New advisers urged to start out in general practice

Former chief executive of the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) Richard Klipin said that despite the tendency for advisers to specialise, newer entrants to the industry should experience a broad clientele and range of topics.

“I think that for all newer entrants, general practice – like it is in the medical world – is a good place to start because you get to see a whole lot of everything,” Mr Klipin said.

“You can then make an informed decision and then it leads you to further study and qualifications.”

Klipin noted, however, that there had also been a shift towards a tighter focus in practices within the industry.

“When you end up in a specialist niche you can go deep into the specific issues,” he said. “There is a tighter focus in practices now, rather than the general model. Once people go through an evolution, they end up making a decision because there’s a natural tendency to specialise.”

Klipin added that advisers in regional centres were different: “I think for our regional cousins, they tend to be the jack of all trades,” he said.