Young planners relishing change

Up-and-coming planners see impending changes in the financial services sector as an opportunity to take advantage of their youth, according to delegates from this year’s Securitor conference who spoke at an open forum.

Speaking on the topic of “challenges and opportunities”, younger members of the group identified the shift towards the increasing use of technology, the rise in education requirements and other regulatory shifts in the industry as presenting an opportunity to grow and learn rapidly.

“Younger people are usually very quick to embrace technology, whereas an older planner who has been using the same system for a long time may be slower to adapt,” said one planner who self-identified as Generation Y.

Younger members saw entry into the industry as a challenge, since many may initially struggle to obtain enough capital to buy into a planning business.

Tapping into the Gen Y market was seen as both a challenge and an opportunity, with delegates agreeing many young people generally did not see the need for financial advice — although this also presented a largely untapped market.

The retirement of older planners, many of whom may be inclined to leave the industry in the wake of regulatory changes, also presented an opportunity for younger planners to move up in their businesses, delegates said.

BT’s head of dealer groups and licensee select Neil Younger predicted earlier in the conference that as many as 30 per cent of advisers could exit the industry within the next two to three years due to the impending changes.