Finder’s 2022 Financial Advisor Report

16% of Australian adults, the equivalent of 3,200,000 people, have a financial advisor or planner, according to a Finder survey of 1,054 adults in October 2022.

Who is most likely to use a financial advisor and why aren't more Aussies getting financial advice? Read on to find out.

Quick summary

• 16% of Australians, the equivalent of 3,200,000 people, use a financial advisor or planner.

• The top reason most Aussies don't use a financial advisor is that they prefer to manage their own money (42%). The second most common reason is that it's too expensive (39%).
• The majority of Australians (57%) aren't prepared to spend anything to receive financial advice.

• The rest of the country is prepared to pay $1,164 on average for financial advice.

Financial advisor adoption statistics

• • 16% of Australians, the equivalent of 3,200,000 people, use a financial advisor or planner.
  • Men are more likely than women to use a financial advisor. Nearly 1 in 5 (18%) Aussie men use a financial advisor compared to just 13% of women.
  • Baby boomers are the most likely to use a financial advisor or planner and generation X the least. Just under a quarter of baby boomers use a financial planner (23%) compared to 16% of generation Y and generation Z and just 10% of generation X.

Why do Australians seek financial advice?

• • • Of those who said they use a financial advisor or planner, the leading reason they use one is that they trust them (51%).
    • However, men are much more likely than women to say they trust financial advisors. 64% of men who use a financial advisor say they trust them, compared to just 34% of women.
    • The older generations are the most likely to say they use a financial advisor because they trust them. 64% of baby boomers and 60% of generation X say they trust financial advisors compared to only 38% of generation Y and generation Z.
    • The second most common reason Aussies use a financial advisor is that they share one with a family member (26%). This is more common with women (34% of women vs 20% of men) and younger Australians (35% of generation Z vs 16% of baby boomers).
    • The third most commonly cited reason for using a financial advisor is people saying they make more money from the advice than they do from the fees (24%).
    • 17% of those who use a financial advisor said they have complex money arrangements and 17% also said they have a high net worth – both of which justify the use of a financial advisor.
    • 14% said they use a financial advisor because they don't like to manage their own money and 4% say they use a financial advisor or planner because they received an inheritance.

Why don't more Australians use a financial planner or advisor?

• • • The top reason most Aussies don't use a financial advisor is that they prefer to manage their own money (42%).
    • The second most common reason is that it's too expensive (39%), followed by people not thinking their net worth is high enough to warrant the expense (29%).
    • Over a quarter said they don't see the benefit of using a financial advisor (27%), 17% said they don't trust financial advisors and 8% said they don't know how to find one.

How much are Aussies prepared to pay for financial advice?

• • • The majority of Australians (57%) aren't prepared to spend anything to receive financial advice. This attitude is slightly more common among men than women (59% vs 55%). It's also more common among baby boomers (69%) and generation X (70%) than it is for generation Y (44%) and generation Z (43%).
    • The rest of the country is prepared to pay $1,164 on average for financial advice.
    • Men are prepared to pay more than women. On average, men are prepared to pay $1,393 compared to the $973 women say they would pay.
    • Baby boomers are prepared to pay the most for financial advice – $1,396 on average. This is followed by generation Y ($1,207), generation Z ($1,113) and generation X ($977).

Written by

Susannah Binsted

Consumer advocate

Susannah Binsted is the international PR manager at Finder. Susannah has a Bachelor of Communication and a Bachelor of International Studies from the University of Technology Sydney. See full bio