Peluso says FiNet crafts each transition package based on an advisor's own practice. "We look at it like we're making a non-equity investment in helping them establish a small business. Part of the incentive to have them join us as an independent partner is to offer an up-front loan package that will vary from 25% to 100% of their trailing-12-month revenue." (Independent broker-dealers, or IBDs, typically offer smaller up-front packages, in part because they don't have the resources of the large brokerage firms, and also because they let advisors keep a larger chunk of the business they generate than do wirehouses.)

FiNet's generous transition packages, coupled with a core platform it shares with Wells Fargo's other two advisor channels, have made it a winner in the recruiting wars, allowing it to attract advisors who want the best of both worlds, says Diamond. "It's an independent within a bigger company," she says.

Another firm offering the best of both worlds, she says, is HighTower Advisors, which has a quasi-independent, hybrid model that accommodates both brokers and RIAs. That has made it attractive to wirehouse brokers thinking of moving.

"[Wirehouse] teams are now contacting us directly," says Mike Papedis, HighTower's managing director of business development. "Our pipeline is absolutely brimming." Created in 2008 with the backing of several outside institutional investor groups, High­Tower has a high-powered pedigree and a knack for attracting marquee high-net-worth practices desiring an independent model backed by sophisticated back office support.

Papedis says HighTower's ideal advisor has at least $300 million in assets, is located in a section of the U.S. where the firm wants to expand, and wants to run a fiduciary-oriented, fee-based practice. The firm has attracted 26 advisor teams with roughly $20 billion in assets since it was launched. Papedis says eight teams have joined HighTower so far in 2011--seven former wirehouse teams and one independent advisor--bringing along assets of almost $5 billion altogether. He says the firm's transition packages include cash and equity. The cash helps advisors establish their office and unwind from any retention packages they might have; the equity helps them establish an ownership stake in the firm.

Unlocking The Lockups
The financial meltdown was a big game-changer because it shattered public perceptions of the big Wall Street brokerages and accelerated both clients' desire for independent advice and the breakaway broker movement, says Larry Papike, president of Cross-Search, a Jamul, Calif.-based independent broker-dealer recruiting firm. He adds that the large retention packages scored by many wirehouse advisors during the '08-'09 period locked them up and slowed their migration to the IBDs.

But despite the lockups, the larger IBDs are still landing recruits from the wirehouses.

Raymond James & Associates (the company's employee broker-dealer) has a platform designed to compete with the wirehouses, says Bill Van Law, the national director of business development for Raymond James Financial Services (the company's independent contractor broker-dealer). He adds that instead of focusing on wirehouse advisors who've already decided they want to be independent, the company focuses on advisors unhappy at their current firms with the aim of helping them understand the benefits of being independent.

Van Law says Raymond James' broker-dealer recruiting in fiscal 2011 (ended September) was flat with last year, which was down from the high-water year of 2009. But he puts that into perspective: "Our numbers in 2010 and 2011 are close to what we did in 2008, and that was up significantly from 2006 and 2007. So we've seen significant increase during the past few years."

As part of its transition package for brokers, Raymond James gives them a mix of cash to meet short-term business needs; deferred compensation to replace some of the money they might leave on the table to come to Raymond James; and a business loan. "The package size depends on the individual," Van Law says.