Having worked with hundreds of financial planning practices across Australia, I’ve been lucky enough to have a kind of backstage view of the industry.
From solo advisers to huge practices, it’s clear that the desire to grow is strong. The Advisely Growth Survey revealed that over 80% of advisers are looking to bring in new clients this year, but nearly half of them admitted they’re struggling to make it happen. Most industries would probably say the same, but their issue would be marketing or lead generation.
With our industry, however, it’s often less obvious barriers that are holding practices back.
One of the most consistent challenges I hear about is the sheer weight of compliance. Advisers genuinely want to help more people, but the regulatory framework in Australia has become incredibly complex. Between ASIC, DBFO and the legacy of FASEA, it’s hard for practices to keep up. The rules change frequently, interpretations vary and the consequences of a misstep are significant.
For some, the effort it takes just to onboard a new client has become so administratively taxing that they’ve paused their marketing altogether. It’s not that demand is lacking; it’s that the backend work required is daunting.
Financial pressure adds another layer. The cost of delivering advice – from wages and software subscriptions to compliance overheads – continues to rise, but many practices haven’t revisited their pricing models in years.
Some are hesitant to raise fees, worried about the effect and reaction on clients, while others simply haven’t tracked their profitability closely enough to know if expanding would actually help or hurt.
Growth often seems like the solution to these issues. But without a clear understanding of margins or capacity, expansion becomes risky.
Finding and retaining quality staff – whether paraplanners, CSOs or junior advisers – seems to be the biggest issue our advisers raise to us. The flow-on effects of regulatory fatigue have driven many advisers out of the industry, and smaller practices can’t always compete with larger ones when it comes to salary or structured career progression.
This creates bottlenecks. Advisers want to grow their client base, but they’re reluctant to push for growth if it means burning out the existing team. I’ve seen practices hold off on marketing campaigns purely because they’re unsure how they’d service the influx of clients.
And then there’s the issue of operational infrastructure. Many practices, especially smaller ones, are still relying on manual or obsolete processes; systems that worked fine when the business was smaller start to fall apart under the pressure of growth.
CRMs are often underused, task management becomes chaotic and reporting turns into a weekly scramble. Often, everything still hinges on the principal – and when they’re busy or away, things stall. Practices that invest in scalable infrastructure tend to weather growth more smoothly, but it’s a big ask when margins are already tight.
An adviser said to me recently that he needs a financial adviser for his practice. He loves seeing clients and helping them get their financial position in order, but his own planning – business forecasting, budgeting, scenario modelling – feels reactive, not proactive. He just couldn’t get his head into it.
This isn’t uncommon: I’ve met practices that know their revenue figures down to the cent but still feel unsure as to whether they can afford to hire, or how much they’re paying for their software. When planning principles are applied internally with the same rigour as client work, decisions become clearer and more confident.
The big takeaway is that growing a financial planning practice isn’t just about increasing client numbers. It’s about maturing the business structurally, operationally and strategically. Growth doesn’t happen just because the client numbers are increasing but because the right foundations are laid and the practice evolves to support that ambition.
I’ve seen firsthand that when practices invest in systems, define their messaging, support their staff and treat their own planning as seriously as they do their clients’, the growth doesn’t just follow – it sticks.
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