Forty-three percent of financial advisers are either at or areapproaching retirement, according to new research from globalanalytics firm Cerulli Associates.

The danger is as the adviser population ages, broker/dealers andcustodians are at risk of losing assets under management as advisers exit the industry, saidKenton Shirk, associate director at Cerulli. The independent channels are most at risk because theyhave the oldest advisers on average, he added.

The average age of financial advisers is 50.9 and 43% are over the age of 55 andnearly one-third of advisers fall into the 55 to 64 age range,Shirk said.

In Cerulli's latest report, Advisor Metrics 2013:Understanding and Addressing a More Sophisticated Population,the Boston-based firm focused on adviser trends and consumerinformation, including market sizing, adviser product use andpreferences, and advice delivery. Data in the report iscompiled from proprietary surveys from more than 8,000 financialadvisers, registered investment advisers, asset managers and mutualfund and variable annuity wholesalers, the firm said.

“Broker/dealers continue to struggle to recruit new youngadvisers into the industry to offset those advisers who are nearingretirement,” Shirk continues.

Cerulli suggested firms encourage adviser teams to bring injunior advisers and train them in a specific area of expertise inorder to increase the success rate of these new recruits.

To guard against asset attrition, broker/dealers and custodiansneed to provide support and resources to help advisers tacklesuccession planning, and development of internal successioncandidates, according to Cerulli.