Advisors, Staffers Unhappy With Pay: FPA Study

Most financial advisory firms make big investments in their teams, but still feel challenged to structure compensation and benefits packages that will both attract and retain talent, according to a new report from the Financial Planning Association and Financial Advisor IQ, a Financial Times news service.

It’s a struggle many of them aren’t winning. Only about a quarter of advisory firm employees are satisfied with their pay, and about a quarter plan to change jobs soon, the study found.

The study found that only 31% of firms thought their compensation plan was highly competitive with those of similarly sized firms, and that number dropped to 22% for their benefits package.

“The war for talent in the advice space gets more cutthroat all the time, both between channels and within them,” Joan Warner, managing editor of Financial Advisor IQ, said in a statement.

According to the study, median compensation ranged from $50,000 to $249,000, depending on job function.

Seventy-seven percent of firms offered some form of benefits, but these varied widely.

Sixty percent expected to increase their investment in compensation over the coming year, and 22% said they would increase their investment in benefits.

The report was based on responses to an online survey conducted in February from 694 employees at RIAs, broker-dealers, wirehouses and hybrid RIAs, and included both Financial Planning Association members and nonmembers.

Other Key Findings                               

Besides compensation, the survey also explored job satisfaction at advisory firms, asked about their hiring and outsourcing plans and looked at their investment in team development.

The study said that even though respondents reported relatively high job satisfaction, discontent existed around compensation and benefits.