FinPro Weekly Nov 4 2025
🔥 Top Stories This Week IBD Consolidation & Growth: Independent broker-dealers are positioned strongly to capitalize on an advisor population in flux, with the early 2020s proving to be banner years as large IBDs have padded their bottom lines with recurring revenue, cleaned up debt ratings, and benefited from cash sweep money during a period of heightened interest rates FA Magazine. The fastest-growing IBDs in 2025 boosted revenue by an average 30% clip, with none of the 38 firms in the IBD Elite sustaining lower business in 2024 Financial Planning. Major M&A Developments: LPL Financial's acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network earlier this month will reshape next year's rankings, following LPL's purchase of former No. 11 firm Atria Wealth Solutions that opened a slot for First Command Financial Services in the top 15 Financial Planning. Bluespring Wealth Partners completed its eighth acquisition this year with Pittsburgh-based Signature Wealth ($1.41B), with CEO James Poer indicating the firm is on track for a "record-setting" M&A year Wealth Management. Echelon Partners forecasts that 2025 will be a record year with 440 deals completed by North American-based investors alone, up 31% from 2024, though even at these record levels only 3% of firms are choosing to transact PitchBook. Market Structure & Control: The IBD channel now controls nearly one-fifth of all financial advisor headcount and 16% of total industry assets, with the top 25 largest broker-dealer firms controlling more than 80% of all BD channel assets, driven by industry consolidation Cerulli Associates. IBDs have started buying more directly into the practices of their advisors, even disintermediating OSJs, as the founding generation of advisors circles the retirement event horizon FA Magazine. Regulatory Watch: In November, a federal appellate court temporarily blocked FINRA from expelling Alpine Securities without an SEC review, prompting speculation about potential constitutional challenges to FINRA and whether oversight could be moved to the SEC FA Magazine.
📈 Advisor Growth Insights What's Driving High-Growth Practices: LPL Financial's inaugural Advisor Growth Study of over 14,000 advisors identified four key areas associated with stronger growth: prioritizing clients with long-term potential (median age 60 or younger), client segmentation and refined service models, identifying focus areas to attract ideal clients, and firms strong in at least two areas saw growth rates over five times higher than others Kitces. Personal referrals continue to dominate new client acquisition, representing 87% of new business according to Capital Group's benchmark report, making relationship development and client satisfaction critical for growth Morningstar. Advisors with defined marketing strategies onboard 50% more clients than those without them, according to a Broadridge survey SmartAsset. Advisor Mindsets & Priorities: Not every advisor is focused on rapid expansion—nearly one in five advisors say their top priority is maintaining strong client experience and work-life balance rather than growing AUM InvestmentNews. Growth-focused advisors embrace innovation strategically, use benchmarking to stay sharp, and put systems in place to scale sustainably rather than chasing volume InvestmentNews.
💻 FinTech & Technology Updates Platform Developments: RightCapital announced a new data migration tool designed to streamline the process of switching financial planning platforms and reduce switching costs Kitces. Advyzon is building in-house financial planning software to launch in 2026, leveraging its track record of garnering the highest advisor satisfaction ratings across five categories in the 2025 Kitces Research on Advisor Technology Kitces. Casualties & Funding: Elements Financial Planning Software was reportedly foreclosed on by creditors after its "simpler" tools failed to achieve product-market fit, suffering a precipitous drop in both adoption and advisor satisfaction between 2023 and 2025 Kitces. Dispatch raised $18M in Series A funding for its AI-driven "data orchestration" solution that syncs client data across multiple technology tools without needing expensive data warehousing, suggesting traction in the market Kitces.
🏢 RIA Channel Movement Talent Flow & Breakaway Activity: The RIA channel netted 1,860 new advisors over the six-month period from October 2024 through March 2025, the highest net gains among all channels, reflecting the continued shift toward independence supported by M&A from consolidators like Mercer Advisors, Captrust, and Wealth Enhancement Group Wealth Management. Among 1,373 breakaways from wirehouses, 1,082 went hybrid, 158 to an RIA model, and 133 to an IBD, with most breakaways favoring hybrid platforms as a stepping stone toward independence while still relying on broker/dealer infrastructure Wealth Management. The most popular destinations for breakaway advisors were J.P. Morgan Securities (107 advisors), LPL (103), Raymond James (96), &Partners (81), and Rockefeller Capital Management (71) Wealth Management. Recent RIA Deals: HB Wealth lured a $15B Charlotte team from J.P. Morgan, while &Partners added two more Wells Fargo teams, reflecting continued breakaway momentum Wealth Management.
📊 Market Intelligence Industry Outlook: Institutional investors are placing bets on ever-larger advisory platforms in a bid to scale up even as the industry braces for a shortage of wealth advisors as financial professionals retire over the next 10 years PitchBook. Industry growth projections from Statista Market Insights predict anemic growth of just 2.78% per year for the next five years, though individual firms' success varies widely based on strategy Financial Gravity. 70% of all advisors who earn seven-figure annual incomes have a niche specialty, demonstrating the value of differentiation and focused value propositions Financial Gravity.
🎯 Action Items for Advisors Key Takeaways: • Focus on client segmentation: High-growth firms are refining service models based on investible assets, life stage, and growth potential • Invest in marketing: Growth-focused advisors invest four times more in marketing than non-growth-focused counterparts • Consider M&A options: With record deal flow and only 3% of firms transacting, there's significant opportunity for both buyers and sellers • Plan for technology transitions: With platform consolidation accelerating, evaluate your tech stack alignment with long-term strategy • Build referral systems: With 87% of new business coming from referrals, systematic approaches to client satisfaction and referral generation are critical
📅 What to Watch Next Week • Commonwealth Financial Network advisor retention updates post-LPL acquisition announcement • Q4 M&A deal announcements as firms rush to close before year-end • Technology platform updates as vendors prepare for 2026 launches • Year-end recruiting pushes from major IBDs and RIA aggregators
Sources: Financial Planning Magazine, WealthManagement.com, Kitces.com, Cerulli Associates, Echelon Partners, Capital Group, PitchBook, and other industry publications