Scaling Business With Specialized Service Lines

Growth at financial advice firms is less about blindly tacking on additional service lines but offering specialisms that meet the needs of their chosen client groups, according to NAB.

The bank released a report titled The Performance Era: Decisions pressure and the path to growth detailing how advice firms can reach the next level of business growth.

Current market offerings

The most-common service offering currently is superannuation and self-managed super fund (SMSF) advice, followed by investment and portfolio management which were both cited by 92 per cent of respondents.

Close behind were financial planning at 85 per cent and retirement planning and income at 81 per cent.

Although retirement and income already sits at 81 per cent, 50 per cent of respondents said this was also the best industry growth opportunity for them followed by 46 per cent who cited super and SMSFs.

The bank noted services such as tax planning, cashflow discipline and goal tracking are ‘baseline’ offerings rather than an additional service line.

In particular, NAB found a gap evident in aged care which is currently the least-common service offered by firms.

“Opportunities are clearest where demand is rising and advice is harder to standardise. Aged care stands out – only 42 per cent currently provide it, yet 35 per cent rank it among top growth areas, an unusually wide gap that reflects complexity across health, housing, family decision-making and policy.”

“Estate and succession planning shows a similar dynamic. Around six in 10 offer it today but three in 10 still see it as a leading opportunity.”

Where firms see growth potential

Retirement planning and income is the top growth opportunity according to the survey, cited by 50 per cent of respondents.

Superannuation and SMSFs follow at 46 per cent, with investment and portfolio management and aged care both at 35 per cent.

Financial planning and estate and succession planning round out the list at 31 per cent.

For advice firms who are looking to grow, NAB said it’s important to focus on growing in areas that will meet the needs of the firm’s specific clients as not all will be suitable for all clients.

“For firms, the opportunity is less about adding new lines and more about building an operating model that delivers complex advice reliably – specialist capability where needed, strong partner ecosystems, and tools that make trade-offs clear to clients.”

“Firms that consistently integrate portfolio decisions with tax, cash flow, retirement income design and estate outcomes are best placed to capture the next wave of growth.”

Workforce constraints

More broadly across the whole professional services sector – which includes accountants, legal and real estate professionals as well as financial advisers – 87 per cent of businesses said they plan to expand over the next 12 months and 74 per cent plan to enact this via investing in people.

Some 43 per cent want to grow through marketing and advertising demand and 35 per cent via acquisitions and 23 per cent through partnerships and alliances.

“Overall, growth in the year ahead appears less about physical expansion and more about strengthening capability – that is, people, systems and customer relationships.”

While upskilling existing staff and hiring new talent are cited as a primary source of growth, it’s also simultaneously cited as a challenge for 46 per cent of respondents – joint with regulation.

“Almost one in two cite hiring, retaining and training staff as a major challenge, reflecting labour market tightness, wage pressures and rising expectations around flexibility and development. In professional services, talent is both the largest cost base and the main source of value, making workforce constraints especially acute.”

Key challenges

Regulation and hiring, retaining and training staff are the two biggest business challenges for the sector, both cited by 46 per cent of respondents.

Costs are the next most pressing issue at 22 per cent, followed by being paid on time by customers at 19 per cent and reducing administrative burden at 16 per cent.

Source: NAB, August 2026