Where Commonwealth advisors went.
After LPL announced its acquisition, Commonwealth advisors had a choice to make. In the first twelve months, 787 of the 3,498 advisors in the starting cohort - 22.5% - registered with another firm, about four times the 5.7% industry pace over the same period; through July 31, 2026 the count reached 815 (23.3%).
Month by month, it tracks Commonwealth advisors leaving after the LPL acquisition - where they registered next and how long they had been at the firm - alongside retention: the larger share of the cohort that stayed.
This is competitive movement, not total attrition. The report follows registrations to another firm; retirements and advisors who left the industry are not visible in the destination data.
Registered somewhere else
Competitive departures from the original 3,498-advisor cohort through July 2026.
Roughly four times the market pace
22.5% cohort churn in the first twelve months compared with 5.7% across the industry.
Captured by four firms
Raymond James, Kestra, Cetera, and Cambridge concentrated the movement.
Median Commonwealth tenure
The advisors moving were established, not predominantly recent arrivals.
The exit accelerated after the deal closed.
Movement built through the summer and peaked in October 2025 - two months after the August 1 close. Registration changes lag advisor decisions, so the peak is evidence of execution timing, not necessarily when advisors first decided to leave.
Competitive departures by month
The first month is partial, and July 2026 is still filling: filings post to the SEC feed for weeks after a move, so its count is a floor, not a final number. Focus or hover on any column for its exact count.
Four firms captured half the movement.
Raymond James led with 176 advisors, followed by Kestra with 113. The concentration at the top matters, but so does the long tail: the 815 advisors ultimately spread across 130 destination firms.
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Experienced advisors drove the movement.
The median departing advisor had spent 6.3 years at Commonwealth and 20 years in the industry. Sixty-two percent had at least 15 years of industry experience.
Where their registrations landed
Destination business model, where the receiving firm could be classified.
Tenure when they departed
Time registered with Commonwealth before the competitive move.
The movement arrived in waves - and it was national.
Same-month, same-destination clusters suggest coordinated branch or team movement, although registration data cannot confirm team membership. Geographically, Massachusetts led, but departures reached major advisor markets across the country.
Largest departure waves
Same destination and registration-end month among the departing cohort.
Where the advisors practice
Primary state for the departing advisors; Commonwealth's home state leads.
What the data suggests - and what it cannot prove.
Registration records make the pattern visible. They do not reveal advisor intent, client movement, production, assets, satisfaction, or whether any destination was the right choice.
Two firms absorbed much of the exit
Raymond James and Kestra captured 289 advisors, or 35% of the cohort's competitive departures.
The peak followed the close
October's peak is consistent with the long execution cycle behind advisor transitions.
The bulk LPL conversion is excluded
The remaining Commonwealth registrations had not yet appeared as an LPL platform conversion at the report date.
The quieter story sits in the long tail
Many advisors chose boutique, newly formed, or still-unclassified firms rather than a small set of national platforms.
The market pattern is not the personal decision.
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Start a confidential conversationA fixed cohort, followed through July 2026.
The report begins with advisors registered at Commonwealth on June 15, 2025, then identifies members of that same cohort registered with a different firm by July 31, 2026 - thirteen and a half months later, from SEC filings as of August 4, 2026.
Source and method
U.S. SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure registration data. Headcounts are reconstructed from registration begin and end dates, and destination brand variants are rolled up to their operating family. Broker-only representatives are not included. This is a fixed-window snapshot; the daily-refreshed Firm Churn report uses a rolling window, so its Commonwealth figures will differ slightly. Figures are directional.How to read the numbers
- Cohort churn
- The denominator is Commonwealth's registered-advisor headcount at the starting date. Records represent IAR registrations, not production, assets, or revenue.
- Competitive loss
- Only advisors who appear at another firm count. Retirements and industry exits are not visible at the destination end.
- The announcement gap
- LPL announced the acquisition on March 31, 2025, ten weeks before the cohort was fixed, so advisors who left between April 1 and June 14, 2025 are outside the study on both sides of the count.
- The LPL conversion
- The bulk platform conversion has not yet appeared in the registration feed. Under the report's rollup rules, an intra-family conversion is not competitive churn, and it will be excluded as retention when it does appear.
- Departure waves
- Same-month, same-destination clusters are signals of coordinated movement, not confirmation of team membership.
- Revisions
- This edition is rebuilt from the August 4, 2026 filings; SEC records revise as late filings post, so counts differ by a few advisors from the June build - the starting cohort, for example, moved from 3,518 to 3,498.
- Directional
- Use these records to identify patterns and questions, not as an audited advisor or asset scorecard.
Commonwealth advisors leaving LPL
- Are Commonwealth advisors leaving LPL?
- After LPL announced the acquisition, a share of the June 2025 Commonwealth cohort registered with another firm. This page is that competitive record from public SEC IAPD filings.
- Where did they go?
- Destinations are listed above. In the study window the largest receiving families include Raymond James, Kestra, and Cetera. Intra-family conversion onto LPL is not counted as competitive churn.
- Is leaving the right answer?
- Not automatically. Movement is a signal, not a verdict. Staying can be the right answer. Get a second opinion before you sign.