Agreements from LPL Financial and Betterment top a host of merger and acquisition activity that has jumped since the start of this year.

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.

The structure has been delivering tax savings to advisory practices and other professional services firms for decades. But experts say sometimes it's not the best fit.

Executives at Merrill's parent firm, Bank of America, told analysts in a call that nearly two-thirds of their wealth management clients now have banking relationships with the firm.

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.

Citi's wealth division saw a nearly five-fold increase in new investment assets in the first quarter. CEO Jane Fraser said the firm has "real horsepower and firepower in our investment capabilities."

An industry consultant thinks Edward Jones' latest bid to start a bank is an attempt to add revenue sources as the traditional brokerage business becomes less lucrative.

Goldman's stock traders posted their highest quarterly revenue haul on record, riding a wave of volatility triggered by an emerging global trade war, but revenue from the asset and wealth management business fell short of analyst expectations.

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