While some firms buck the trend, overall advisor satisfactionwith their broker-dealers continues to decline, accordingto the latest J.D. Power study of wealth managers, released June29.

Most important, the study finds, the drop is sharpest among thehighest producers.

“Among investors, the most affluent and profitable clients tendto be the most satisfied because they get more attention and valuefrom their firm,” said Mike Foy, director of the wealth managementpractice at J.D. Power, in a statement. “With advisors, we see theexact opposite.”

Related: 10 fiduciary rule questions in Labor'sRFI

The study tracks satisfaction tied to compensation, firmleadership, professional development, operations, client support,technology and problem resolution.

The first three months of the year have seen strong markets andcorporate earnings that beat analysts' estimates.

Among advisors with more than $1 million in annual fees andcommissions (or production), overall satisfaction is 683, down 27points from 2016. In contrast, for advisors with less than $250,000in production, overall satisfaction is 799, up 35 points from 764in 2016.

Related: As more retirement investors drop theF-bomb, Wilshire reaps the benefits

“A confluence of factors, including continuing changes tocompensation, uncertainty over the Department of Labor fiduciaryrule, emerging technologies like robo-advisors and waning faith infirm leadership are all contributing to the trend,” the reportexplained.

Foy points out that four in 10 advisors do not have a completeunderstanding of how the rule affects their practice, while one infive has indicated that their broker-dealers have not given themspecific information on what the rule means in terms of accountchanges for their clients.

Read on to see how different firms are doing in terms of advisorsatisfaction and how likely employee and independent advisors areto depart over the next year or two.

Overall satisfaction averages 719 among employee advisors,down 3 points from 722 in 2016.

As for which firms stand out as “above average,” Edward Jonestops the list at 925, followed by Raymond James & Associates,Ameriprise and UBS.

"This is a tremendous vote of confidence during a period ofintense industry change, and it validates the direction of our firmleadership, the essential role of our branch office administrators,and our compensation that fairly rewards individuals for theircontributions to doing what's in the best interest of our clients,"said Managing Partner Jim Weddle of Edward Jones in astatement.

Edward Jones adds that the J.D. Power study finds 90% of itsreps say they are likely to be working at the firm over the nextyear or two vs. the industry average of 51%.

Independent advisors’ satisfaction stands at 752, down 3 pointsfrom 755 a year ago. The level of satisfaction in this advisorchannel is 33 points, or 5%, higher than that of employeeadvisors.

Although J.D. Power does not publicize the independent channelresults, Commonwealth, Raymond James and Cambridge have “done verywell” in the polls in recent years, said Commonwealth Financial CEOWayne Bloom, in an interview. “This is because we are advisorcentric and walk the walk.”

Other key findings from the report:

• DOL fiduciary rule spurs confusion: Among employee advisors, 41%indicate they don’t completely understand the fiduciary rule, but64% say they expect to lose smaller clients as a result, and 58%say they expect it to negatively affect the profitability of theirpractices.

• Additionally, 44% say the rule will make it more difficult toattract new clients and 36% say it will be harder to retainexisting clients.

• Elevated high touch support: Top-producing advisors have bothgreater needs and higher expectations in terms of technology andoperational support than lower producers.

• Top producers averaged 22 compliance contacts over the pastyear, compared with just 11 for lower producers, and also facedlonger average resolution times.

• Among advisors who indicate they spent more than 5% of time oncompliance, overall satisfaction scores are 148 points lower thanamong those who spent less time resolving compliance issues.