RIAs trail other wealth channels in advisor pay, CFP Board finds

Median compensation for financial planners reached $195,000 in 2025, marking a 15% year-over-year increase according to the CFP Board. The organization says its CFP certificate results in an 11% compensation increase over those without the designation.

Industry recruiter Louis Diamond of Diamond Consultants, says the CFP Board's Certified Financial Planner credential has become especially important for young advisors in the job market.

“The next crop of talent, they definitely tend to have CFPs more often than their predecessors,” Diamond told InvestmentNews. “But there's plenty of highly successful advisors who are either just rainmakers or investing gurus — they were successful and they felt like they didn't need their CFP.”

The CFP Board’s 2026 Compensation Study collected online survey responses from 1,624 financial planners. Financial planners with under five years of experience totaled $115,000 in median compensation, compared to $160,000 for those between five to 10 years, $225,000 for 11 to 20 years experience, and $360,000 for those above 20 years. More than 107,000 people have a CFP certificate, according to the CFP Board. 

“I feel like now to be taken seriously as a younger advisor, I would go so far to say it's a requirement to have or to be pursuing some sort of advanced designation,” said Diamond. “It doesn't have to be the CFP, but that's probably the most popular. It could be the CIMA, or the certified exit planning designation, or something that really indicates that you really take this business seriously, you're an expert, and that you've invested considerable time and resources on your part to get better.”

Almost all CFP holders who are employed by a company (96%) have access to a defined contribution retirement plan, while 39% access profit-sharing, 16% have stock options, 8% participate in a Employee Stock Option Plan, and just 7% have a pension. 

At $175,000, RIAs have the lowest median compensation among the wealth channels surveyed by the CFP Board. Independent broker-dealers ranked first at $226,500, followed by wirehouse/brokerage at $213,760, $206,000 for banks, and $181,500 among hybrid-RIAs.

“RIAs, even the biggest ones, they don't have the same scale that a bank or a wirehouse have, and they're not making money on net interest margin, on loans, etc,” said Diamond. “So the way that they protect their margins so they're still able to run a successful business is oftentimes by controlling the compensation line item as best they can.”