Interesting article at SmartMoney entitled, As Market Grew Volatile, Advisors Disappeared.
Tough times for financial advisors at banks and large brokerage houses.
There were 369,928 retail financial advisors at the end of the first quarter of 2010, down from 434,479 the same period last year, a decline of about 15%, according to the Financial Research Corporation, an industry research firm based in Boston. (The FRC compiled its data on advisors from two independent research firms.)
Couple of other points:
- this reverses a growth trend: 2007 to 2009, their ranks grew by 4%.
- largest declines came at banks, insurers, and wireline brokerages
- quality of advice hasn’t necessarily declined
- number of regional advisors, Registered Investment Advisors, and fee-only planners increased
So, while business gets harder at banks, it looks like service is being pushed out to the peripheries geographically with more financial advice being dispensed at smaller, regional brokers and investment advisors.
Source
As Market Grew Volatile, Advisors Disappeared (SmartMoney)
