The Advisor Flow Index
Pick a firm and see what recent movement shows over the last 12 months: net reported flow, how long people stay before they leave, and where the advisors who go are landing. Reported registration-change data, read from the advisor's side of the table.
A movement signal, not a firm score.
Use the index to see where registrations are moving and which questions deserve a closer look. It measures reported activity - not advisor quality, practice economics, or intent.
- Reported inflow, outflow, and net direction
- Common source and destination firms
- Tenure and experience patterns when samples allow
- AUM, revenue, production, or firm quality
- Why an advisor moved - or whether a move was right
- Broker-only registrations not reported through IAPD
Read the movement profile for any firm.
Search the tracked directory to connect net flow with tenure, experience, and recurring routes.
The report will assemble its recent flow, retention signals, and most common origins and destinations from the same public registration-change evidence.
See the field before reading the firm.
The headline window and the strongest net movers give each firm profile a useful reference point. These are movement rankings - not rankings of firm quality.
Where net flow is concentrating.
The pattern starts the conversation.
The index can reveal movement. It cannot decide which path aligns with your clients, team, or next decade. Continuum helps you pressure-test that decision without a platform agenda - and advisors never pay us.
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Transparent by design.
Open the methodology and definitions when you want to inspect the source, thresholds, and exact meaning behind a measure.
MethodologySource, scope, and limitations Read details +
Select a term for its full definition. Only one stays open at a time, so you can find an answer without losing your place.
11 terms01Net reported flow
The number of advisors who joined a firm in this window minus the number who left it. A positive figure means the firm gained more advisors than it lost; a negative figure means it lost more than it gained. This counts advisors, not assets or revenue.
02Net reported flow rank
This firm's position on net reported flow compared with every other ranked firm, where #1 is the biggest net gain and the highest number is the biggest net loss. It measures direction of movement, not firm size, quality, or prestige. A very large, well-regarded firm can rank low simply because more advisors left than joined during this window.
03Tenure at exit and retention rank
Among advisors who left a firm in this window, the median number of months they had been there before leaving. It is not a measure of how long all advisors stay; it only describes the people who departed. A low number means departures tended to be recent hires; a high number means the advisors who departed had generally stayed longer.
The small bar beneath the number is the retention rank: it places this firm against peer firms with enough departures to compare. The marker sits further right when departing advisors stayed longer than peers, further left when they left sooner. It shows the firm's position, not the reader's.
04Early exits under 12 months
The share of a firm's departures that happened within a year of the advisor joining. A higher share suggests recent hires are not sticking, which often points to an alignment or onboarding problem rather than seasoned advisors reassessing. Compared against the dataset-wide average.
05Where leavers land and arrivals come from
The firms most frequently chosen by advisors leaving (destinations) and the firms advisors most frequently came from (sources) in this window. A path that repeats many times is a recurring route, not a one-off move.
06Small sample
A flag on the tenure and early-exit figures when a firm had between 5 and 19 departures this window. The numbers are still that firm's real medians, but with so few departures a single move can move them noticeably, so they are shown in muted text, worded as approximate, and labeled with the exact count. Treat them as a hint, not a firm conclusion. Below 5 departures the figures are withheld entirely, and the retention rank is shown only for firms with 20 or more departures, where the comparison is stable.
07Veteran departure share
Among advisors who left this firm in the window, the share with 15 or more years in the industry. A high share means departures skew experienced; a low share means departures skew newer. Neither is a verdict - growth models, retirements, and training programs all shape this number.
08Clustered departure share
The share of a firm's departures that landed inside a burst window - a 30-day stretch in which most of a lane's moves occurred, the signature of clustered movement. Losing a team is a different event than losing individuals one at a time. Shown for firms with 20 or more departures in the window.
09This window and dataset
The set of advisor moves currently shown. The current view is all advisor moves reported in the last 12 months. Going forward this becomes a rolling trailing-12-month period, so the figures always reflect the most recent 12 months of activity.
10What counts as a move
Any registered IAR whose firm registration changed during the window. It is a count of registrations, not vetted client-facing advisors, so it can include non-producing registrants such as home-office or supervisory staff.
11Directional
These figures describe broad patterns of advisor movement, not audited counts. Firm names and categories come from reported registration changes and can include reclassifications or internal channel shifts. Use the numbers to spot trends and questions worth exploring, not as a precise scorecard.
Continue exploring
Three useful next views of the same public SEC IAPD registration-change data.