Dan Shaw

Compensation differences between wirehouses and regional firms become pronounced at the $2 million production level, with regionals rising to the top of the pay scale and wirehouses grouping together at the bottom.

A report from the industry tracking-firm DeVoe & Co. finds that 2026 is off to the strongest start for RIA acquisitions ever and broker-dealers like LPL are among the main purchasers.

When it comes to compensation, firms really start to distinguish themselves at the $1 million production level. Janney has become one of the lower payers in recent years, while RBC and UBS have signaled a greater willingness to work with these advisors.

CEO Brian Moynihan said the firm recruited twice the number of advisors it did a year ago and is making progress fighting advisor attrition.

For advisors with $600,000 in annual production, regional firms like Janney and RBC have been reducing their compensation in recent years. They're now more in line with the pay policies more commonly found at large Wall Street firms.

Most "regional firms" still have fairly generous compensation for advisors at the low end of revenue production. But at Janney and RBC, the pay rates are lower and much closer to those of large Wall Street firms.

Traditionally, regional firms were places where advisors with mid-level revenue production could find comfortable homes. Janney and RBC show how that's changing.

For advisors like Chris Diodato of WELLth Financial Planning, everything from insurance to industry software is costing more these days.

SEC regulators instead take aim at their predecessors in the Biden Administration, saying the outsized fines were partly the result of a desire to "pursue media headlines and run up numbers."

Gabe Lapito thinks many RIA owners who sell their businesses are looking for a big check to fund their retirement. But he and his partners, almost all in their 30s or early 40s, instead set their sights on adding new clients and assets.

Michael Outlaw, the recently named president of Rockefeller Global Family Office, says family offices are defined more by the services they offer than by their relationships with wealthy families.

The LPL–Commonwealth megadeal set off a two-sided scramble. As LPL fought to retain advisors and assets, rivals raced to poach both.

The investment recommendations from a now-barred broker may ultimately cost the St. Louis-based firm more than $200 million in various penalties and awards.

In contracting for various digital and operations services overseas, Edward Jones is tredding a path blazed by industry rivals like LPL Financial and Ameriprise.

Ameriprise's proposal to raise CEO James Cracchiolo's total compensation by 8% would put him far ahead of many of his direct counterparts at regional firms.

The Apollo Group, a six-person team in New York, is the latest to show that former First Republic advisors are still not completely settled at JPMorgan.

LPL's board proposed a huge boost to CEO Rich Steinmeier's compensation package following a year defined by the firm's acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network.

Andrea Bethune contends in federal court that Carson Group moved her into a new role to make way for a woman 20 years her junior. Eventually, her position was eliminated.

Investor advocates think the money should instead go to clients who haven't been paid outstanding arbitration awards.

The Biden Administration rule for a fiduciary standard on one-time retirement-related advice died in two separate court decisions.