Hybrid buyers are a retention danger advisors cannot afford to disregard

Nearly one in 4 prosperous buyers within the United States now holds each an advisor-led account and a self-directed capital allocation platform – a sample that new analysis identifies as a rising retention problem for wealth management professionals.

According to the Coalition Greenwich Voice of Client – 2026 Wealth Study, roughly 22% of prosperous customers (outlined as these with as much as $5 million in investable property) are utilizing each a full-service advisor and a self-directed account. The survey drew on responses from greater than 5,000 particular person buyers throughout the United States.

The information present that shoppers who keep each account sorts are 67% extra prone to think about switching or leaving their advisor than those that rely completely on advisor-led accounts. That determine, drawn from responses by which 15% of hybrid shoppers stated they have been actively contemplating or would think about switching their major advisor, in contrast with 9% of advisor-only shoppers, places a quantity to a risk that many practitioners have sensed however struggled to quantify.

The rise of zero-commission buying and selling platforms since 2019 has steadily sophisticated the consumer relationship image for full-service advisors. While roughly two-thirds of prosperous customers used a monetary advisor in 2026, roughly 54% additionally used self-directed accounts throughout the identical interval – that means the overlap between the 2 teams is substantial and, by the research’s reckoning, consequential.

Not each self-directed account alerts bother

The analysis cautions towards treating a self-directed account as computerized proof of a deteriorating relationship. Kieran Bol, Director of Research and Analytics in Wealth Management at Crisil Coalition Greenwich within the United States, and co-author of the report Advised and self-directed: Winning the hybrid wealth consumer, pushed again on the traditional trade profile of the DIY investor.

“The stereotype of a self-directed investor is a younger client who desires to guess in the marketplace,” Bol stated. “In actuality, relative to buyers who rely solely on full-service advisors, those that use each advisor-led and self-directed accounts have an identical urge for food for danger and are roughly the identical age – with a mean age of 63.”

The study identified four distinct motivations driving hybrid conduct. Some shoppers merely take pleasure in selecting shares and use a separate account as a method to keep engaged with bourses with out altering their broader advisory relationship. Others are managing prices, diversifying throughout account sorts, or holding property (akin to cryptocurrency) that fall outdoors the scope of their advisor-serviced portfolios.

However, the research additionally discovered that hybrid shoppers are extra price-sensitive, much less satisfied of the worth of holistic recommendation, and 3 times as possible as advisor-only shoppers to be open to robo-advice. As InvestmentNews has beforehand reported, self-directed investors have shown increasing openness to paying for human advice – creating each an acquisition alternative and a loyalty danger that advisors have to navigate fastidiously.

Loyalty gaps run deeper than switching charges

Beyond the headline switching statistic, the analysis surfaces a loyalty hole that compounds the retention downside.

Twenty % of hybrid shoppers stated they have been under no circumstances prone to comply with their advisor to a brand new agency if that advisor have been to maneuver, in contrast with simply 11% of advisor-only shoppers. For advisors who change corporations – a dynamic that has accelerated lately – that hole represents a significant danger of asset attrition even when no rapid consumer dissatisfaction is current.

The findings additionally problem advisors’ assumptions about what proportion of the e-book is genuinely in danger. Less than half of hybrid shoppers stated they like to work with an capital allocation skilled who can holistically meet their monetary wants throughout investments, life insurance coverage, banking, and taxes, in comparison with a majority of advisor-only shoppers who stated the identical.

That skepticism concerning the worth of complete recommendation shouldn’t be distinctive to sad shoppers; it seems baked into the hybrid section’s orientation towards investing no matter their satisfaction with a present advisor.

As InvestmentNews has lined, client retention is increasingly tied to the breadth of services advisors offer, with a separate 2026 Trust & Will survey discovering that 68% of suggested shoppers would think about switching to an advisor who presents estate planning companies.

The Coalition Greenwich information extends that strain level: shoppers who really feel their advisor shouldn’t be assembly their full vary of monetary wants usually tend to hedge by going elsewhere with a portion of their property.

What advisors and corporations can do

The report’s sensible suggestions middle on transparency and diagnostic self-discipline. Nathaniel Brown, Director of Client Development in Wealth Management at Crisil Coalition Greenwich, framed the required shift plainly.

“In the age of DIY investing, advisors should domesticate open relationships by which shoppers are comfy discussing their full monetary image, which can place the advisor to supply complete recommendation that takes under consideration all property — together with these with the advisor and elsewhere,” Brown stated.

The report advises advisors to maneuver by means of 4 steps when participating hybrid shoppers: uncover by asking about property held elsewhere, diagnose the consumer’s motivation for sustaining a self-directed account, exhibit the worth of holistic planning by means of common conversations about return on capital allocation, and monitor for early warning indicators of dissatisfaction.

For wealth administration corporations, the researchers suggest a candid evaluation of whether or not product or platform gaps are driving shoppers to self-direct, and a critical consideration of whether or not providing in-house self-directed choices or lower-cost digital advisory companies might preserve these property – and people consumer relationships – nearer to residence.

The key level, the researchers argue, is that advisors should perceive every consumer’s motivation for utilizing a self-directed account and construct a technique that serves each pure advisor-led and hybrid shoppers equally.

Firms that fail to make that distinction danger conflating benign DIY conduct with early-stage attrition and shedding shoppers they might have retained.

As competitors for prosperous buyers intensifies, the growing number of clients managing accounts on the side represents each a structural problem and a gap for advisors prepared to have frank conversations concerning the totality of a consumer’s monetary life. The 22% determine shouldn’t be a ceiling – it’s a baseline from which the hybrid consumer section is prone to develop.