There has been a lot of talk in recent years about how the industry has changed—particularly in regards to the breakaway broker trend and the move toward independence. Every industry survey from the likes of Aite Group, Cerulli or Tiburon seems to reinforce the idea the breakaway trend is picking up steam. Tiburon recently found that “fee-based financial advisors have $2 trillion assets under management, up nearly 40 percent since 2005.”
What explains this trend in part is that advisors now have many high-quality versions of independent practices from which to choose, and new firms are being created all the time.
As successful as the independent channel’s recruitment of former wirehouse brokers has been, it could be greater. Wirehouses have always done a great job finding talent, thanks in large part to the high level of training and coaching their managers receive on recruiting. Moreover, wirehouses generally only hire managers who have demonstrated past success in recruiting quality advisors, and most managers are, or have been, producing advisors at one point or another in their careers, so they know how to talk to their audience.
