IBD Elite 2026

Over the past decade, the annual revenue gap between LPL and any other independent brokerage has soared to more than 100% from less than 1%. But that doesn't mean that the No. 1 firm can rest on those laurels.

Executives from some of the largest firms in the channel — Ameriprise, Kestra Financial, Cetera, LPL Financial and Osaic — discuss how clearing and custody fits into their approaches to recruiting and retaining financial advisors.

The printable PDF includes rankings based on the firms' 2025 revenue as well as the number of financial advisors, compensation, total client account assets and more.

View the exclusive research from Financial Planning's latest annual study of brokerages whose financial advisors aren't employees of the firms — and sort and compare data across the past 15 years.

In a constantly changing industry, clearing and custody fees defy generalizations. The largest independent broker-dealers present financial advisors with the choice of working with a "self-clearing" firm or one that outsources those essential services.