The Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) has launched Advice Academy, aimed at addressing the consistent reduction of adviser numbers experienced over recent years at a time when demand for their services is growing.
Specifically, the new initiative has been designed to help build and support a pipeline of new practitioners entering the financial advice industry by establishing a one-stop-shop service to provide support and information for professional year (PY) candidates and their employers, such as Australian financial services licence holders.
Advice Academy has been developed in conjunction with Kaplan Professional, which has contributed to the structured learning aspect of the service through a series of individual modules to assist PY candidates to gain their 100 structured training hours. These modules can be purchased by FAAA members or their representatives and each module offers 20 structured training hours. They will be released over the rest of 2025.
The Art of Mentoring has provided the guidance element of the platform and serves to match up PY candidates and PY supervisors with mentors for a small fee.
The final component of Advice Academy involves the FAAA PY tracker tool, which will allow candidates to log their education hours free of charge.
“Australia is preparing for the largest transfer of intergenerational wealth in history and financial advisers will play a critical role in supporting families to manage this,” FAAA chief executive Sarah Abood noted.
“The Advice Academy website has valuable information for career changers and future advisers who want to explore what a career in financial planning could look like.
“It explains why becoming a financial adviser is rewarding on many levels, shares real stories from those who have made the transition, outlines what types of roles (and salaries) are available, as well as providing a simple and engaging five-step pathway for potential financial planners. This includes a timeline of how long each step is likely to take, helping future advisers plan ahead for the journey to becoming a licensed professional adviser.”
Advice Academy is supported by a cohort of gold sponsors made up of financial services firms such as Xplan, WT Financial Group, Zurich Assure, Hub24, AMP and Vanguard, and a silver sponsor in Australian Retirement Trust.
