It’s payday.

And even for financial advisors, where you work plays a significant role in determining how much you take home.

Advisors at independent broker-dealers and wirehouses were the industry’s highest earners last year, with median compensation (salary, bonuses, profit sharing) of $226,000 and about $214,000, respectively, according to the CFP Board’s latest compensation study. Advisors at big banks and hybrid RIAs fell in the middle, earning median compensation of $206,000 and $181,500. Advisors working at RIAs reported the lowest median compensation at $175,000. Not too shabby.

“While not necessarily surprising, the results reinforce that a financial planning career, and particularly being a CFP professional, is a rewarding career,” said Dr. Kevin Roth, managing director of research at CFP Board.

Making a Change

Compensation, however, isn’t the only factor advisors consider when choosing a channel.

The industry has experienced a steady wave of breakaway advisors leaving wirehouses and other large firms to launch or join RIAs. Chris Diodato, founder of WELLth Financial Planning, began his career as a dually registered advisor before dropping his Series 7 license and launching a fee-only RIA. Even though going independent meant potentially earning less, Diodato said the tradeoff has been worthwhile. “Being a strict RIA comes with operational perks, especially when it comes to compliance,” he told Advisor Upside. “Sure, I could make more money if I was dually registered, but I’d also have to spend significantly more on compliance or give up a portion of my revenue to a corporate RIA platform like Cetera or Raymond James.”

The Perks of Being a CFP. The report indicates the CFP designation, one of the industry’s most recognized credentials, comes with benefits beyond higher pay:

• Nearly 40% of CFPs engaged in profit sharing at their firms last year.
• About a quarter received elder and child care benefits.
• Some 60% have access to employee wellness programs.

The designation also correlates with job satisfaction, according to the Board. About 85% of CFP professionals described their careers as rewarding, citing stability, work-life balance and opportunities for advancement. Meanwhile, nine in 10 said they expect to remain with their current firm for at least the next two years.

Diodato, for his part, said the title “financial planner” should be reserved for professionals who have earned CFP certification, not, for instance, strictly insurance salespeople or those who just passed the Series 65 exam. “It dilutes the CFP mark when everyone is a financial planner,” he said.

Strike a pose.

Yes, we’re talking about models: not the kind wearing Rick Owens and Coco Chanel, but the ones running advisor portfolios. Morningstar Wealth is partnering with major asset managers to launch six model portfolios later this year that combine traditional ETFs and interval funds. Apollo and Franklin Templeton will handle private investments, and Franklin and JPMorgan will manage the public ones. The portfolios will be Morningstar’s first designed to provide exposure to both public and private markets for advisors.

The launch reflects a broader shift in wealth management as advisors increasingly outsource investment management through model portfolios, while looking for ways to add private-market exposure for clients. Model portfolios are now used by more than 80% of fee-based advisors and collectively oversee roughly $8 trillion in assets. For many advisors, outsourced models offer a way to access specialized asset classes without having to become experts in them.

“The next generation of model portfolios will blend public and private markets, and offer investors greater diversification, more yield and better reflect the full breadth of the economy,” Apollo president Jim Zelter said in a statement.

A Little Privacy, Please

Private markets have historically been the domain of institutional and accredited investors, but as companies stay private longer and policymakers push for broader access, private equity, private credit and private real estate are becoming more readily available. “When I think about why private markets matter now more than ever, it’s not just access but also focus on the long term in a short-term world,” Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson said in a statement. “We are living in an environment of persistent inflation and structural uncertainty.”

As for Morningstar’s new models:

• The portfolios will span a range of objectives, from capital preservation to aggressive growth.
• Initial allocations to private credit and private real estate will come through interval funds, and are expected to account for roughly 12% to 20% of portfolio assets, depending on risk profile and market conditions.
• Morningstar says the portfolios will offer transparency, competitive pricing and include no overlay fees.

Keep it Private. Not everyone is convinced wider access is a good idea, though. Critics argue that private assets often come with higher fees, limited liquidity and less transparency than public investments, making them potentially unsuitable for many mass-affluent investors, especially when it comes to their 401(k)s.

Advocacy group Better Markets has been particularly vocal, arguing that the narrative that investors are increasingly demanding private assets is not entirely accurate and that the private funds industry needs a new source of capital. “The private funds industry now wants to get its hands on the trillions of dollars in retail investors’ retirement savings,” Benjamin Schiffrin, director of securities policy at Better Markets, said in a March statement.

Give your clients a pat on the back.

Retirement savings rates and 401(k) account balances have reached record highs, according to Vanguard’s annual report published this week. The average account balance came in at $167,970, which is 13% higher than last year, while the median balance was $44,115, up 16%. Of course, average 401(k) balances don’t necessarily reflect total net worth, and are only a partial measure of retirement preparedness for most people. In fact, many people don’t have their money fully consolidated within view of their current advisor, so it’s worth asking what other assets might be out there that could be part of the overall plan. You know, your clients could be in even better shape than they look.

By the Numbers

More good news is that the account balances measured by Vanguard only show how much the approximately 5 million savers have accumulated for retirement with their current employer. When people change jobs or retire, their assets may remain with their former employer, be rolled over to another plan or an IRA, or be cashed out.

According to the report:

• One in four savers had an account balance of less than $10,000, while 35% of participants had a balance of more than $100,000.
• Eighteen percent had a balance of $250,000 or more.

Because of this skewed distribution of assets, average balances are indicative of savers at about the 75th percentile, meaning about 75% of people had balances below the average and 25% had balances above. Vanguard’s experts note that average balances are best understood as representative of the results experienced by longer-tenured, more affluent or older participants. The median balance, conversely, represents the typical participant.

What’s Behind the Growth? The average one-year total return for retirement plan investors was 19.3%. Among savers with account balances in both December 2024 and December 2025, the median account balance increased by 27%, reflecting strong positive returns in the equity and bond markets as well as ongoing contributions. Also helpful, nearly 70% of retirement plan investors now use professionally managed allocations, helping them build more diversified portfolios that reflect their time horizons and savings targets.