Search by:NameLocation
 
 

Media

In Brief: July Edition  

Do you have a good advice story?

Are you an adviser with a customer who'd like to tell their story how your advice helped them?

Are you a customer with a good story about how advice has added value to your life?

Tell us about it

Push to serve 200 clients throws adviser burnout risk into spotlight

« back to media

5 August 2025 by Darcy Song, Professional Planner

Article link: https://www.professionalplanner.com.au/2025/08/push-to-serve-200-clients-throws-adviser-burnout-risk-into-spotlight/

An imbalance between the demand for financial advice and the number of professionals available to provide it means burnout is increasingly prevalent among advisers.

Just under 15,400 financial advisers on the ASIC Financial Advisers Register are currently servicing 1.8 million clients, according to data from Adviser Ratings, which translates to an average of 115 clients per adviser. However, many professionals are being asked to do more.

Thirdview Financial Planning owner and adviser Peter Foley recalls that in a recent conversation, one peer said they were being asked to see 200 clients a year.

“If you think about seeing 200 clients a year, it’s a hard thing for someone to remember all 200 of their clients and do a great job of having excellent relationships,” Foley tells Professional Planner.

“As much as there’s this commercial benefit in some ways to having a shortage of advisers…the double-edged sword of that is that everyone is busier.”

The volume of work is one factor, but the fact that financial advice is subjected to strict regulation, licensee standards and asset guidelines means there also little room for error.

“There are also scenarios where you can go to AFCA [for a dispute] and win, and still there are instances where the licensee then sends the [advice] firm a $12,000 bill, even after they’ve won with no wrong findings,” Foley says.

“Your pressures are different, but they’re equally intense, both in the front and the back office.”

While there was a time when long hours and overtime seemed like a normal part of doing business, they are now considered psychological hazards at workplace which employers are legally obligated to manage under the Work Health and Safety Act introduced in 2023.

AZ NGA Group general manager of human resources Merilyn Speiser says burnout and under resourcing is an endemic feature of wherever there’s human capital being the main resource.

“If you base your profit on a certain number of people at a certain salary, generating a certain revenue, and it was predicated on them working long hours and maybe even some weekend work from time to time…then you’ve got to change your business model because that’s not acceptable anymore,” Speiser says.

From a legal aspect, businesses that fail to address these risks could be fined or face criminal charges in extreme cases. But from a reputational perspective, an organisation known for overloading its employees with works will have a hard time recruiting new talents, which will only exacerbate the problems.

“The people that are there still have to carry this weight, because you’ve got a reputation in the market that says you don’t take those [psychological] risks seriously,” Speiser says.

“Then there’s the human risk – do you really want to break people?”

 

Comments

No comments added.

Add comment

Name

Email

Comments

Enter code:*

Refresh code

Add comment

« back to media

Adviser Ratings

For consumers

For advisers

 
  Join as an Adviser
 

While we may facilitate the review and introduction of Advisers, Customers of Adviser Ratings will be responsible for entering into their own agreement with Advisers introduced through our website. Adviser Ratings does not provide personal financial advice nor do we recommend or suggest a particular adviser is right for you. We provide information of a general nature and we do not take into consideration your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Always consider whether the advice and information you are provided suits your needs. Adviser Ratings does not endorse, accept or adopt the Advisers on our site, the content of any profiles or the comments or discussion in any community forums. For further information about How We Rate Our Advisers, click here. Per quote in our video, refer KPMG research undertaken for Financial Services Council

Adviser Ratings Pty Ltd (ABN 18 154 273 640 ) is a Sydney based company located at Level 22, Tower 3, 300 Barangaroo Avenue, Sydney, Barangaroo 2000, Australia

© 2021 Adviser Ratings Pty LtdTerms of Use | Privacy | Contact