Wirehouses shed a net 517 experienced advisors in the first half of 2026

Merrill, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo shed a net 517 experienced advisors in the first half of 2026, according to Diamond Consultants' 2026 H1 Advisor Transition Report: Wirehouse-Focused Edition. Across the four firms, 1,449 experienced advisors left and 932 joined over the six months, the figures Jason and Louis Diamond unpack on The Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors, as described in the episode summary on WealthManagement.com.

That net figure covers four different firm stories. Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley were net winners for the half, while Merrill and UBS recorded significant net losses, according to the podcast summary.

Nearly half of departing wirehouse advisors chose some form of independence, while more than half remained within an employee model.

Forty-one teams managing more than $500 million left a wirehouse during the half, including 20 managing $1 billion or more.

More than 200 firms recruited at least one wirehouse advisor in the first half. Diamond Consultants frames the period as one of expanding choice, with advisors able to match business, economic, cultural and client-service priorities to a model that fits.

Headcount is the least useful part of the data for an advisor deciding whether to move. The report's own contents, described as firm-by-firm analysis, advisor destination data, recruiting economics and representative transitions, are what would show where departing advisors landed and what offers carried them. The episode summary also points to discussion of the push factors that lead some advisors to reconsider their firms and of increasingly diverse pull factors. For an advisor sitting at one of the four firms, the practical read is that the bidding pool now extends further than the wirehouse down the street, though the aggregate decline on its own does not establish whether any individual package improved.