The industry saw more outflows than inflows of producing financial advisors in 2025, with 57,000 leaving and only 53,000 entering the advice profession, according to a new AdvizorPro data analysis.
That points to a significant industry concern and an urgency for firms to backfill many of the positions left vacant, according to AdvizorPro co-founder and Chief Product Officer Hesom Parhizkar.
Parhizkar attributes the issue to the aging advisor population, with more advisors approaching retirement, and to individuals not understanding the benefits of working in this business.
“If that continues, it’s going to essentially shrink. Meanwhile, as Americans get older, as we need more financial advice, there’s going to be more of a demand,” he said. “With more and more to be retiring and leaving the industry, we’ve got to backfill a ton, quickly.”
AdvizorPro analyzed advisor movement across channels. The wirehouse channel includes the four wirehouses: Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo Advisors and UBS. The broker/dealer channel encompasses advisors who are registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, while dually registered means those registered with both FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The RIA channel is defined as an RIA registered with the SEC. AdvizorPro stripped out advisors with any channel overlap.
The b/d channel saw the most movement in 2025, with 17,920 producing advisors changing firms within that channel. The RIA community also saw significant transitions within its own channel, with 15,749 advisors moving from one RIA to another. Dually-registered firms also saw a similar level of movement within that channel. But RIAs also gained 8,820 advisors from the dually registered channel, the data shows.
Looking at net change in advisor headcount, the RIA channel continues to gain market share, and that trend has grown over the years. In 2021, the channel had a net win of about 8,000 advisors. Last year, it gained over 17,000 advisors.
A lot of folks have speculated over the years that the wirehouses are the big losers in that arrangement, but that channel had a net loss of just 1,864 advisors in 2025, compared to a net loss of 3,501 in 2021, an indication that those firms are stemming the tide.
The dually registered channel was the biggest loser, with a net loss of over 15,000 advisors in 2025, followed by broker/dealers, with a net loss of about 4,000.
The data on percentage channel transitions represents only those advisors who made a move in 2025. Of those advisors in the RIA channel who made a move in 2025, 97% stayed in that channel, moving to another RIA. Meanwhile, of those advisors in the wirehouse channel who made a move, one in five of them moved to another wirehouse, while the rest moved to either an RIA or another broker/dealer.
“The trend still holds—[advisors] want to get to an independent RIA. That’s almost like career progression,” Parhizkar said.
Most advisors start their careers at a wirehouse or broker/dealer, then once they’ve built up a good book of business, they look to go independent and form an RIA.
“It’s more freedom; it’s more lucrative; and you’re an entrepreneur at that point, but you have earned that right by working at one of these platforms building up your book,” he said.
“Once you have put the work in, you have a nice book of business, you have a good number of families you’re assisting, you’re good. You don’t want to leave that space.”
