Headcount does not equal asset count.
That was the big message LPL executives had Thursday about the results of their firm's purchase last year of Commonwealth Financial Network.
In buying Commonwealth, LPL may not have reached its
That, CEO Rich Steinmeier and Chief Financial Officer Matthew Audette, goes a long way to clearing up any doubts over LPL's ability to meet a more important goal: retaining 90% of the purchased firm's assets.
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Steinmeier and Audette reconfirmed that they still think LPL will hit that asset target by the end of the year, when LPL's incorporation of Commonwealth is expected to be complete.
"The work is well underway, and we remain on track to onboard the Commonwealth advisors in Q4," Steinmeier said.
Roughly 20% of Commonwealth advisors have left
The percentage of advisors retained is a different story. A recent report by the recruiting firm Muriel Consulting and industry data tracker AdvizorPro found that 653 of the roughly 3,000 advisors Commonwealth had at the time of its purchase have left for other firms. That comes to nearly 22% of the total.
Audette confirmed Thursday that that figure is in the right ballpark. But it overlooks a distinguishing characteristic of the teams that have remained. On average, he said, they're larger, faster-growing and bigger revenue producers than those that have left, Audette said.
"So I think when you get some noise, when you look at those headcount departures, when you look at the advisors that have committed to stay with LPL, with Commonwealth, it is an impressive group," he said.
Rising costs from Commonwealth, other recent deals
At the same time, holding on to Commonwealth advisors and assets hasn't been cheap. LPL reported its payments for transition assistance — essentially retention bonuses — rose by nearly 75% year over year to $132.7 million in the fourth quarter. Transition assistance is usually provided in the form of loans that are forgiven, or amortized, over time as long as the advisors who receive them don't leave for another firm.
Audette said the fourth quarter's sharp increase in transition-assistance costs was driven largely by Commonwealth, "as well as our ongoing recruiting."
"As we look ahead to Q1, we expect [transition assistance] loan amortization to increase by roughly $5 million, primarily driven by Commonwealth," he added.
LPL ended its fourth quarter with 32,178 advisors, a figure barely changed from the previous quarter.
For all of 2025, LPL reported its net income was down by 22% to $863 million. The decline resulted from costs related not only to the Commonwealth acquisition but also a deal LPL secured in 2023 to provide custodial, brokerage and advisory services to the
"In 2026, we plan to continue to invest in the business to deliver greater efficiencies and drive operating leverage as we scale," Audette said.
Increases in new assets and total assets
The fall in net income was the one of the few slight marks on an otherwise impressive year and fourth quarter. LPL reported its haul of net new assets rose by 4% in 2025 to $147 billion. From recruiting alone last year, the firm is expecting to bring in $104 billion.
Those endeavors helped swell the firm's total for client assets by a whopping 35% year over year to $2.4 trillion at the end of the year. Of those assets, $1.4 trillion were held in advisory accounts, which are particularly valued for their ability to generate steady fees.
LPL did see its new asset haul tail off toward the end of the year. The firm brought in $23 billion in new assets in the fourth quarter, down from $68 billion in the same period a year ago.
Steinmeier said one cause for the decline was that LPL has had its internal recruiters dedicating much of their time to working with Commonwealth advisors. With the asset-retention goal now approaching, he said, recruiters can return to trying to bring advisors over from other firms.
But the shift will take a while, he said.
"The issue that you have at hand is the lead times for recruiting," Steinmeier said.
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If advisors are joining LPL's independent channel from a firm where they already worked as independent contractors, the transition can take anywhere from three to six months. But if they're part of a large team that's looking to join LPL as direct employees — an option offered through the firm's Linsco unit — the move can take anywhere from six months to a year, Steinmeier said.
The same is true if they want to come to start their own registered investment advisory in affiliation with LPL, he said.
"So it really does depend on the mix and makeup of what we have in the pipeline," Steinmeier said. "As we alluded to, we've seen really nice pipeline build up, especially into the first couple stages of our pipeline. And what it takes is a little bit of time, especially with those seasoned recruiters, to progress those through the pipeline."
