The Next GenerationOne of the areas that currently has the attention and resources of industry leaders is the looming talent gap. About 8,600 advisors will reach retirement age in each of the next 13 years, according toa report from consulting firm Cerulli Associates. That doesnt include the 24,000 current advisors who are age 68 and older, the report states. Those demographics have inspired leading wealth management firms to deploy aggressive new techniques to build their bench.Merrill Lynch #1 on Total Revenue Leaderboard recently revamped its advisor training program to improve long-term advisor retention and quality. The firms Practice Management Development program “graduates” about 39% of each class into advisor roles. Although this is slightly above the industry average of 30%, according to Cerulli, Merrill Lynch realizes it must boost that number to around 50%, without lowering standards, in order to fill the widening advisor generation gap.

via Leaders: Ranking the Top Wirehouses and Regional Broker-Dealers | On Wall Street.