With so many abstract figures thrown around claiming to show the average cost of advice, the Joint Association Working Group has partnered with CoreData Research to identify the broad-spectrum of advice costs.

The research will be used as an evidence base to show Canberra the full breakdown of what advice costs to deliver and the impact made by various regulatory changes.

Coredata founder Andrew Inwood tells Professional Planner the goal is to create a nuanced model that can be modified depending on the advice given.

“You can’t say the average cost is the real cost because there is no average,” Inwood says.

Inwood pointed to research from consultancy firm PwC that showed the cost of advice is $3,200 while research from Industry Fund Services found it was $3,458 as examples that lack the nuance they are trying to uncover.

“We’d say to who? Is it someone setting up an SMSF, someone retiring, selling a business; those numbers don’t make any sense.”