While brokers have been breaking away from Wall Street for more than a decade to launch their own registered investment advisor (RIA) firms, they are increasingly confident in their ability to make a successful transition and exploring a wider range of paths to independence, according to the TD Ameritrade Institutional1 Break Away to Independence Spring 2020 Survey.
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What does being independent mean to you? More freedom and control as RIAs say brokers in TD Ameritrade Institutional’s new Break Away Survey
One in four brokers who indicated they are interested in moving to the independent RIA channel — “potential breakaways” — say they plan to launch and operate their own firms, the traditional path to breaking away, compared with 29 percent in the survey TD Ameritrade Institutional conducted in the fall of 2019. 2
Yet there also is growing interest in joining, not building, an RIA business. More than a third (36 percent) of brokers are open to either joining an existing RIA firm as an employee or partnering with platforms that provide technology and operations support — up from a combined 16 percent in the fall survey.
“Though the desire to become an independent RIA remains strong among brokers, the current environment has prompted more breakaways to pursue an alternative path to independence — joining an established RIA firm,” said Scott Collins, Managing Director of Sales Consulting at TD Ameritrade Institutional. “For these advisors, it is an opportunity to gain the benefits of being an RIA without having to start their own firm.”
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