June 20238According to the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 254,030 personal financial advisors1 and these advisors serve over one-third of Americans.2 Financial advisors can support and guide their clients in some unexpected yet important ways. A recent article3 in Financial Advisor magazine highlighted some ways in which financial advisors remove financial pressures for people, which in turn enriches their lives. These include:1) Helping people alleviate marital strife due to financesBy John Turner, VP, Investment Advisor Lending, Live Oak Bank2) Helping reduce stress with strategic financial planning3) Helping reduce workplace distraction so folks can focus on their jobs, not on managing their finances 4)Helping people identify opportunities to give charitable donationsAn Alarming TrendIf you believe that financial advisors provide what America needs, then the pace of advisors retiring from the industry becomes truly concerning. According to Cerulli, an industry think tank and research firm, 37% of financial advisors managing $10.4 trillion assets will succeed out of the industry over the next 10 years and the total headcount of advisors will begin declining in 2023.4This trend could lead to a meaningful shortage in advice and services provided to Americans by financial advisors. This concern needs to be addressed on two fronts; build more capacity within the business and provide a smooth transition of client relationships from one generation of advisor to the next.Building More CapacityCapacity can be built with five strategies.Good human capital planning and execution. Getting the right staff in the right positions with the right skills can leverage the reduction of advisors so each can serve more clients. However, with an overall labor shortage, it may be difficult to add staff. This makes carefully organizing and training staff even more critical.THE FINANCIAL ADVISOR RETIREMENT WAVE John TurnerMY OPINIONIN
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