US advisers licensed through one of the big six wirehouses are expected to rebalance more than twice the level of a client’s portfolio than independent financial advisers, according to Fahrenheit – a new tracker tool.

Advisers working with the likes of Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch or Wells Fargo (the three biggest US wirehouses) plan to readjust an average of US$15.5 million compared to only US$7.3 million for independent advisers in the first three months of 2011.

Wirehouse advisers anticipate reallocating two-fifths (39.9%) of their average client’s US$116.8 million portfolios, compared to independent advisers, who foresee reweighting just over one-quarter (27.5%) of their average client portfolio of US$84.6 million.

Active independent advisers outnumber wirehouse advisers in the US by a factor of 1.7, yet the total assets managed on behalf of clients is not too dissimilar between both groups due to the fact that the latter tend to service wealthier clients.

The greater level of asset transfers by wirehouse advisers may be seen by some as churning behaviour, while others may interpret the increased levels of trading as more engaged and proactive behaviour.

Independent advisers (advisors in the US) account for some US$18 trillion of retail assets (US$14trillion of which sits in managed funds) according to Fahrenheit calculations.

According to Fahrenheit, what is clear is that wirehouse advisers anticipate receiving and placing an additional average of US$3.3 million in new client monies over the first quarter of 2011, compared to only US$2.3 million for independent advisers.

Fahrenheit is a research tool for pooling the aggregated investment outlook of US investment professionals across 60 investment product types.

Fahrenheit is a joint initiative between New York-based Source Media and the London-based arm of CoreData Research.

The tool provides predictive fund flow and asset allocation insights in US dollar terms at a collective industry level and also by adviser type.

Fahrenheit is designed to spot trends and offer predictive intelligence on future investment decisions, revealing what professional financial advisers believe is going to happen rather than what has already happened.

The probability tool is a data tracker of predictive decision making and activity among US investment advisory community.