One of the highest profile advisors in the business is warning advisors and other wealth management industry insiders about the coming advisor exodus.

Olivier Ludwig of ETF.com reports that, earlier this week at the publication's eighth annual Inside ETFs conference in Hollywood, Florida, RIA titan Ric Edelman predicted that as many as half of current financial advisors could leave the business in the decade, opting to retreat and retire in the face of the robo-advisor onslaught. Edelman was onstage debating with just such a robo-advisor, or at least the human face of one of a robo-advisor: Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash.

"Adam, or someone like Adam, is going to put half of you out of business," Edelman reportedly said. "I'm not sure Adam will survive, but his successor will."

Nash insisted that there's room in the business for online, computer-based financial advice and in-person, one-on-one advice. Yet even Edelman's own RIA is betting on its own Edelman Online unit, which blends computers and human advisors. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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