Cetera Launches $19B RIA Combining Avantax Planning Partners, Retirement Planning Group
Cetera Financial Group has launched Cetera Planning Partners, a registered investment adviser created by combining two of its existing practices – Avantax Planning Partners, or APP, and The Retirement Planning Group, or TRPG – into a single employee-adviser entity with approximately $19 billion in assets under administration and more than 100 advisers.
The new RIA will operate within Cetera’s RIA and branches channel. TRPG has already begun operating under the Cetera Planning Partners brand, and APP is expected to complete its integration later this year.
The launch reflects Cetera’s continued push to scale its employee-adviser model. Over the past six years, the firm has completed approximately 70 transactions tied to that model, including the 2026 additions of $1.9 billion Darnall Sikes Wealth Partners, $400 million Plains Wealth Management, and $135 million Matkovic Financial Group.
“We built Cetera Planning Partners around a simple idea: advisers should never have to choose between what’s best for their clients today and what’s right for the future,” said Jennifer Hanau, president of Cetera’s RIA and branches channel.
The platform offers in-house specialists across financial and estate planning, tax strategy and preparation, investment and retirement solutions, and insurance and trust services. It also provides a succession path for advisers preparing to exit the industry, the firm said.
Cetera Planning Partners coordinates those services in-house and leverages existing CPA firm relationships.
“To undertake a shift as significant as Cetera Planning Partners, you need the right conditions, the right alignment and the right leadership, and we have all those things backed by a strong capital structure,” said Mike Durbin, chief executive officer of Cetera. “Adviser sentiment is increasingly aligned with the RIA model, driven by accelerating client demand for financial planning and advice. Cetera Planning Partners is how we lead it.”
Cetera Financial Group, owned by Cetera Holdings, encompasses Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, a registered investment adviser, and the following FINRA/SIPC members: Cetera Wealth Services, Cetera Advisors LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions or Cetera Investors), and Cetera Financial Specialists LLC.
As of Dec. 31, 2025, Cetera firms managed approximately $640 billion in assets under administration and $294 billion in assets under management.
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