Better hire some movers.

An estimated 8.6% of advisors are expected to change firms in 2026, according to a recent Cerulli report. About 15,000 moved in the first half of the year, representing about 5% of the advisor population, per Winthrop & Co. Last year, by comparison, nearly 40,000 advisors moved, which was roughly 4,000 more than the year before, data from ISS show. Part of this stems from dealmaking activity, as mergers and acquisitions involving RIAs continue to push advisors in new directions: LPL Financial’s deal to buy Commonwealth Financial Network last year, for example, netted them some 2,900 advisors. More recently, however, transitions have originated in advisors’ home-office desires, said Michael Rose, Cerulli’s director of wealth management research and a co-author of the report.

“Technology consistently remains the top factor that advisors are considering when making an affiliation change,” Rose said. “The fact that technology is actually ranked more highly than even compensation, that’s really important because it underscores [how] this is only going to accelerate with the innovation we’re seeing in terms of AI.”

What Came First, the Tech or the Pay?

Not everyone thinks technology is the driving force behind advisors’ decision-making. Tech is just the catalyst for an advisor to reconsider their responsibilities and compensation, said Craig Toberman, partner at Toberman Becker Wealth. “Technology is an amazing tool,” he said. “As those capabilities become more widely available, advisors have more freedom to ask, ‘Where can I do the work I enjoy and get paid well for it?’”

The other, larger trend is the increasing number of affiliation structures and options available to advisors. A decade ago, an advisor or team looking to break away from a large broker-dealer had to do the labor of filing paperwork, implementing a CRM system, bringing their clients along and hanging their own shingle, Rose said — in other words, building a business from scratch. “Today, the range of options has changed drastically,” he added. “They can plug into RIA firms that can give them a robust infrastructure to run their practice. They can join an RIA aggregator, where there are actually very robust home-office resources and capabilities.”

Prospect Park. But the reasons behind an individual advisor’s move are often much more specific to that person’s practice and needs. Thomas Balcom, CFP and founder of 1650 Wealth Management, said he is looking for a change this year or in 2027. He said certain costs, like those for compliance, liability insurance and software, “could be reduced through a partnership.” Toberman said many RIA roles also enable more of a focus on serving clients than on prospecting: “For someone who loves the service side of this profession, a bigger sales incentive may not be much of an incentive at all.”