Big brokerage firms have long encouraged advisors to form teams. For advisors, there is strength in numbers when it comes to serving clients and building their businesses. For the firms they work for, teams represent a business advantage and a hidden retention strategy. It’s thought to be harder to recruit away a group of advisors than it is an individual, as the various personalities, goals and risk tolerances of a team can be more challenging to solve for.
Yet, big teams are leaving the wirehouse world. Year to date, there have been 24 $1 billion-plus teams that have reportedly left the wirehouses to build their own firms or join hybrid independent firms.
