LPL Rises to No. 2 in J.D. Power Advisor Satisfaction

LPL Financial moved to second place in J.D. Power’s U.S. Financial Advisor Satisfaction Study for independent advisors, its best showing in at least a decade. Commonwealth Financial Network ranked first among independent brokerages for the 13th consecutive year. LPL plans to transfer Commonwealth advisors onto its platform in the fourth quarter after acquiring Commonwealth for $2.7 billion.

The study is based on responses from 4,503 employee and independent advisors collected between December 2025 and April 2026. J.D. Power reports a satisfaction index on a 1,000-point scale that measures six categories: compensation; firm leadership and culture; operational support; products and marketing; professional development; and technology. Scores were released for firms with at least 100 participating advisors.

In the employee channel, Stifel topped the rankings. Raymond James and Edward Jones ranked among the top three across the two channels alongside LPL and Commonwealth.

The report identifies two notable trends. About 40% of employee advisors and 35% of independent advisors said they work in teams; satisfaction was highest among teams of three or four members. The study also found a substantial increase in use of artificial intelligence tools, particularly among employee advisors. Advisors who reported that their firms had deployed AI tools effectively showed increases of more than 100 points on the 1,000-point satisfaction scale.

“When AI is rolled out smoothly, with proactive communication and effective training, advisors can take hours back from compliance and administrative work and reinvest that time in clients and new business development,” Mike Foy, managing director of J.D. Power’s wealth management practice, said in a statement.

Jeffrey Czajka, founder of Advisor Growth Solutions, noted that industry consolidation makes recruiting and retention more important than the typical seven-year recruiting loan cycle. He said advisors evaluate factors such as mergers and acquisitions activity, technology support, company policy changes, relationships with executives and large recruiting offers when choosing a firm.

Both LPL and Commonwealth issued statements highlighting their positions in the J.D. Power rankings as they prepare for the advisor transfer. The study’s methodology and focus on operational support and technology were included in the release of results.