Nearly $1 billion in assets are set to leave Commonwealth Financial Network for other broker/dealers, according to company announcements made this week.
The moves come ahead of Commonwealth owner LPL Financial’s earnings report on Thursday, during which analysts will no doubt be listening for an update on advisor attrition since LPL’s $2.7 billion cash deal for Commonwealth closed on Aug. 1. LPL has said it expects to keep at least 90% of the roughly 3,000 advisors at Commonwealth at the start of the acquisition, including after their complete transition to LPL’s platforms in late 2026.
In the meantime, competitors have been chasing those advisors using tactics including competitive pay packages, open architecture technology stacks, and, when possible, the ability to stay on Fidelity Investments’ National Financial Services custody platform.
“Our mission is to help clients protect and grow their wealth with confidence and Osaic’s breadth of products, advanced technology and strong compliance support will allow us to expand how we serve clients,” John Evans, who had been with Commonwealth for two years, said in a statement released Thursday.
His firm, Four Pillars Investment Management, which is based in Cape Coral, Fla., oversees $143 million in client assets.
Evans was one of a handful of firms that competitors, including Cetera and Raymond James, announced this week that are set to move combined assets of almost $1 billion.
According to insights provider AdvizorPro, October has been the heaviest month of attrition for Commonwealth, with 116 advisors departing. Since the LPL/Commonwealth deal closed, there have been 243 known advisor defections to other firms, including Arkadios Capital, Cambridge, Hub International, Kestra Financial and Summit Wealth Group.
While that number is closing in on the 300 for 10% attrition, AdvizorPro co-founder and Chief Product Officer Hesom Parhizkar does not think that many will leave in the final analysis, but that the outcome will depend on how LPL can work with the remaining advisors.
“What I’ll be paying attention to in the coming months is whether advisors who appreciate their tech stack thanks to Commonwealth’s Advizor360 relationship will flee to similar tech or whether Commonwealth’s custodial relationship with Fidelity/NFS will dictate where advisors land,” he said. “There may also be some marquee RIA launches this quarter and the first quarter of next year (particularly after the government shutdown lifts).”
Parhizkar attributes much of the attrition to Commonwealth advisors seeing LPL as the equivalent of moving their practices to “training wheels,” or “independence lite.”
“Commonwealth had a boutique culture, white-glove transition assistance, flexible affiliation models and high payouts which were quite attractive,” he said.
CEO Rich Steinmeier has said since the acquisition was announced that LPL would work to ensure Commonwealth advisors maintained their culture while receiving additional benefits.
“As we’ve stated continually, we are committed to preserving that unique culture, the advisor experience the brand, and in fact, we’ll only enhance what they already receive with the combination of the LPL capabilities with that Commonwealth experience,” Steinmeier said during its second-quarter earnings call.
He has also said some advisor attrition is expected and that trade publications have made too much noise about the departures.
A spokesperson for LPL suggested listening to Thursday’s earnings call as a response to a request for comment on this story.
“What I hear from advisors is that they have until late 2026 to make a final decision on LPL or not,” said Shelby Nicholl, founder of Muriel Consulting, a recruiting and consulting company. “We are seeing the early movers transitioning their businesses now, but there are many more that could fall away as the time to the tape-to-tape goes on. If I were LPL, I’d want to process the conversion as soon as possible and get people on platform. At that point, inertia sets in and the switching costs increase.”
According to a separate announcement from Osaic this week, Mark Gallagher, head of Gallagher Financial in St. Paul, Minn., has left for Osaic after managing about $194 million in client assets with Commonwealth for 10 years.
“After careful consideration, we decided to move to Osaic,” Gallagher said in a statement. “Osaic offers the right mix of local support, a clearing relationship with National Financial Services to ensure a smooth transition, competitive advisory solutions and a technology stack to support our clients today and well into the future.”
Raymond James, who has been a consistent name in the Commonwealth recruiting effort, said financial advisor Richard “Rick” Salmeron had joined it after about five years at Commonwealth. He had managed $140 million in client assets from his practice in Dallas, Texas, which continues to operate as Salmeron Financial.
Earlier in the week, the firm noted that Kirk Huismann, a Commonwealth advisor for about five years, had left with his Friedline Financial in Lee’s Summit, Mo., managing more than $144 million in client assets.
Cetera Financial Group, which recently landed a $1.1 billion team from Commonwealth, is bringing over another team with about $365 million in client assets as of this week. The broker/dealer has recently made NFS custody available to all of its advisors, instead of just a subset.
Christian Benard, who had been with Commonwealth for about 19 years, is joining Cetera’s tax-focused Avantax advisor channel.
Benard’s Troy, Michigan-based firm, which completed nearly 2,000 tax returns in the past year, will maintain its use of NFS for custody and clearing.
“Our goal is to be a one-stop shop for clients by going more in-depth, like talking with clients about how we can help improve their tax situation based on their investments,” Benard said in a statement. “Our more holistic approach to wealth management aligns perfectly with Avantax.”
Consultant Nicholl said the chance for continuity with Fidelity, either through a firm with access to its custody platform or with its Institutional Wealth Services RIA, may appeal to advisors who want as little disruption for clients and their practice as possible.
“When we work with advisors, we’re reframing the decision from ‘stay or go’ to focus on the advisor or team’s vision and where they gain the highest long-term optionality for their business,” she said. “For some, that’s going to be at LPL. For others, it might be a move to the RIA channel.”