The United States FPA has found that the nation’s financial planning industry plans to hire staff even as overall unemployment soars.
Nearly one-third of financial planning practices plan to hire additional staff in the next 12 months despite national reports of an economic downturn and layoff rates on the rise, according to the US FPA’s Financial Planning Salary Survey.
The US unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 9.8 per cent in September, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said on 2 October.
The rate has doubled since the recession began in December 2007, propelled by mass redundancies at Wall Street firms including Citi and Bank of America.
Economic commentators tip the rate to surge past 10 per cent in 2010 even as the world’s largest economy recovers from the global financial crisis.
A so called “work hard, play hard” trend exists in the financial planning industry, the US FPA study found. Sole practitioners who take 21 to 30 days of vacation a year make an average of $120,356 (US$111,696), 12 per cent more than those who take 15 days or less.
“There are significant findings in the Financial Planning Salary Survey that indicate upward employment and compensation shifts in the profession,” US FPA executive director Marv Tuttle said.
Additionally, four in five American financial planning firms offered 401(k) plans to their employees and 80 per cent of those businesses matched employee contributions or salary.
A 401(k) plan lets a worker save for retirement and have the savings invested while deferring income taxes on the saved money and investment returns until withdrawals.
The US FPA study reflected data collected from over 1400 practices.
It’s too hard to say whether the US finding of planned hiring is being mirrored by the Australian financial planning industry as local dealer groups await the outcome of the current parliamentary inquiries, according to eJobs Recruitment Specialists.
