March 1, 2023
Louis Diamond Interviewed
by Chris Latham
Some of the report’s findings include:
1. More than 9,000 experienced financial advisors changed firms last year, averaging 750 moves per month, out of the approximately 300,000 total advisors that Cerulli estimates are in the U.S.
2. All four wirehouses – Merrill Lynch, UBS, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley – added a considerable amount of advisors. Among independent broker-dealers, the largest by headcount – including LPL Financial, Raymond James, Ameriprise, Cetera and Commonwealth – added the most advisors in 2022.
3. Many teams broke away from traditional firms through “supported independence” models instead of joining IBDs and RIA launches, while 30 teams managing over $1 billion in assets changed firms last year.
4. Firms with multiple channel affiliations experienced outsized success relative to their peers, while the most common moves were intra-channel including wirehouse-to-wirehouse transitions.
5. Retention deals, affiliation bonuses, long-term forgivable notes tied to transition packages, retire-in-place programs with long lockups for next-generation inheritors and broker-dealers acquiring practices were all popular compensation methods for binding advisors to firms.
