Growing the next generation of financial advisers

At the frontline of the FAAA’s push to boost the number of financial advisers is Louise Trevaskis and Alex Savvides from the education team.

Louise is FAAA’s Head of University and Student Programs where one of her roles is to drive activity to educate students about what being a financial adviser means.

Inspiring students to discover financial advice

“It’s a very varied role – during the course of a single day, we’re talking to all sorts of people from high school students, academics, our own members, licensees, PY candidates, and career changers,” she says.

“One of the more rewarding aspects is speaking with Australians from all walks of life and informing them about what a financial adviser does, and how rewarding a career in financial advice can be.

“Many don’t really know what financial planning is, so it’s a great opportunity to educate them on the work that advisers do and the positive difference they make in a client’s life,” Louise says.

Louise was instrumental in the development of Advice Academy, which is designed to give new and prospective advisers the best possible start to their career in the profession.

Connecting life goals with meaningful careers

Alex, who speaks with a lot of university students as well as high school students, says they are often most interested when he starts talking about life goals.

“I’ll ask students about their goals, and then move on to talking about how everyone has goals that they want to achieve in life.  From there, it’s an easy segue to how financial advisers are the people that help us to achieve our goals, and that it’s a job about relationships and support. It’s fantastic to see how interested and enthusiastic the students become when they start thinking about financial planning in this context.”

Another initiative Alex has pioneered is work experience placements where high school career advisers can request a student spend a week with a financial adviser. In 2025, six placements were set up and he says the team has already had multiple requests this year.

Building pathways into the profession nationwide

During the course of 2025, FAAA members were involved in approximately 25 university events including O-Weeks, Open Days and Student Society events, as well as representing the profession at 16 career expos across Australia and visiting individual high schools.  In 2026, Louise and Alex already have another 22 career expos booked, with more to come.

On top of this, they also supported members in their own activities to fly the flag for the financial planning profession, including helping them with speaking opportunities.

“The FAAA has partnerships in place with several university student societies across multiple states connecting them with students enrolled in Financial Planning and finance-aligned degrees,” Louise says.

“We have worked with a number of members who are giving presentations at these societies, providing them with templates for slides and also providing them with merchandise and flyers to hand out to students.

“We also offer our financial literacy pack to members that are looking to present to high school students and help to get those kids ready for the financial basics of life they will soon be exposed to.”

She adds that one of the most important parts of the role is liaising with the universities that offer financial planning degrees.

“A big challenge in recent years is keeping financial planning  degrees as part of the universities’ offer.  We work closely with academics to coordinate engagement and liaison with student societies and people currently enrolled in approved financial planning degrees,” Louise says.

Alex says they also rely on state and regional chapters for many events.

“At this year’s national roadshow, for example, the FAAA Chapters have generously sponsored 61 student members to attend, across each capital city.”

Raising awareness through digital engagement 

Alex and Louise are increasingly using social media, in particular LinkedIn and Instagram, to boost knowledge and recognition of financial planning.

“We’re looking forward to roadshow and meeting up with some of our student members,” Alex says. “We’ll be doing lots of social media posts so keep an eye out for some familiar faces!”