisers who fail to do so and are still named on the Financial Advisers Register (FAR) on 1 January will be required to not only complete the education requirements but also undergo the professional year (PY).

Speaking on a webinar, Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) chief executive Sarah Abood said the organisation has a high estimate of the number of advisers who could exit.

“At the moment, the number that don’t qualify for either pathway look unreasonably high – over 4,000 – and we don’t think that’s the reality,” Abood said.

“Our estimates are that around 1,000 advisers might be leaving at the end of this year. That’s based partly on data and partly on intention surveys that various providers have done. It’s a guess but it will be a decent dip at the end of this year.”

According to the latest ASIC data, just 4,493 of the 9,027 advisers eligible for the experience provider pathway have notified ASIC they will utilise this option, as at 8 August.

Of those remaining, some 1,944 indicated they won’t be using the education pathway and the remaining 2,590 have yet to provide a response to ASIC. This gap in respondents creates an unclear picture of what the profession might see come 1 January.

For those who intend to continue being an adviser but will be unable to complete their education requirements in time, Abood said there is a loophole for advisers to avoid potentially redoing the PY by dropping off the FAR before 1 January to then rejoin once they have completed their studies.

Abood added: “We’re aware there are a number of advisers who are using this as their time to leave the profession, and perhaps they were thinking of retiring anyway, and this has set the deadline.”

Speaking with Money Management, Padua Wealth Data founder Colin Williams said it is difficult to know at this time what the total losses will be at the end of the year, but that “it will be high”.

With a considerable portion of exiting advisers expected to be approaching retirement, Williams suggested this will also mean a “great loss of experience” which is hard to replace. 

“It’s hard to say just how many who have said no or not responded will actually drop out. Many in these groups appear well-qualified, but it’s not possible to say how many have the right qualifications,” he said.

“It will be a combination of reasons as to why many will exit. December and June are typically peak periods for advisers to exit. We had higher-than-expected losses in June this year, and it may be attributable to what’s coming up, with some advisers opting to leave a bit earlier.”

Padua Wealth Data reported a heavy loss of 359 advisers in June 2025, while the end of 2024 saw losses of 34 advisers.

Looking at where we might expect to see the most losses, Williams predicts that while they will be widespread, the limited advice sector which only provides restricted SMSF advice is likely to see the worst impact. The sector has already been in steep decline for some time and is likely to suffer a devastating blow come January, he said.

“[With] currently only about 338 still practicing, I expect this segment will all but disappear. Thereafter, it will be evenly spread,” he said.

“On the upside, we are seeing more ‘new entrants’ joining the profession, and there has been a steady stream of advisers who have exited but are finding a way back into advice, and we may see a surge of these advisers recommence their careers in 2026.”