Two thirds (64%) of Financial Planning firms say they are growing by taking on new clients, according to a new report.
Organic growth from new or existing clients was the main driver of growth for 47% of 318 financial advisers surveyed by industry consultants NextWealth.
Financial Planner firms were also looking at growing assets from existing clients (53%).
Seven in 10 advisers (70%) said they were also expecting their firm’s adviser headcount to rise in the next 12 months, with 47% expected the number of Paraplanners to also increase.
This tallies with the results of our most recent Financial Planning Today Reader Survey where 72% of Financial Planners told us they feel positive about their new business prospects and half (49%) expected their firms’ headcount to rise.
Planners also told NextWealth they were personally serving more clients than a year ago, with half (49%) seeing an increase to the number of clients they work with.
The report also found that clients who no longer fit the firm’s core service were being treated differently than in previous years.
Two in five (44%) of the advisers surveyed said their firm has switched off ongoing advice fees for these clients and there is a growing trend of moving clients to new propositions, such as different fee models or hybrid offerings.
The FCA launched its new Targeted Support regime in April which has seen several financial advice firms launch their own propositions for clients who may not be suitable for full holistic Financial Planning. Firms launching these propositions include Quilter, which has developed its Targeted Support offering though its Quilter Invest platform.
The new regime has also seen new entrants into the advice market, including Lloyds Bank which has created a new AI-enabled advice service under its Lloyds Wealth brand.
Emma Napier, consulting director at NextWealth said: “Firms are making deliberate decisions about which clients fit their ongoing service model. They are delivering sustainable growth while meeting client needs. For some, this means turning off ongoing fees for some clients, moving others to different propositions and charging models.
“This means a firm can be expanding one area of the business and tightening in another at the same time. Those decisions increasingly come from an explicit examination of what different clients cost to serve.”
Confidence among advisers surveyed by NextWealth was also up year-on-year, with confidence rising in eight of the nine metrics covered. The upward shift was greatest on fairness of fees, the ability to generate asset growth and stability of the economy. Confidence was strongest where firms have the most control, such as understanding clients.
• NextWealth’s Financial Advice Business Benchmarks Report 2026 is based on a survey of 318 financial advice professionals, conducted in June 2026. Results have been weighted by size of firm by number of advisers to be representative of the whole market.