Financial Advisor Recruiting & Break-Away Brokers:
The Annual Broker/Dealer Change by About 5% of Financial Advisors
Recently Released!!!
Date Published: December 19, 2025
Summary PowerPoint Deck: 327 Slides
Reference PowerPoint Deck: 808 Slides
The purpose of this research is to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of financial advisor recruiting & the break-away brokers trend. Break-away brokers are generally defined as the successful captive (employee) financial advisors from the wirehouses, other national brokerage firms, regional brokerage firms, investment banks, private banks, retail banks, insurance companies, & even discount brokerage firms that choose to go independent, repositioning their businesses as independent advisors (independent reps and/or fee-based financial advisors (RIAs)). That said, industry data is extremely sloppy, with many sources including financial advisors nudged out by their former employers due to low productivity (broken away brokers), other sources confusing data for financial advisor teams, financial advisors, & registered assistants, and almost all sources including captive advisors that move to other captive models and independent advisors that move to other independent models. Hence, the goal of this research is to accurately measure the narrowly defined break-away brokers trend of successful financial advisors moving from captive to independent models. This research leads to critical conclusions for Tiburon's coverage of financial advisor channels, captive advisors, full-service brokerage firms, insurance agents, and independent advisors.
This research addresses the historical phases of financial advisor recruiting & break-away brokers, including:
And finally, this research addresses the number of financial advisors changing firms and summarizes the sources and destinations of those financial advisors who move, including by channel & by firm.
And this research makes several future predictions for financial advisor recruiting & break-away brokers, including:
Date Published: December 19, 2025
Summary PowerPoint Deck: 327 Slides
Reference PowerPoint Deck: 808 Slides
The purpose of this research is to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of financial advisor recruiting & the break-away brokers trend. Break-away brokers are generally defined as the successful captive (employee) financial advisors from the wirehouses, other national brokerage firms, regional brokerage firms, investment banks, private banks, retail banks, insurance companies, & even discount brokerage firms that choose to go independent, repositioning their businesses as independent advisors (independent reps and/or fee-based financial advisors (RIAs)). That said, industry data is extremely sloppy, with many sources including financial advisors nudged out by their former employers due to low productivity (broken away brokers), other sources confusing data for financial advisor teams, financial advisors, & registered assistants, and almost all sources including captive advisors that move to other captive models and independent advisors that move to other independent models. Hence, the goal of this research is to accurately measure the narrowly defined break-away brokers trend of successful financial advisors moving from captive to independent models. This research leads to critical conclusions for Tiburon's coverage of financial advisor channels, captive advisors, full-service brokerage firms, insurance agents, and independent advisors.
This research addresses the historical phases of financial advisor recruiting & break-away brokers, including:
- Emergence Phase
- Early Broker Protocol Phase
- Increasing Financial Advisor Recruiting Pitches Phase
- Expanding Financial Advisor Recruiting Sources Phase
- Captive-to-Captive
- Captive-to-Independent (Break-Away Brokers)
- Independent-to-Independent
- Independent-to-Captive
And finally, this research addresses the number of financial advisors changing firms and summarizes the sources and destinations of those financial advisors who move, including by channel & by firm.
And this research makes several future predictions for financial advisor recruiting & break-away brokers, including:
- Continuing Moderate Size Financial Advisor Recruiting Trend
- Successful Financial Advisors to Continue to Dominate Financial Advisor Recruiting Assets Under Management & Administration Movement
- Independent Broker/Dealers to Continue to Lead Wirehouses & All Other Channels as Leading Source of Financial Advisor Recruiting
- Independent Broker/Dealers to Also Continue to Lead All Channels as Destination of Financial Advisor Recruiting
- Captive-to-Captive and Independent-to-Independent Financial Advisor Recruiting Migration Patterns to Remain Larger than Captive-to-Independent (Break-Away Brokers) Migration Pattern and Very Small Boomerang Migration Pattern
- Moderate Growth in the Captive-to-Independent (Break-Away Brokers) Financial Advisor Recruiting Migration Pattern
- Break-Away Broker Platforms to Continue to Capture Largest Captive-to-Independent (Break-Away Brokers) Financial Advisor Recruiting Moves
Tiburon Member Access:
Tiburon members can download the summary or reference PowerPoint presentation, view the most recent Tiburon Webinar featuring Tiburon's Managing Partner Chip Roame (or another Tiburon team member), and/or listen to the most recent Tiburon podcast featuring Tiburon member CEO guests by clicking on the buttons below:
Non-Tiburon Members:
Non-Tiburon members can either become Tiburon members or subscribe to this specific Tiburon Research by clicking on one of the buttons below:
Media Members:
Members of the media who would like access to this Tiburon Written Research, Tiburon Webinar, and/or Tiburon Podcast should send an email to Sarah Sage using the button below:
Tiburon members can download the summary or reference PowerPoint presentation, view the most recent Tiburon Webinar featuring Tiburon's Managing Partner Chip Roame (or another Tiburon team member), and/or listen to the most recent Tiburon podcast featuring Tiburon member CEO guests by clicking on the buttons below:
Non-Tiburon Members:
Non-Tiburon members can either become Tiburon members or subscribe to this specific Tiburon Research by clicking on one of the buttons below:
Media Members:
Members of the media who would like access to this Tiburon Written Research, Tiburon Webinar, and/or Tiburon Podcast should send an email to Sarah Sage using the button below:
