The choice of brokerage or RIA firm involves any number of factors and a range of timelines. Here's what the numbers and experts suggest are the main drivers.

In a big week for industry recruiting, Stifel lands practices managing $2.9 billion at Merrill, Merrill recruits a $1.9 billion team from Raymond James and Rockefeller pulls part of a $2.3 billion team from UBS.

Over half of America's workforce lacks access to retirement plans like 401(k)s. A new bill aims to change that.

A corporate consultant turned financial advisor embraced a hybrid team structure to succeed in her new career.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon joined JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon in a tie atop the executive compensation rankings for the industry's largest publicly traded firms.

The industry rivals are back in court with fresh allegations that Ameriprise falsely warned its former clients that LPL misappropriated their account information.

The company "started off the year with a meaningful renewal from Cambridge Investment Research," BNY's chief financial officer notes.

An investor who began his career at Ameriprise collected profiles of professionals from an array of fields whose achievements point the way forward.

Modern Wealth also takes on $1B in AUM through two acquisitions, and LPL hires a chief data, AI officer from JPMorgan.

The M&A flow may suggest that only the giants of wealth management will be able to navigate the business, but that dominating narrative is wrong.