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Broker/dealers face a two-part challenge in 2026: attract advisors who are considering a move and give existing advisors reasons to stay. Cerulli projects that 8.6% of advisors will change firms during the year, putting approximately $3.4 trillion in assets in motion. Those are forecasts, not final counts of completed moves. Cerulli’s proposed response is to pair greater advisor choice—with technology, tools and practice decisions—with institutional support that helps advisors grow and serve clients.
What Cerulli’s 2026 forecast says about advisor movement
In an October 1, 2026 release about The Cerulli Report—U.S. Broker/Dealer Marketplace 2026: Navigating the Impact of Broker/Dealer Consolidation, Cerulli Associates projects that 8.6% of advisors will change firms in 2026, with approximately $3.4 trillion in assets set in motion. Because these figures are projections, they should not be read as a tally of moves that have already occurred.
The scale matters to broker/dealers because advisor departures and recruiting prospects put both relationships and assets in play. But a projection alone does not show which firms will gain assets or why a particular advisor will move.
What advisors are looking for in a broker/dealer
Cerulli names three drivers of advisor movement: preferences for increased flexibility, stronger economics and client service models. Its release also reports that 57% of advisors said technology influenced their decision to join a new broker/dealer over the previous three years. The public announcement does not provide the survey’s sample size, field dates, weighting or detailed methodology, so the finding should be treated as a reported survey result rather than a complete account of advisor priorities.
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These factors point to a practical affiliation question: can an advisor shape a practice around their clients and business, while still getting the tools and support needed to run it? Choice over technology is one part of that question, but economics, service design and the broader resources a firm supplies also matter.
Technology: offer choice without withdrawing support
Cerulli’s recommendation is not simply to provide more technology. It is to let advisors exercise more discretion over tools and resources, with customizable and open-architecture technology as possible ways to support that choice. A broker/dealer can use this approach to give practices room to adapt their workflows while continuing to provide institutional support.
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Michael Rose, a director at Cerulli, said: “Allowing advisors more discretion in selecting the tools and resources that best support their practices can enhance their sense of control while improving their ability to meet evolving client needs.” That is a strategic rationale, not evidence that a particular platform or configuration will work for every practice. The release names no specific vendors or products.
Institutional support remains part of the value proposition
Advisor discretion is only one side of affiliation. Cerulli points to firm brand, marketing support and services for high-net-worth clients as areas where broker/dealers can reinforce the resources available to advisors. It also reports that, in the wirehouse channel, 89% of advisors identified access to lending products and 84% identified services designed for high-net-worth clients among the top benefits of firm affiliation.
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Those two percentages describe wirehouse advisors, not all advisors or every broker/dealer channel. They indicate that access to specialized resources can be a meaningful affiliation benefit in that channel; they do not establish that every wirehouse advisor values each benefit equally or that the figures apply to other models.
How broker/dealers can assess their response
Cerulli’s findings suggest that firms should evaluate their offer across several connected dimensions, rather than treating recruiting as a technology problem alone:
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- Advisor control: Where can advisors choose their tools, workflows and practice resources, and where are firm standards necessary?
- Technology breadth: Can the technology accommodate different practice needs through customization or open architecture?
- Economics and client service: Do the firm’s economics and service model fit the business advisors want to build?
- Growth support: Are brand and marketing resources available to help advisors develop their practices?
- Specialized capabilities: Can advisors access services such as lending and high-net-worth support when relevant to their clients?
These are comparison questions, not a ranking of affiliation models. The strongest fit will depend on an advisor’s practice, clients and preferences; the public Cerulli announcement does not identify one model as superior.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why flexibility and support need to work together
More flexibility without useful institutional resources may leave advisors to solve technology, growth or service needs on their own. Conversely, resources that advisors cannot adapt to their practices may not meet the demand for control Cerulli describes. The strategic challenge is to make support available without assuming every advisor needs the same tools or client-service arrangement.
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Rose summarized the recruiting implication: “Firms that can provide increased flexibility with institutional support will be better positioned to attract advisors.” In a year when Cerulli expects meaningful movement, the broker/dealer proposition is therefore not just what a firm supplies, but how well advisors can use and shape it for their practices.
Sources: Cerulli Associates, October 1, 2026; secondary corroboration from ADVISOR Magazine / LifeHealth.com, October 1, 2026.
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