Head count drops at Blucora’s Avantax, but revenue per adviser rises Revenue per Avantax adviser for 2020 totaled $111,000, at the low end of the independent brokerage and RIA business for large enterprises. August 4, 2021 Blucora Inc. Wednesday reported a 7% year-over-year decline in the number of financial advisers registered with its broker-dealer and registered investment adviser business, Avantax, but said adviser productivity, in term of revenue per adviser during the quarter, increased 49% on the back of the last year’s rising stock market and a company push to its corporate RIA. Blucora, a tax planning software company, entered the wealth management business half a dozen years ago, starting with its October 2015 acquisition of HD Vest Financial Services Inc. for $580 million from private equity owners. Then in 2019, it said it was paying $180 million in stock for 1st Global Inc., an independent broker-dealer that focused on taxes and CPAs.