The brokerage reps in the survey felt lured to the RIA channel by the promise of greater control over their practice. Most commonly, they sought more flexibility in how they choose to serve their clients.

“You can look today and it is much easier than it has been over the past 10 to 20 years to transition to the independent channel,” said Collins. “There’s a tremendous amount of choice now, and advisors can take all the resources available and launch a business of their own much easier today than ever before.”

Reps also consider independence for opportunities to make more money, and to exert greater control over the day-to-day operations of their businesses.

More than half of brokerage reps considering making a move to the RIA channel are dissatisfied with their employers, according to the survey. Just 12 percent of the respondents expressed satisfaction with their current employer.

More than half of the reps surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with their employers’ corporate culture, opportunities for career advancement, changing or unfair compensation policies, and corporate leadership—the four most commonly cited reasons for considering independence. According to Collins, many mid-career breakaways feel like they lack agency over their practices and their careers.

“Look at some of the broker-dealers out there. You’ll find there’s been a lot of negative publicity, especially with wirehouses that have not been forthcoming with information to their broker force,” said Collins. “A lot of people feel like they want to be able to trust information that’s handed down to them and they will be able to model this out if they run their own business and build their own internal culture.

“Other brokerages change compensation structures on their representatives periodically or annually, and reps feel frustrated at their lack of control over those things.”

The respondents felt confident in their ability to leave their brokerage employers and join the independent channel, whether through starting a firm of their own, a strategy favored by 40 percent of the respondents; through acquiring or merging with another firm, favored by 25 percent; becoming an employee of an existing firm, favored by 17 percent; or partnering with an RIA aggregator, favored by 16 percent of the respondents.

In the survey, 78 percent of the advisors felt like they would get the support they need once they were independent.

“I think that confidence speaks to where the independent channel has evolved to,” said Collins. “Years ago, a lot of advisors were nervous about making that leap.”