Adviser Recruitment, Development Gain Importance as Retirements Rise

More than one-third of financial advisers are preparing to retire within the next decade, which means advisory firms will need stronger recruiting, training and succession programs to ensure client relationships and assets remain intact, according to recently published research from Cerulli Associates.

Approximately 35.3% of advisers—representing 40.1% of industry assets under advisement—expect to retire within 10 years, according to Cerulli’s “The Cerulli Edge U.S. Advisor Edition, 3Q 2026.” The firm estimated these retirements will impact nearly $14.5 trillion in assets.

Cerulli found that succession planning remains a significant challenge. Among advisers expecting to retire within 10 years, 27% reported being unsure of their succession plans, representing roughly $4 trillion in assets.

The expected retirement wave is also putting greater emphasis on adviser recruiting and development. According to Cerulli, most respondents in practice management reported difficulties preparing the next generation of advisers. Seventy-three percent of advisers cited the length of time required to learn the business as a major challenge, while 67% said day-to-day training requires too much time. More than half (53%) said junior advisers often expect career advancement too quickly.

The findings suggested that adviser recruiting and adviser succession are becoming increasingly interconnected. Rather than viewing recruiting solely as a growth initiative, firms may need to treat talent development as a core component of retirement planning.

“Firms that establish clear, efficient retirement programs appealing to both retiring advisors and successors can improve stability before and during client asset transfer,” the report stated.

Moreover, many firms are relying on outdated assumptions about how new advisers build businesses, according to the report. Personal factors such as family and friend referrals accounted for 31% of new relationships with a primary financial provider in 2025, including 51% of new wirehouse relationships, according to Cerulli.

The report argued that firms can no longer expect rookie advisers to build books of business through traditional cold-calling and sales tactics. Instead, employers should adopt recruiting and development models more akin to those used in the accounting and legal professions. Under that approach, firms would hire younger talent with relevant educational backgrounds, place them on larger adviser teams, and provide structured mentorship and long-term career development.

“Rookie advisers placed in larger adviser teams with long-term career development plans will be best positioned to create natural retirement and business succession paths for advisers, who then can monetize their business while transitioning it to highly trained financial advisers within their practice,” said Olivia Morgan, a research analyst at Cerulli, in a statement.

Cerulli’s report drew from proprietary data from annual surveys of more than 8,000 advisers across the wirehouse, bank, independent, regional, insurance and registered investment adviser channels.