Which Advisors Do the 2027 Wirehouse Pay Plans Reach?

The short answer: Three of the four wirehouses have published their 2027 pay plans, and none raised payout rates. Morgan Stanley moved every grid threshold up 10%, which reaches advisors whose revenue sits just above a band edge, at any production level. UBS held its grid and put its money into Pathways, which reaches long-tenured advisors who commit to retire there. Merrill held its grid, raised the bar for its growth award and pointed its new premiums at lending and deposits. Wells Fargo has not announced. Which plan asks the most of a given practice depends on its production level and its book of business.

Every fall the wirehouses tell their advisors how they will be paid the following year. This year the plans were reported over five weeks: Morgan Stanley's on September 17, UBS's on September 23 and Merrill's on October 22. The three plans share a direction, with no new money in the grids themselves, and differ sharply in whom they reach.

The 2027 plans side by side

As of October 23, 2026. Sources: each firm's plan as reported by AdvisorHub and Financial Planning. Wells Fargo's row is updated when its 2027 plan is reported.

The detail behind each row: what a grid stretch costs at $1 million and $2 million, UBS Pathways and what it costs to leave, and who loses ground under Merrill's plan.

How the plans read by production level

The bands below are trailing-12 gross production, the revenue a practice generates before any payout.

Under $250,000 and $250,000 to $500,000. Morgan Stanley's stretch moves the edges at the bottom of its grid along with the rest, so an advisor just over a low threshold earns the rate of the band below until revenue grows through the new edge. Merrill asks every practice for the same $7.5 million of net new strategic flows and four net new household credits to earn its growth award, which is a far bigger ask of a practice this size than of a large one.

$500,000 to $1 million. The Merrill growth-award bar still weighs heavily here. At Morgan Stanley, the stretch reaches only advisors just above an edge; an advisor well inside a band keeps the same rate.

$1 million to $2 million. At Morgan Stanley, a $1 million producer kept 44% this year and a $2 million producer kept 48%; in 2027 the same revenue earns those rates only if it clears a threshold 10% higher. At Merrill, the same $7.5 million is a smaller share of a larger book, and the new premiums add to the award for practices that also grow managed assets, lending or deposits.

$2 million to $5 million. At Morgan Stanley, as at every level, the stretch reaches revenue within about 10% above a band edge. Merrill's premium bars, $50 million of managed flows or $10 million of lending or deposits in a year, are the same dollar amount for every practice, and the premiums stack.

$5 million and above. At Morgan Stanley, the stretch reaches revenue just above a band edge here as at every level. A Merrill team with an active lending and banking business can earn more than one premium, and at UBS the size of a Pathways advance grows with production.

At every level. UBS's Pathways keys on tenure and a commitment to retire at the firm. For a long-tenured advisor who plans to stay, it brings succession money forward; for one who has not decided, it adds a repayment to weigh.

What to check in your own numbers

1. Your band and its new edge. On a grid whose thresholds rose 10%, as Morgan Stanley's did for 2027, multiply your band's threshold by 1.1. If your revenue sits below the result, you start 2027 one band lower.
2. Your flows, households, lending and deposits against the new bars. Award-based plans pay on activity, so this year's activity tells you what next year's awards are likely to be.
3. What is deferred, restricted or advanced. Know what vests when, and what would be repaid if you left. What an agreement or award allows in your case is a question for your own attorney.
4. The same practice priced elsewhere. A pay plan sets what staying is worth. Reading the grid the way a recruiter does turns it into a comparison.

What the alternative looks like

Advisors were already moving before the 2027 memos. Of the producing advisors who left the four wirehouses in the first half of 2026 and re-registered elsewhere, roughly three in ten went independent, according to The State of Financial Advisor Movement.

• Another wirehouse or a regional firm. In the deals we work on, wirehouse recruiting packages run closer to 400% of trailing-12 revenue, depending on your book of business, on notes that typically run 7 to 10 years and longer for the largest packages. Regional firms usually write packages of roughly 300% to 400%, with some paying more, depending on the practice.
• An independent broker-dealer. A headline payout can reach 95% and above and nets in the 80s after the broker-dealer's own charges, before the practice's overhead, with what the advisor keeps depending on the broker-dealer, the business mix and advisory size. Transition assistance runs 100% to 150% and above for the right teams, depending on your book of business.
• An independent RIA. The advisor keeps the advisory revenue, less platform and RIA costs, and the pay follows the revenue the practice earns for clients.

Plenty of advisors run these numbers and stay, which is a legitimate answer. Every number here depends on the advisor and the book. The specific answer comes from a confidential conversation: the best deal we can win for your practice through our relationships and our record of past deals, and how culture, technology, support and service compare at the firms that fit. Request an introduction.