Report excerpt — SAM H1 2026
The Movement Ledger: H1 2026
Producing-advisor joins, departures, and destinations, firm by firm. Excerpted from The State of Advisor Movement.
What's inside
The ledger is the section of The State of Advisor Movement that settles arguments: producing-advisor joins, departures, and net movement for twelve major firms, measured from registered-rep data rather than surveyed, plus the destination-channel analysis showing where every departing advisor actually re-registered. This excerpt carries the exhibit pages verbatim from the full report.
- The twelve-firm producing-advisor ledger, measured not estimated
- Destination channels: where departing wirehouse and Edward Jones advisors actually went
- The producing lens vs headline headcount, explained
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What the ledger measures
15,540 unique producing advisors moved in the first half of 2026, per registered-rep movement data prepared for the report. The ledger maps that movement firm by firm: LPL led all destinations with 1,100 producing-advisor joins, net plus 482; Raymond James Financial Services ran the cleanest net ratio among major destinations; Merrill ran net minus 255 producing advisors, UBS minus 129. The producing lens matters because headline headcount and commercial reality diverge: the four wirehouses grew total registered headcount while losing producing advisors.
Where the departures went
The destination analysis measures every producing advisor who departed a major employer and re-registered during the half. Roughly six in ten departing wirehouse advisors stayed in the employee model at another firm; 16% went cross-firm to an independent broker-dealer and 13.9% to an independent RIA. Among departing Edward Jones advisors, a majority, 54%, chose an independent broker-dealer.
Common questions
Which firms gained and lost the most advisors in H1 2026?+
On the producing lens, LPL Financial led all firms in inflows at 1,100 joins, net plus 482, and Raymond James Financial Services ran the cleanest net ratio among major destinations. Merrill Lynch ran net minus 255 producing advisors, UBS minus 129, while wirehouse total headcount grew on trainees and support registrations. The excerpt carries the full twelve-firm table.How is the Movement Ledger different from headline headcount numbers?+
It counts producing advisors, reps actively managing a personal book, rather than total registrations. That distinction is why firms can report growing headcount while losing the advisors who carry revenue: trainee classes and bank-channel registrations mask producing-advisor attrition.Where do advisors go when they leave a wirehouse?+
Measured across every re-registered departure in H1 2026: roughly six in ten stayed inside the employee model at another wire, regional, or bank; 16% chose an independent broker-dealer; 13.9% chose an independent RIA. Independence in some form takes roughly three in ten departing wirehouse advisors.