How the Financial Advising Industry is Working to Find its Next Generation

America’s financial advisers aren’t getting any younger — and as increasing numbers of financial advisers reach retirement age, the industry struggles to find their replacements.

According to a June 24 New York Times article, the average American financial adviser is older than 50 years old, and little interest among younger generations toward the profession means this number won’t be going down soon.

“All of us in this industry are facing the same dilemma, which is, where is that next generation going to come from?” Erica McGinnis, president and chief executive of the AIG Advisor Group, where the average financial adviser is 54, told the New York Times. “There certainly are people who are not being served by financial advisers because there are not enough of them.”

In fact, only 5% of the 315,000 financial advisers working across the country are younger than 30 years old, theNew York Times reports. And, according to one estimate, as many as half of all advisers are within 15 years of their retirement.

“Graduates coming out of school these days have so many choices that were not around in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s when a lot of the current advisors were coming out of school,” says Craig Slayen of Winship Wealth Partners. “In the old days you chose between being a doctor, a lawyer, or being in some realm of financial services. Now graduates have the ability to either be entrepreneurs or work for great start-ups, the excitement of these opportunities makes the profession of being a financial advisor less attractive.”

The New York Times goes on to explain why Wall Street isn’t as attractive to recent college graduates as it used to be before the financial recession of 2008. Adding to the problem is a generational gap, as many young workers would rather avoid being colleagues with someone their parents’ age, and many older clients see advisers younger than 30 as too inexperienced.

Ultimately, when today’s generation of financial advisers, their jobs will need to be filled — one way or another.

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