Financial Advice Talent Report 2026
The FY2026 pay bands for eight roles, what's actually driving talent to join or leave, and the five concrete moves that put a firm ahead of the ones still just posting jobs.
Get the report, it's freeWhat lands in your inbox.
- The FY2026 pay bands for eight roles, from client services officer to senior adviser, as total salary including super. Price your next offer against it.
- A breakdown of the Advice Talent landscape in 2026: the real reason you're struggling to hire, even though adviser numbers look stable on paper.
- Five ready-made bonus and incentive structures - what each one actually costs you and when it fits.
- The eight-year progression ladder, with base, bonus and growth markers at each stage. Hand it to a candidate in the first interview and the conversation changes.
- Which hiring channels are worth your time, and which ones just feel productive.
- What the advisers I talk to are actually deciding on. Money is on the list. It is not at the top of it.
Get the FY2026 Talent Report
Who this is for
Yes This is for you if…
- Leaders within Australian advice firms doing $2M to $10M who are hiring.
- You want to benchmark pay, bonus or equity against what the market's actually doing.
- You're building a firm advisers choose to stay at, not just accept an offer from.
- You've just lost an adviser and need a plan, not a panic.
No Skip it if…
- Firms outside Australian financial advice, where the bands and the licensee segments will not travel.
- You're only looking to fill junior or support roles - the report focuses primarily on Associates, Advisers and Leadership.
- You're not hiring or expecting to hire in the next 12 months - no vacancy and no retention risk on the horizon.
Why this works
I ran the Talent function behind an advice firm that went from 9 people to 50 inside two years, and have recruited for firms right across Australia.
FAQ
Is it free?
Yes. One email address and it lands in your inbox. No card, no newsletter ambush.
Where did the numbers come from?
Adviser Ratings and ARdata's 2025 Australian Financial Advice Landscape, Business Health and Advisely's 2025 compensation study across more than 100 practices, the ASIC Financial Advisers Register, and research from the Financial Advice Association Australia. Each figure in the report carries its source, and the last page lists what the data does not cover.
We are not hiring right now. Worth a read?
Probably. The progression and incentive sections are about keeping the people already on the team, and that tends to be the cheaper half of the problem.