It’s not as good a tongue-twister as the old, ‘how much wood could a woodchuck chuck…’, but it is a more useful question.

When advice firms talk about capacity, the conversation often starts with, ‘how many clients can one adviser look after?’.

Right now, according to our brand new Financial Advice Business Benchmarks (FABB) research, the average number of clients managed by an adviser is 88.

I’ve spoken to firms supporting 50 households (and that’s another important question as we see more advisers shift towards advising families not just individuals). With a different way of working, where advisers focus more on client communication and relationships than the work that follows, they think they can reach 100 per adviser.

I’ve spoken to a firm with 150 clients per adviser, with individual clients averaging around £400,000 of assets under advice. With AI tools, they’re now talking about 200.

Clearly there are important limits to this number. There’s a relationship capacity that any one human can hold well. There’s the fact that the work isn’t evenly spread throughout the year. There’s also some interesting research from the US that looks at adviser wellbeing and how that varies with client load. For unsupported solo advisers, wellbeing peaks at around 50 clients. For supported solo advisers, it peaks at just under 100.

Advisers told us they wanted to benchmark not just the number of clients per adviser, but also who is actually doing the work and how long does it take.

We’ve explored it in this year’s FABB report, which you can download free of charge here.

A typical new client takes around 32 hours of staff time to onboard. An existing client takes on average 62 hours of ongoing support each year. But only 15 of those 62 hours sit with the adviser. The rest are spread across paraplanners, research, client services, compliance and other roles.

So the question isn’t really, ‘how many clients can an adviser advise?’, it’s ‘how many clients can the whole team support well?’.

That means looking at where the work sits across the business, whether the right person is doing each task and which parts of the process can be standardised, automated or supported by technology.

It also helps explain why advisers tell us in FABB that their firms are still planning to recruit even as AI adoption rises. Seven in ten respondents expect adviser headcount to increase over the next year, and 47% expect more paraplanners to join the team.

This doesn’t look like a future where technology simply replaces people.

Instead, advice firms are redesigning the work and the client experience. Freeing advisers from tasks that others can do better. Bringing paraplanners or client service colleagues closer to the client relationship. As well as using AI to reduce meeting admin, summaries and follow-up work.

The wider FABB story this year is about more deliberate growth. Underneath that is a very practical operating-model question: who is doing the work?

Julie Best, Insight Director, NextWealth

FAQS:

How many clients can a financial adviser manage?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. FABB research found that the average financial adviser manages around 88 clients, but capacity varies depending on the firm’s operating model, team structure, client complexity and level of support. The real question is how many clients the whole advice team can support well.

How can financial advice firms increase adviser capacity?

Firms can increase adviser capacity by reviewing who is responsible for each task, standardising processes, using technology and automation, and moving appropriate work away from advisers. This allows advisers to spend more time on client relationships while paraplanners, client services and technology support the wider advice process.

How is AI changing financial adviser capacity?

AI can help financial advisers and advice firms increase capacity by reducing time spent on administrative tasks such as meeting notes, summaries and follow-up work. Rather than simply replacing people, AI is helping firms redesign how work is delivered and allowing advisers to focus more on higher-value client activity.

What is the best operating model for a growing financial advice business?

The best operating model depends on the firm’s clients, services and growth ambitions. A scalable financial advice business typically has clear roles across advisers, paraplanners, client services and other support functions, with technology and automation used where they can improve efficiency. The key is making sure the right person is doing the right work at the right stage of the client journey.