Advisor and RIA Movement in 2026: Commonwealth, Hybrid Advisors and RIA M&A

AdvizorPro's data was featured across the financial trade press in August 2026, in coverage from Citywire, Financial Planning, ThinkAdvisor, InvestmentNews and Wealth Solutions Report. This post summarizes what those articles reported on advisor movement, channel trends and RIA M&A. For the latest monthly figures, see AdvizorPro's Advisor Moves report.

What Happened to Commonwealth Advisors After the LPL Deal

Retention and Departures

Citywire reported that Muriel Consulting analyzed every Commonwealth departure since LPL agreed to acquire the firm for $2.7 billion in April 2025, using AdvizorPro data covering January 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. More than 950 Commonwealth advisors have left, while about 2,000 have stayed, meaning LPL has retained 68% through June. For a year-one view of the same deal, see AdvizorPro's LPL-Commonwealth deal one year later analysis.

Where Departing Advisors Went

Financial Planning reported that of the nearly 700 advisors who left Commonwealth in 2025 following the sale announcement, only 36% joined an RIA. In 2026, only 27% of departing advisors chose the RIA route by the time of the Muriel Consulting and AdvizorPro report. Muriel Consulting founder Shelby Nicholl told the publication, "When you are at an RIA, there are more options and more buyers."

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Hybrid Is the Most Popular Advisor Channel

ThinkAdvisor cited an AdvizorPro report finding that hybrid is the most popular advisor channel at 44.2%, as of January 2026.

Advisors Moving to Independence

InvestmentNews cited AdvizorPro research in its profile of Evertern Wealth, a Naples, Florida multi-family office launched in April 2026 by Jason Stephens and Mic Lundon, who have more than 40 years of combined UBS tenure. The research, covering 2021 to 2025, found that total advisor movement accelerated sharply. The RIA channel gained 17,453 advisors in 2025, up from 13,736 in 2024, while the wirehouse channel lost 1,864 advisors in 2025, up from 1,672 in 2024.

RIA M&A in July

Wealth Solutions Report featured AdvizorPro's monthly RIA M&A trends, noting that serial acquirers continue to roll up regionally focused RIAs. Bluespring Wealth Management acquired Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory in Cincinnati and Joule Financial in Kentucky, adding more than $1.4 billion in combined AUM. July had 18 transactions, compared with 28 in June and 16 in July of the prior year. Follow the monthly series in AdvizorPro's RIA M&A report.

About AdvizorPro

AdvizorPro is the advisor intelligence platform built for asset managers, ETF issuers, wealthtechs, and distribution teams that need to identify, prioritize, and engage financial advisors. With verified data across 750,000+ RIAs, family offices, and broker-dealers - combined with AI-powered lead scoring, TrafficIQ visitor intelligence, native CRM integrations, and now direct connectivity to Claude and ChatGPT - AdvizorPro powers the go-to-market strategies of leading firms across the wealth management ecosystem.

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