EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In most financial advisory firms, compensation for employees is more than 3/4ths of a firm’s total expenditures. Which means trends in compensation can have a very significant impact on the profitability and success of an advisory firm business. And the urgency of advisory firms to control compensation have become acute in recent years, as a projected wave of advisors retiring and a dearth of young advisor talent suggests that advisor compensation will rapidly rise, squeezing the margins of most firms.
Yet the latest industry benchmarking studies from Investment News and FA Insight find that, despite the fact that the headcount of financial advisors has already declined by 15% in the past 6 years, advisor compensation growth has remained remarkably sluggish, with little evidence whatsoever of an advisor talent shortage.
Instead, the industry studies find that the largest advisory firms are competing for talent by paying healthy salaries, supported by incentive compensation that allows them to be flexible in a bear market, and using their offer of a career track as an incentive to attract the top young talent. In the meantime, the firms are paying very modest raises, counting on the top advisor talent to satisfy their hunger for financial success by climbing the firm’s career track ladder from support advisor to associate to lead advisor, and ultimately to partner.
More at: https://www.kitces.com/blog/2015-compensation-trends-in-financial-advisory-firms-does-the-sluggish-growth-of-average-financial-advisor-earnings-mean-the-young-talent-shortage-just-a-mirage/
In most financial advisory firms, compensation for employees is more than 3/4ths of a firm’s total expenditures. Which means trends in compensation can have a very significant impact on the profitability and success of an advisory firm business. And the urgency of advisory firms to control compensation have become acute in recent years, as a projected wave of advisors retiring and a dearth of young advisor talent suggests that advisor compensation will rapidly rise, squeezing the margins of most firms.
Yet the latest industry benchmarking studies from Investment News and FA Insight find that, despite the fact that the headcount of financial advisors has already declined by 15% in the past 6 years, advisor compensation growth has remained remarkably sluggish, with little evidence whatsoever of an advisor talent shortage.
Instead, the industry studies find that the largest advisory firms are competing for talent by paying healthy salaries, supported by incentive compensation that allows them to be flexible in a bear market, and using their offer of a career track as an incentive to attract the top young talent. In the meantime, the firms are paying very modest raises, counting on the top advisor talent to satisfy their hunger for financial success by climbing the firm’s career track ladder from support advisor to associate to lead advisor, and ultimately to partner.
More at: https://www.kitces.com/blog/2015-compensation-trends-in-financial-advisory-firms-does-the-sluggish-growth-of-average-financial-advisor-earnings-mean-the-young-talent-shortage-just-a-mirage/
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