Cetera unites Avantax, TRPG under one $19B RIA

Cetera Financial Group has created a national employee-advisor RIA by pulling two existing businesses under one name. The new entity, Cetera Planning Partners, combines Avantax Planning Partners and The Retirement Planning Group. It brings more than 100 advisors into one firm. Assets under administration total roughly $19 billion, according to NAPA Net.

For advisors at both firms, the rebrand is the first concrete change. TRPG already operates as Cetera Planning Partners. APP is expected to join the unified platform as it settles into Cetera's RIA and Branches channel. The parent company calls the structure an employee-advisor community.

For advisors in the new firm, there is a specialist team: in-house experts in financial planning, tax, investments, estate planning, insurance, trust services and retirement solutions. Cetera also cites its CPA-firm relationships and multi-custodial platform. For clients, the result, Cetera says, is one coordinated experience, not a collection of providers.

The pitch to advisors already at these businesses is the exit ramp. Jennifer Hanau, president of Cetera's RIA and Branches channel, said the firm's idea is that advisors should not have to choose between what's best for clients today and what's right for the future. Hanau joined Cetera last year.

Cetera has spent six years building toward this. NAPA Net counts roughly 70 transactions supporting the employee-advisor strategy. This year's additions include Darnall Sikes Wealth Partners, Plains Wealth Management and Matkovic Financial Group. Cetera presents the combination as an answer to succession uncertainty and the administrative work that takes time away from clients. For advisors at APP and TRPG, that answer is now the platform they work on. CEO Mike Durbin tied the launch to an industry shift, saying advisor sentiment is increasingly aligned with the RIA model.