A survey of Paraplanner remuneration carried out by the IFP for the annual IFP Paraplanner Conference has found that one in three Paraplanners earns between £30,000 and £30,499 per annum.
The majority of Paraplanners (63%) earn between £25,000 and £45,000 per annum.
Unveiling the survey results at the IFP Paraplanning Conference this week, conference chairman Martin Vaughan CFP^CM said the survey suggested Paraplanners were valued and doing well in the salary stakes.
He said a similar survey conducted five or 10 years ago would have seen many Paraplanners struggling to even define their role.
The survey paints a picture of an increasingly well qualified, well paid emerging profession.
Significant numbers of Paraplanners are earning salaries well above the national average. Some 8 per cent earn between £40,000 and £45,000 while another 6 per cent earn over £45,000 a year and half of these earn over £50,000 a year.
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The survey also found that in contrast to many expectations, the vast majority of Paraplanners work as in-house Paraplanners (85%) although nearly 10% now work in outsourced Paraplanning companies.
Increasingly, many Paraplanners see Paraplanning as a long-term career rather than a step to another role such as Financial Planner.
The biggest sub-group (39%) worked for one Financial Planner but 24% worked for five or more Financial Planners.
Qualifications are becoming increasingly important with 30% educated to degree level. Some 18% are CFP^CM professionals and 23% are Chartered Financial Planners. Some 22% are working towards Level 6 qualifications.
Other results showed that 79 % used cashflow modelling either personally or their firms used it.
More than 100 Paraplanners attended the IFP Paraplanning Conference with many taking part in the survey.