Paraplanners and advisers have given their industry feedback in a newly launched survey by Dynamic Planner.
Advice 2025, which surveyed over 400 advice professionals across the UK spanning advisers, paraplanners and decision-makers, seeks to provide a comprehensive insight on the health of financial advice and the industry as it is today.
The findings showed overwhelming positivity around the growth of client numbers, with 86% of advisers expecting their client base to increase over the next 12 months, while 72% of advice firms are serving more clients than they were a year ago. Smaller firms are most likely to have increased their client base over the past year.
The survey also delved into the impact of artificial intelligence on the advice industry. It found nine out of 10 (94%) advice professionals expect AI to be positive for the industry, with early use cases including meeting transcription and summarisation; document analysis and data extraction, and report generation and personalisation.
Dynamic Planner said positive sentiment around AI is driven by expectations that the technology will reduce the cost to serve and enable firms to service more clients. While those in their mid-careers are a little less convinced of the benefits, younger respondents who are building their client bases find the latter benefit particularly appealing.
However, just under a third currently use AI, while just over half are actively investigating and most of the remainder expect it to become useful soon.
Advisers and paraplanners also consider data as key, with 47% describing it as essential and driving all the decision making. A further two in five (38%) said it was useful and informs the firm’s decision making, while 14% would like to make more use of it. In contrast, just 1% said it was not relevant to their business at all.
Ben Goss, CEO of Dynamic Planner, said: “Our inaugural report has found a highly positive mood in an industry that is growing and thriving. In the advice sector, as in the world at large, change is a constant but firms are rising to the challenges and facing the future with confidence.
“Standout themes from Advice 2025 include the rise of data and the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, clearly viewed by advice professionals as opportunities to be seized. The advent of both no doubt plays a part in supercharging the view that firms will increase their client base over the coming year.”
Goss added: “This industry has a vital role to play in driving investment, promoting financial resilience and improving retirement outcomes for an ageing population. Cost to serve has been a headwind, but firms now see the opportunity to grow and scale, bringing advice to more of those who need it.”
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