Kathleen Hegenbart remembers the moment, five months ago, that proved a turning point for her. As is often the case in real life, it wasn't a dramatic office showdown. It was lunch. On a Wednesday.

Hegenbart, then a vice president at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, met a long-time colleague and when talk turned to the financial world, the word "independent" came up. As a 26-year veteran, Hegenbart had never seriously entertained the thought of going independent. But this time, she knew that she wanted to make a change after the mega-merger reshaped her employer in 2009. It left her wishing she could offer more service and support to her clients than she was able to. "Even though I was being paid to stay at MSSB, I knew it was time for me to move on," Hegenbart says.

While contemplating the notion of going independent and hearing about the freedom it brings, Hegenbart did what any good advisor would do: a risk/reward analysis. "I drew up a chart one day and looked at the positives and negatives of moving to an independent firm as opposed to another wirehouse." And sure enough, she decided to move-to another wirehouse. She ended up at Bank of America Merrill Lynch with the same title as before.

Hegenbart, who works in Boston, is far from alone in this "wire-to-wire" trade fair. Based on interviews with advisors, analysts and headhunters, there is a shift occurring in this labor market. While the idea of going independent has long been viewed as the ultimate siren song, more are now finding good reasons to stay in this channel.

UBS, by far the smallest of the four wirehouses, has recruited 75 advisors from the other three firms so far this year, according to a company spokesman. The other three declined to provide overall numbers, but roughly 11,000 wirehouse advisors are estimated to be actively looking for a new job within the next two years, according to a recent estimate from Aite Group, a research and consulting firm. And more than one-third of them would prefer another wirehouse, the report says.

That limits their options. But according to the advisors who have recalibrated their thinking, there are benefits to working at the big companies that are too important to give up, even if it comes with the price of having to forego the dream of running your own shop.

And frankly, many advisors simply do not want to be their own boss in an independent shop. And it's not just a matter of "keeping the lights on" as a business owner. But rather, many view independence as a drag on their time and energy in doing what they really want to do-interact with clients. Another problem was the lone-wolf mentality. Many advisors want the natural, daily interactions that come with working in a large company. And then there is cold, hard cash. Some work in a wirehouse for the same reason that Willie Sutton robbed banks: Because that's where the money is.

Kenneth Roban, a recent wire-to-wire act, personifies these ideas. He joined the White Plains, NY office of UBS in June from MSSB. He had considered the independent route, but then realized it didn't suit his personality. "I don't want to feel isolated and be the one turning on the lights and making management decisions," Roban says. Now he is a senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at UBS and believes that sticking to the wirehouse channel is the best choice that any advisor can make. "I like waking up and going into a branch every morning... it's important to feel that you are part of something bigger than yourself."

Playing Defense

In an effort to keep their best advisors, the wirehouses have set out to implement a new strategy with pinpoint precision. While creating more alluring golden handcuffs through sweeter retention packages may seem like a good strategy to keep advisors satisfied, it's not a long-term solution, says Alois Pirker, senior analyst at Aite Group. "The retention packages mean a lot to keep advisors, but it buys the wirehouses time, not loyalty."

So the wirehouses began structuring incentives to really boost their position. But these changes were far from handouts. "MSSB offers mortgages and loans for five to six years," Pirker says. "But if they leave sooner, they're on the hook to pay it back [and] this is a way they stay tied to the company."

The meat of the recruiting deal is still money. And lots of it. Recruiting deals now top out at 330% of trailing-12 production for the first and second quintile advisors, says industry recruiter Mindy Diamond. And as a sign of how competitive this industry can be, wirehouses are also feeling the intense pressure to play defense and are trying to keep their advisors who are being lured by competitors' recruiting offers. So they are crafting deals for advisors who do not want to sign a nine-year note. Instead, if they fall into a three-year retirement bracket they will be offered a package if they choose to stay, Diamond says.