HENRYs financial advice demand is running at its highest recorded level in Quilter‘s latest research, with 84% of high earners, not rich yet (HENRYs) saying they would consider taking financial advice in future, according to the firm’s Value of Advice Report. Conducted by Boring Money and based on research with more than 2,000 people who have never received financial advice, the report paints a picture of a generation that recognises its own knowledge gaps but has not yet bridged them with professional support.
For a portfolio-focused reader, the headline statistic matters less than what it implies about timing. HENRYs are typically in the accumulation phase of their financial lives: earning well, carrying complexity in the form of employer share schemes, varying tax liabilities and multiple pension pots, but not yet holding the kind of consolidated wealth that traditionally prompted a call to an adviser. Professional Adviser reported that Boring Money carried out the fieldwork, lending the findings the credibility of an independent research house rather than a self-commissioned survey.
HENRYs financial advice demand and the gap in understanding
The data exposes a persistent mismatch between what advisers actually do and what consumers think they offer. While 76% of respondents recognise that advisers can provide a financial plan and investment recommendations, 44% are unaware that advisers can help them avoid paying too much tax, and 60% do not know that advisers can assist with pension consolidation. For someone managing several deferred workplace pensions alongside a SIPP, that second figure is the more consequential blind spot: unconsolidated pensions routinely carry higher charges, create sequencing risk in drawdown, and complicate any coherent asset-allocation strategy.
Steve Gazard, chief distribution officer at Quilter, noted that consumers had access to more information than ever but many still lacked confidence in making important financial decisions. He added that advice was often associated with investment recommendations, but that clients increasingly needed support across tax planning, pensions, retirement, inheritance planning and navigating financial complexity. That framing is worth taking seriously. Tax efficiency, not portfolio returns, is frequently where a competent adviser earns their fee, particularly as thresholds tighten and pension rules shift.
Flexibility in how people want to engage with advice
The research also tested appetite for different models of engagement, and the results suggest that the traditional comprehensive-advice relationship is not the only door worth opening. Nearly half of consumers (49%) said they would consider a one-off financial review, while 40% would consider targeted support on a specific issue. Among HENRYs specifically, 56% would consider comprehensive advice, 51% would consider targeted support, and 37% would consider a one-off ISA review. The fragmented demand is consistent with a cohort that does not yet identify as a traditional advice client but recognises discrete problems it cannot solve alone.
Among those aged 18 to 44, 81% said they would consider advice, underlining that the openness cuts across the broader younger-earner group, not merely the HENRY segment. Women were also more receptive than men: 62% said they were likely to seek advice, compared with 54% of men. Overall, 57% of all respondents who have never received advice said they were likely to seek it at some point in the future.
Holly Mackay, chief executive officer of Boring Money, observed that volatile markets, stretched public finances, increasing taxes and changes to pension rules had made personal finances more complex, particularly for those with more complicated circumstances. She also noted that the need for trusted validation remained high even as access to information had grown. The observation is well-grounded: information abundance and decision confidence are not the same thing, and for a saver managing sequence-of-returns risk in early retirement, one misplaced move can compound irreversibly.
For advisers and platforms alike, the research identifies pension consolidation and tax planning as the most under-communicated parts of the value proposition. Closing those awareness gaps, rather than simply broadening reach, may be the more productive near-term priority.
