IFA and Financial Recruitment Group (FRG) have joined forces this year to present the annual salary survey. Showing the past four years of data, the salary survey is designed to make sure you know what you're worth, what your staff is worth and what you have to offer to get new people on board. This year paraplanners are hot property. In Sydney, paraplanners who have been on $70K are now being offered salaries of $80-85K and in one recent example, a paraplanner who was already earning $80K was poached by someone offering $90K, which the original firm could not match. According to FRG senior consultant Peter Dawson, gen Y paraplanners move around when they have the potential. "For them, often preparing one SOA for one group is very much the same as the next and so they'll follow the money," Dawson says.
And it is likely paraplanners will be more popular and more pricey in the near future as rumours are that a large institution is keen to employ a team of 200 paraplanners for its network. The group wants to then give its planners incentives to outsource paraplanning work to it. Financial planners saw their popularity spike a couple of years ago and salaries have remained static for financial planners more or less in the last year. But for senior financial planners salaries have risen again. Perth has been a hotspot for planners as its economy booms. In the large dealer groups, financial planner turnover is estimated to be around 22 per cent per year. However, while there is much poaching being done, according to Dawson, most are hitting their targets. "They are being well remunerated for that and in some cases this is with bonuses of up to 50 per cent of base salary and more," he says. "There is more focus than ever on retention."
