Cetera merges employee firms to form $19B RIA

Cetera Financial Group is merging two of its existing divisions, Avantax Planning Partners and The Retirement Planning Group, into an RIA named Cetera Planning Partners.

The newly formed firm will have more than 100 advisors and roughly $19 billion in assets under advisement. The consolidation marks a step forward in Cetera's plans for its division for advisors who work as direct employees.

Like all independent broker-dealers, Cetera allows advisors to join as independent contractors who maintain control over their own business while receiving a range of support services. Cetera Planning Partners offers an alternative affiliation option for advisors who want to be employees while still retaining a degree of autonomy and back-office assistance.

The new firm will be part of the Cetera's RIA and Branches channel. 

Cetera Financial Group

"We built Cetera Planning Partners around a simple idea — advisors should never have to choose between what's best for their clients today and what's right for the future," Jennifer Hanau, president of the Cetera RIA and Branches channel, said in a statement.

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Avantax Planning Partners, The Retirement Planning Group bring specialties to the table

The two employee-affiliation businesses combining to form Cetera Planning Partners each bring distinct areas of expertise. 

Avantax Planning Partners is the employee arm of Avantax, a tax specialist firm Cetera acquired in 2023. The Retirement Planning Group, which provides various services to high net worth clients, had formed the foundation of Cetera's employee-affiliation option when the firm bought it earlier that same year. 

Cetera is among the largest wealth managers in the world, coming in at the No. 4 spot in Financial Planning's latest IBD Elite ranking of the largest independent broker-dealers by revenue. The firm oversees more than $640 billion in assets under administration and has roughly 12,000 advisors.

Over the past six years, Cetera has added more than 70 firms to its RIA channel for employee advisors. This year's additions include Darnall Sikes Wealth Partners, a Lafayette, Louisiana-based firm with roughly $t.9 billion in client assets.