IBD Elite 2024: The 10 firms with the most CFPs

The competition for top financial advisor talent rages so fiercely that five out of the 10 largest independent brokerages do not share the number of certified financial planners at their firms.

As part of the survey for Financial Planning's IBD Elite study earlier this year, LPL Financial, Ameriprise, Osaic, Cetera Financial Group, Cambridge Investment Research and 14 other companies declined to state their number of CFPs. 

Out of the remaining group of independent brokerages, Northwestern Mutual, Raymond James, Commonwealth Financial Network, MassMutual's MML Investors Services, Equitable Advisors, Kestra Financial and four other firms in the slideshow below reported the highest number of planners holding the profession's most prominent and respected mark of certification.

The makeup of the list reflects how planners are abiding by a rigorous professional standard requiring the fiduciary duty to clients while working for several large insurance-owned firms that sell proprietary products — a notorious conflict of interest. Wealth management firms that have other conflicts are nevertheless confronting their own questions about the nature of independence in their alternate business models.

At root, though, ranking firms by the number of CFPs shows which firms are winning among peers in recruiting and retaining highly sought planners. And some midsize firms have built solid bases over the years, even though they're not among the giants of the channel.

"There are quite a few advisors out there who don't want to be at LPL or they don't want to be rolled up into a larger organization," said Bill Hamm, CEO of Tampa, Florida-based Independent Financial Partners. "There are a lot of advisors who don't want to be one of 20,000. They enjoy the intimacy and partnership of a smaller firm." 

Firms on the recruiting trail for independent teams, which are often led by CFPs, usually stress their ability to eliminate time-consuming tasks and help advisors' operations.

"We really understand what those friction points are, and it extends into everything," said Rita Robbins, president of New York-based Affiliated Advisors. "We want to relieve the burdens that suck up the time and reduce efficiency and growth for our advisors."

Scroll down the slideshow to see which firms have the most CFPs in the independent brokerage channel of wealth management. And find other features from this year's edition of FP's IBD Elite study here:

• IBD Elite 2024: The myth of big versus small
• Deep dive into independent wealth manager data
• The 15 largest independent brokerages in wealth management
• Top 10 firms with the fastest growing payouts
• The 12 firms with the largest percentage of women advisors
• The 10 fastest growing independent brokerages

Note: The companies are ranked below by the number of certified financial planners using the brokerage at the end of 2023, as reported by the companies themselves. "N/A" means "not available" or not provided by the firm.

FP relies on each firm to state their annual metrics accurately. The industry term "producing representative" refers to the firms' most accurate count of financial advisors with the brokerage or registered investment advisory firm. Out of 41 participating firms, 19 did not submit the number of certified financial planners at the firm as part of the survey.