Study: low income groups locked out of financial advice

A new study by the University of South Australia shows that the high cost of financial advice in Australia prevents lower socio-economic groups from accessing advice. The report offers three avenues for improvement: increasing awareness of the benefits of advice, offering government rebates for advice fees, and offering a streamlined advice format.

The research, The impact of cost and access to financial advice for lower socio-economic consumer groups, revealed that over 85 per cent of the lower-income consumers in the study who have never had financial advice do not believe there is any value in it. Fees for this advice are more than twice as much as most of this group were prepared to pay.