"Simon Hoyle says it’s become even more imperative for broker-dealers to hold on to their existing advisors (and their assets) longer by offering them things like longer-term forgivable loans. He also points out that many of those forgivable notes are in the end paid for by the clients through transaction charges or fund-sharing fees, things the clients might not know and that regulators might not like. (See Hoyle’s story on page 60.) Hoyle and other recruiters say the race among IBDs to offer bigger payouts is going to pinch somewhere, and they think it means cutting down on services. “Some of the big B-Ds, their head count has shrunk, so the [ratio] of advisors to home office employees [has] changed. So maybe it was 9-to-1 or 10-to-1, more in that ideal range. Now we’re seeing some numbers where it’s closer to 15-plus” advisors for every home office staffer."