A leakage of clients in the industry is seriously hitting financial advisers in the pocket, according to independent research house brandmanagement.
Of those Australians who seek financial advice, a large proportion rejects it because the client/planner relationship fails, or they find the advice unsuitable or poor.
A bad financial planning experience is unlikely to turn a person into an industry advocate - a vital new business source for advisers, brandmanagement principal Andrew Inwood wrote on the company's burningpants newsletter.
Brandmanagement's figures show 28.7 per cent of people have a planner, while 25.1 per cent do not currently have one, but have used a planner in the past.
Within this 25.1 per cent are a number of people who are unlikely to seek financial advice in the near future, Inwood said.
"This is a shame because such losses are a capital loss to the industry given this whole business is zero sum - that is if an opportunity is lost it's unlikely to occur again for some time - not to mention the fact there is no natural well of new recurring opportunities .," he said.
However, financial planning clients are generally happy. Its research has shown high levels of satisfaction among people who have a relationship with a planner.
The group conducts many real mystery shoppers - people who are going to potentially buy services or products - to collect its data.
It is investigating a solution to the client leakage through its on-going studies.
