IBD Elite: The 15 largest independent brokerages in wealth management

IBD Elite 2023

Independent wealth management firms are finding ways to keep growing — even in bad years for stock and bond values.

Despite the historically awful performance of stocks and bonds last year and the direct correlation with wealth management fees based on their earnings, the independent brokerages participating in Financial Planning's 38th annual IBD Elite study reported that their businesses grew 6% in 2022 to a combined $41.13 billion in revenue. The slideshow below displays the 15 largest firms in the channel, with a half dozen expanding by double-digit percentages in 2022.

"The independent channel continues to grow significantly," said Marianne Caswell, the president of Park Avenue Securities, a New York-based independent brokerage and registered investment advisory firm that's a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. "The combination of holistic planning as well as seeing more advisors move into the independent space in the past several years I think is what has allowed the revenue to continue to grow."

The past decade has seen Caswell's firm of 2,400 financial advisors managing $47 billion in client assets change from "purely an accommodation business" revolving around insurance, annuities and turnkey investments to an "advisor-focused" business, she said in an interview last month. The shift to a more comprehensive wealth management company has led the firm to ramp up its technology, integrate more services and use specific fees for planning more widely. 

The firm is striving to give its clients the "full picture" of their finances, rather than looking simply at their insurance or investments alone, Caswell said.

"They have to look at their protection. They have to look at their assets. They have to look at their liabilities. And then, today, they have to look at their cash flow," she said.

Scroll down the slideshow to see the rankings of the 15 largest independent brokerages in wealth management by their annual revenue. Read the IBD Elite cover story, "What the heck is an OSJ?". You can also browse all the data from this year's survey in interactive format. And, for a look at the largest firms of last year's IBD Elite, click here

Notes: The companies are ranked below by their 2022 revenue, as reported by the firms themselves. FP relies on each firm to state their annual metrics accurately. The industry term "producing registered representative" refers to each firm's most accurate count of financial advisors using the firm as their brokerage or RIA. "Other revenue" means any other business besides sales commissions and advisory fees. Each metric is as of year-end 2022.

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15. Securian Financial Services

2022 revenue: $474.3 million
Change from previous year: 3%
Number of producing registered representatives: 1,026
Client account assets: $48.9 billion
Year founded: 1984
Chief executive: George Connolly
*The parent of Cetera Financial Group acquired the retail wealth and trust business of Securian Financial Group in August.
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14. Avantax Investment Services

2022 revenue: $666.5 million
Change from previous year: 1.3%
Number of producing registered representatives: 3,109
Client account assets: $76.9 billion
Year founded: 1983
Chief executive: Todd Mackay
*The parent of Cetera Financial Group secured an agreement this week to acquire Avantax.
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13. Atria Wealth Solutions

2022 revenue: $736.3 million
Change from previous year: 13.7%
Number of producing registered representatives: 2,552
Client account assets: $107 billion
Year founded: 2017
Chief executive: Doug Ketterer
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12. Kestra Financial

2022 revenue: $790.2 million
Change from previous year: 5.2%
Number of producing registered representatives: 1,335
Client account assets: $103.2 billion
Year founded: 1997
Chief executive: Stephen Langlois
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11. Lincoln Financial Network

2022 revenue: $861.9 million
Change from previous year: (-5.9%)
Number of producing registered representatives: 11,899
Client account assets: $104 billion
Year founded: 1905
Chief executive: David Berkowitz
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10. Equitable Advisors

2022 revenue: $1.45 billion
Change from previous year: 15.4% 
Number of producing registered representatives: 4,258 
Client account assets: $193.6 billion
Year founded: 1999
Chief executive: David Karr
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9. Cambridge Investment Research

2022 revenue: $1.47 billion
Change from previous year: 7.1% 
Number of producing registered representatives: 3,801
Client account assets: $144.4 billion
Year founded: 1981
Chief executive: Amy Webber
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8. MassMutual’s MML Investors Services

2022 revenue: $1.57 billion
Change from previous year: (-0.1%) 
Number of producing registered representatives: 5,863
Client account assets: $211.6 billion
Year founded: 1981
Chief executive: John Vaccaro
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7. Commonwealth Financial Network

2022 revenue: $2.07 billion
Change from previous year: 3.5% 
Number of producing registered representatives: 2,117
Client account assets: $242.9 billion
Year founded: 1979
Chief executive: Wayne Bloom
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6. Northwestern Mutual

2022 revenue: $2.20 billion
Change from previous year: 10% 
Number of producing registered representatives: 5,633 
Client account assets: $255.8 billion
Year founded: 1968
Chief executive: Sarah Schneider
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5. Cetera Financial Group

2022 revenue: $2.71 billion
Change from previous year: 9.8% 
Number of producing registered representatives: 7,993
Client account assets: $317.6 billion
Year founded: 2010
Chief executive: Adam Antoniades
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4. Raymond James Financial Services

2022 revenue: $3.59 billion
Change from previous year: 13.3% 
Number of producing registered representatives: 4,589
Client account assets: $398.8 billion
Year founded: 1974
Chief executive: Scott Curtis
*The company didn't break out of its annual revenue by the type of fees or service. The numbers include only Raymond James Financial Services, the firm's independent brokerage channel, excluding the employee advisors of Raymond James & Associates.
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3. Osaic

2022 revenue: $4.23 billion
Change from previous year: 6.4%
Number of producing registered representatives: 10,570
Client account assets: $549.2 billion
Year founded: 2016
Chief executive: Jamie Price
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2. Ameriprise Financial

2022 revenue: $6.19 billion
Change from previous year: 2.4% 
Number of producing registered representatives: 8,173
Client account assets: Not provided
Year founded: 1894
Chief executive: Jim Cracchiolo
*Figures refer only to the independent franchise channel of Ameriprise, excluding employee advisors.
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1. LPL Financial

2022 revenue: $8.60 billion
Change from previous year: 11.4% 
Number of producing registered representatives: 21,275
Client account assets: $1.11 trillion
Year founded: 1989
Chief executive: Dan Arnold
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