Experienced financial advisers have seen their paychecks fatten over the past two years, thanks to increases in firm profitability, strong market performance and a talent shortage in the industry. The latest compensation figures also confirm that it pays to be an owner.
Compensation for lead financial advisers increased 12% over the last two years to a median of $134,000, according to the
InvestmentNews/Moss Adams 2013 Compensation and Staffing Study. That's an increase from a median of $120,000 reported in the 2011 study.
MORE: How adviser salaries stack up to other professions
Owner advisers, those who are partners as well as practicing advisers, saw an even greater income boost. They earned a median of $240,000 in the 2013 study, an increase of 17% from two years ago. All the compensation figures include salary, bonuses and incentive pay.
“Since the time we started tracking adviser salaries about six years ago, today it's the highest we've ever seen,” said Angie Herbers, an adviser pay consultant.
The average base salary for lead advisers, a figure that doesn't account for bonuses or incentive pay, is $120,000, according to data from Angie Herbers Inc. She said advisers in supporting roles haven't seen as large of an increase in pay.
(Does your pay measure up? Use our Compensation Calculator to find out.)
Service advisers, for example, who work with clients under the direction of a lead adviser, earned a median of $81,332 in the 2013
IN/Moss Adams study, compared to $81,686 in the 2011 report.
The increases in top adviser compensation are similar to stats reported by the Financial Planning Association's
compensation study released in February 2013. It showed a 12% increase in financial planners' average salary from 2010 to 2012.
For the sake of comparison with other professions, the lead advisers' $134,000 median pay is about 9% greater than the $123,055 that engineers with the same years of experience earn, according to an
InvestmentNews analysis of the 2013 IN/Moss Adams study and Salary.com. General physicians earn about 37% more than lead advisers, at a median of $184,386.
“There is a huge talent shortage in the lead adviser market,” Ms. Herbers said.
Despite the shortage, the amount of time it takes advisory firms to fill open positions is way down from a historical industry average of 12 weeks between the time a company posts a job until it is accepted, Ms. Herbers said. Today, it's a five- to six-week cycle. She explains the phenomenon in terms of firms jumping to hire advisers more quickly and making higher salaries part of the initial offer.
The 17% boost in owner adviser pay from 2011 to 2013 is a result of firms reaping increased profits from investments in talent and technology made several years ago when growth had slowed, Ms. Herbers said. Owner compensation is going to flatten out in coming years because the industry is entering a period where it must invest again in talent in order to grow, she said.
Chris Holman, a senior coach with ClientWise, pointed out that owner compensation in good times may advance more than other professionals because they face the added downside risk when fixed costs and compliance costs go up.
Owners also may have sustained damage from the financial crisis, Mr. Holman said. This makes more recent numbers look particularly good.
Mark Tibergien, chief executive of Pershing Advisor Solutions, said earlier this year that he expects to see continued pressure on advisory firms to raise compensation.
Tim White, partner at Kaye Bassman International, agrees the pay landscape for personal financial advisors looks strong — unless you work for JPMorgan Chase & Co., which this week agreed to a $13 billion settlement with U.S. regulators over its role in the mortgage crisis.
“That's about half the company's profits for the year, so I expect bonuses to be impacted there,” he said.
