Merrill raises 2027 growth-award bar to $7.5 million and a net four new households

Merrill Lynch is leaving its 2027 compensation grid unchanged and raising the growth award threshold to $7.5 million in strategic flows and a net four new households, AdvisorHub reported. Starting January 1, the figures are up from $5 million and three households, according to two sources close to the firm.

The growth award replaced the growth grid in 2024 and pays cash for new client balances and accounts. The vast majority of Merrill advisors qualified for it last year, the same sources told AdvisorHub.

"We look at compensation every year to make sure it supports our long-term strategy and rewards advisors for strong performance," Patricio Diaz, Merrill's chief operating officer, said in a statement. "This year, that meant making a few targeted updates that reflect the evolving needs of our clients and the breadth of capabilities our advisors bring to them."

The Elite Award, which required $150 million in strategic flows, is being retired. For 2027 there will be three separate awards, each worth a 50% premium to the advisor's growth-award payout. The categories are $50 million in managed flows, $10 million in checking and savings flows, or $10 million in lending flows. An advisor who clears more than one can collect more than one premium, the sources said.

Merrill is also adding a Lending Growth Award in 2027, an annual cash bonus on full-year net new lending flows. Advisors generating at least $10 million in net new lending flows earn 10 basis points on those flows; at $25 million the rate is 20 basis points, the sources said. Ten basis points on $10 million comes to $10,000.

The 2027 changes follow this year's plan, which already broadened a banking growth award to 10 to 25 basis points on increases in client deposits and allowed the growth award to count credit deposits and money market funds. Merrill also doubled the threshold for a "small household" to $500,000 from $250,000 for 2026; those policies carry into 2027 unchanged.

The four wirehouses lost a net 517 experienced advisors in the first half of 2026, according to Diamond Consultants' count cited in this publication's earlier reporting.