Gosling's Grouse: Mind the advice gap

GOSLING'S GROUSE

If there is an inequality between the wages paid to a Premiership footballer and a nurse (and clearly there is), there appears to be another odd inequality within the financial services sector.

A survey of salaries and benefits within the industry by BWD Financial Services found the people who provide the advice – advisers and paraplanners – are towards the bottom of the chain. According to the survey, last year the average employed adviser earned nearly £63,000, while the average self-employed earned £60,500. In contrast, employee benefit consultants earned an average of £87,000, while for a paraplanner the average salary was £28,500. However, paraplanners are more optimistic about salary rises this year than other occupations in the survey. Of course, because all these num...