September 2026 Breakaway Advisors
.avif)
.avif)
.avif)
Twenty-seven advisors left Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, UBS, or Wells Fargo in September 2026 to join independent firms. This report covers who moved, which firm gained the most talent, and which wirehouse lost the most. For broader context, see our Advisor Moves report.
UBS Lost More Advisors Than Other Wirehouses in September
UBS Financial Services had 13 advisors leave in September, the most of any wirehouse. Wells Fargo followed with 6, Merrill Lynch with 5, and Morgan Stanley with 3. Twelve of UBS's 13 departures went to a single firm, Cresset Asset Management, while the other joined Mariner.
Cresset Asset Management Took In 12 Advisors From UBS
Cresset was the top destination by a wide margin. Twelve UBS advisors joined the firm between September 3 and September 15, which is 12 of the month's 27 breakaways.
Astravia Family Wealth Office Added Four Wells Fargo Advisors on September 28
The month's other multi-advisor move came on September 28, when four Wells Fargo advisors joined Astravia Family Wealth Office. Merrill Lynch's five departures went to five different firms, and Morgan Stanley's three also went to three different firms.
The Full List of September 2026 Breakaway Advisors
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.
August 2026 Breakaway Advisors: Where Talent Went Independent
Eleven advisors left Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, UBS, or Wells Fargo in August 2026 and joined an independent RIA, a move the industry calls going breakaway. This report breaks down who actually went independent, which firm picked up the most talent, and which wirehouse felt it the hardest. For the broader recruiting picture across the industry, see our most recently published Advisor Moves report.
Merrill Lynch Lost More Advisors to Independence Than Other Wirehouses
Merrill Lynch lost 4 advisors to independent RIAs in August, narrowly ahead of Morgan Stanley's 3. Wells Fargo and UBS each lost 2. Unlike July, when Wells Fargo's total was driven by a single team lift-out, Merrill Lynch's four departures went to four different firms: Fisher Investments, Capital Investment Advisors, Savvy, and OneDigital, pointing to broad attrition rather than one coordinated exit. It's consistent with the broader wirehouse-to-RIA migration patterns we track in our U.S. Wealth Advisor Movement Report, which looks at advisor switching trends across the industry from 2021 through 2025.
No Single Firm Dominated in August
Of the 11 verified breakaways, no destination firm picked up more than one advisor. That's a contrast to July, when a single team lift-out to &Partners accounted for nearly half the month's moves. August's advisors landed at eleven different independent firms, from aggregators like OneDigital and Savvy to boutique RIAs like Heirloom Wealth Management and RCA Wealth Strategies, a pattern of individual advisor decisions rather than coordinated team departures.
The Full List of August 2026 Breakaway Advisors
Cole Cummings is the Director of Marketing at AdvizorPro and a B2B SaaS marketer with multiple years of experience in the fintech industry. He leads all of AdvizorPro’s data-driven research and industry reports, giving him deep expertise in the RIA ecosystem and the trends shaping advisor behavior, allocation decisions, and firm growth across wealth management.
