Planning for Success: In-House Paraplanner or Outsourced Paraplanning?

The demand for financial planning services is expected to grow by 30% by 2024. Whilst this is good news for financial planners, servicing this demand poses challenges. Financial planning firms compete not only for clients but also for talent.

Many are facing high rates of employee turnover across the board, particularly for paraplanners. This becomes an issue for business continuity and adequate knowledge transfer from departing staff to newcomers.

In the last 6 months or so, one of the most frequently asked questions from advisers to me is that ‘My paraplanner is leaving. Should I replace a paraplanner or outsource paraplanning?’ As such, bringing this old topic back to the table for discussion is probably worthwhile.

Before you make any decision, let’s look at your goals and expectations from paraplanning in your decision tree.

The In-House Advantage – direct management and a career path

Direct Oversight

The most obvious advantage of an in-house paraplanning team is that the financial planners can manage the paraplanners directly. It can be done via face-to-face, or virtually.  Information is exchanged from both sides quickly and it helps deliver results.

Career Progression

People tend to view a paraplanning role as a steppingstone to becoming a financial adviser. Financial planning companies often promote paraplanners to be financial advisors when they have accumulated sufficient experience. The actual efficacy of this path really depends on the individual given there is overlap in technical skillset, though the soft skillset required of a high performer is quite different.

If you would like to make this path available internally in your practice, you may have to secure a few paraplanners on your team. But to reap the advantages of outsourcing, you can still opt for outsourcing paraplanners for some clients while keeping a small team of in-house paraplanners for a few others.

The Outsourcing Advantage – flexibility and scalability

Cost Efficiency

According to the HR Industry Benchmark Survey 2021 Australia and New Zealand, the cost of hiring a new employee in Australia averages $23,000. If the financial planner experiences turnover, they must incur hiring and training costs.

In addition to hiring costs, retaining talent in this competitive market typically requires ongoing HR investment and salary increments. By outsourcing the paraplanning function, you avoid the financial and time costs of recruitment, training, benefits, and workspace.

Scalability

As a financial planning business, you may have a high volume of work in one period and a decreased volume in the next. The fixed overhead and resourcing of in-house paraplanning are mismatched with this demand. A good outsourced paraplanning firm can quickly scale its resources to match your requirements. It can reduce an advisor’s costs, as they only pay for the work they need. It can also improve turn-around times, particularly during busy periods.

Specialised Expertise

Paraplanning firms hire resources who are specialists in their field. They work with many financial planning companies and incorporate the industry’s best practices. So, they deliver high-quality work and specialise it according to the client’s requirements.

Paraplanning companies also ensure their employees are up to date on industry trends, regulations, and compliance. So, you can stay worry-free about your documentation’s compliance before an audit season if you’ve outsourced your paraplanning function to a reliable company.

If you aim to offer high-quality services to clients while keeping costs, deadlines, and compliance changes in check, consider outsourcing paraplanning to a reputable paraplanning company.

Conclusion

The paraplanning function is critical to financial planning firms. The decision to use an in-house or outsourced or a hybrid combination of in-house and outsourcing approach depends on the firm’s unique needs. If the company outsources to a paraplanning firm, it must be scalable to integrate with its team and systems and deliver high-quality, audit-proof documents.

At Mutual Plans, we have designed our communication process such that there is no information gap during the advice generation process. Our team of highly experienced paraplanners leave no stone unturned to deliver results. We can complete tasks independently or work as a bolt-on part of your in-house team. Please contact plans@mutualplans.com.au for a discussion how we may help your financial planning business.