New Fidelity Life scholarships aim to lift financial adviser diversity

The scholarships, worth $5,000 each are part of Fidelity Life’s new financial adviser education and skills programme, Career connect.

Fidelity Life head of solutions and services Trecia Brown says there is a growing need for professional financial advice and career connect was developed to help drive a more vibrant advice industry.

“Studies from regulators and industry associations have shown that New Zealanders who access professional financial advice are consistently better off than those who don’t. In these challenging economic times, we want all New Zealanders to have better access to financial advice.”

With research released in February 2021 by the Financial Services Council (FSC) more than 80% of adviser respondents were male with under 87% identified as European and 73.5% aged more than 50, indicating a clear lack of diversity within the sector.