Paraplanners more academic than planners

Almost one in four paraplanners hold a Masters, while rate for planners is half that, the Money Management Salary Survey reveals.

Data from the annual survey found that 40 per cent of planners had not successfully passed through the doors of a university, while a similar proportion of paraplanners held a Post Graduate or Masters qualification.

Just one in three para planners reported that their highest academic achievement was securing an Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning (Advanced DFP), however, the survey showed that three per cent of paraplanners said completing high school was the pinnacle of their academic careers, compared with just one per cent of planners.

Findings from the research also revealed that paraplanners were more likely to have studied a finance, accounting or economics degree (31 per cent) than planners (25 per cent).

Despite paraplanners lofty academic achievements, just six per cent of respondents said they earned more than $90,000 a year, while less than 25 per cent of planners reported earning less than that.

When it came to saying how much they believed they should be paid for doing their current role, 72 per cent of paraplanners said they deserved to be paid less than $90,000, however there was a significant shift in the number who felt that salaries below $70,000 were fair — just 13 per cent of paraplanners believed that they were worth less than that, compared to 58 per cent who reported their salary was under that threshold.