Rough markets cull the advisory herd but in a healthy way, new Cerulli data shows

Summary: Fourteen thousand advisors fell by the wayside from 2009 to 2010 but dually registered advisors and RIAs have bucked that trend, gaining strength in numbers, analysts with Cerulli Associates say in a new study. In that time period, the number of advisors dropped from 334,160 to 320,378 – a loss of 4.1%, according to the Boston-based company its annual Advisor Market Sizing analysis.  Dually registered advisors grew a whopping 10.2% from 11,591 to 12,773.