BROKER DEALER
“ So, whenever you look at an acquisition situation out there, and if the advisors perceive there’ s any kind of cultural misalignment or resources or anything else, you’ ll see movement out of that,” says Jodi Perry, head of advisor recruiting at Raymond James.
Perry says the recruiting surge spans all channels.“ The wirehouses have started heating up again in the last few months.” But one of the more noticeable shifts amid the surge is that more advisors are moving from independent to independent, she says.“ You just didn’ t see that level of movement, and unless there was such a strong irritation, they really wouldn’ t move ever.”
A report by Muriel Consulting and AdvizorPro points out that 36 % of the 697 advisors who departed Commonwealth in 2025 chose to go the RIA-only route and leave the broker-dealer world entirely. That, the report, said,“ was one of the most consequential outcomes” of the purchase.
The shift to the RIA channel, the report says,“ reflected a deliberate decision” to move away from under the industry’ s LPLstyle frameworks in favor of“ greater control, flexibility and long-term optionality.” Some launched their own RIAs, while others joined established RIA platforms and operated under 1099 contractor model or“ doing-business-as” structures.
The RIA-channel rush, however, has slowed somewhat this year, according to the report, which notes that as of June, 272 advisors exited Commonwealth, of which 24 % chose to go RIA. The report chalks up the slowdown to more aggressive offers from competing broker-dealers.
Marc Cohen, group managing director and chief growth officer at LPL, didn’ t comment on whether the firm had anticipated that more than a third of the advisors would have flocked to the RIA channel. But he notes,“ In any transaction of this size, some level of advisor movement is expected. Our focus has been on advisor engagement, client asset retention and demonstrating the long-term value of the combined organization,” he says.
He adds that the firm expects to onboard more Commonwealth advisors in the fourth quarter,“ and we continue to work towards our target of 90 % retention of client assets.” He says LPL remains“ confident in how the integration is tracking.”
There is still the chance, however, that some of the remaining advisors could decamp elsewhere. Data by AdvizorPro shows that in 2025, 80 % of the Commonwealth advisors who moved now call one of seven firms home: Raymond James, Kestra Financial, Cambridge Investment Research, Cetera, Ameriprise, Osaic and & Partners.
This year, the list was the same, except for the last two, which were replaced by Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network( FiNet) and J. W. Cole Advisors.
Raymond James, which is widely believed to have lost the bid to buy Commonwealth, has been, by far, the most popular destination for the departed advisors. The firm snapped up a third of the movers in 2025 and 2026. Kestra follows
with 19.3 % in 2025 and 15.9 % in 2026. The only other firm that hit a double-digit percentage was Cambridge, with 10.9 %, but that fell to 5.8 % in 2026. Cetera had 6 % in 2026, dipping slightly from 6.8 % in 2025.
“ It’ s really a continued story of the haves and the have-nots when it comes to recruiting,” says Jodie Papike, a CEO at recruiting firm Cross-Search in Encinitas, Calif. She says the bigger firms, many of which have private equity backing, are having the most success at recruiting because they are offering“ such amazing transition packages,” and that includes both up-front money and services, she says.
Papike says the offers are more than she has ever seen, and that’ s because the advi- sors or the teams are also bigger than ever. Some firms, she says, are basically offering to buy a percentage of the business in exchange for equity within the larger firm, while others are offering just a straight upfront package that’ s forgivable over a certain period, typically, anywhere from seven to 10 years, she says.
Diamond says firms, especially the bigger ones, have become more flexible with granting certain requests to win over advisors.“ Things that I have never seen them do before,” he says.
That includes changing terms on promissory notes when they give advisors loans to move.“ I’ ve seen firms change the amortization schedule on a note, which I never even knew that was possible. I’ ve seen firms negotiate on payout and platform fees and various fees. I’ ve seen firms add in new back-end bonus that they never offered
before in order to hit a certain number that an advisor is looking for,” Diamond says.
He’ s also seen firms condense a deal if an advisor is close to retirement but would prefer not to work the full nine or 10 years of the deal.“ I’ m seeing firms be much more flexible with that and not making the deal any worse.”
Money still matters in these transactions, recruiters say, but it’ s not the starting point. The deal extends well beyond that, and it really changes depending on the individual.
The main motivations for advisors to seek new partnerships are flexibility, technology, culture alignment, and succession and growth help, recruiters say.
28 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2026 WWW. FA-MAG. COM