According to the 2015 Cerulli DC Distribution report, there are more DC advisor specialists — defined as those who generate 50% or more of their revenue from DC plans — in the insurance channel than any other.
But those same advisors account for only 5.2% of total specialists’ assets, according to the report, meaning their revenue and assets are relatively small. This proves the point that sometimes numbers lie — or at least don't provide the true picture. In fact, hybrid or dually registered advisors are the really dominant segment of the DC specialist market.
Cerulli estimates that there are 311,681 active financial advisors, 5.1% of whom are specialists and 21.6% of whom are “dabblers” (15%-49% of revenue). The rest (73.4%) are “non-producers” or so-called Emerging Advisors.
TRAU research counts them a bit differently but comes to the same conclusions:
- 2,500 Elite DC Advisors, or those with more than $250 million of DC AUM
- 22,500 Core Advisors with more than $25 million (including Elites)
- 225,000 Emerging Advisors
Other findings from the Cerulli Report:
- DCIO compensation — about a third of externals’ compensation comes equally from bonus, salary and commissions
- 50% of 401(k) assets are held in mutual funds, followed by CITs at 17%
- 403(b) assets were just under $900 billion in 2014, up 3% from 2013
- TDFs are projected to reach $2.2 trillion in 2020 when 70% of contributions will flow into them
