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Deals & People April 28, 2026
Cetera Creates $19B RIA From Merger of Avantax Planning Partners, Retirement Planning Group
The companies are expected to combine by October under a new brand: Cetera Planning Partners.
Reported by
Edward Rueda
The Cetera Financial Group announced Tuesday the formation of Cetera Planning Partners, a scaled, national, employee-adviser registered investment adviser combining Avantax Planning Partners Inc. and The Retirement Planning Group LLC. The two companies had approximately $19 billion in assets under administration as of March 31.
The new RIA will have more than 100 advisers and will operate within Cetera’s RIA and Branches channel. TRPG immediately rebranded as Cetera Planning Partners, and APP will adopt the brand on or about September 30, according to the announcement. APP is expected to enter an agreement, subject to approval, to assign its adviser contracts to TRPG by September 30.
The resulting company will offer what Cetera calls a “single, coordinated experience” that includes financial planning, tax strategy, investments, estate planning and insurance.
“For growth-focused advisers, that means more time with clients and a full bench of specialists behind them,” said Jennifer Hanau, president of the Cetera RIA and Branches channel, in the announcement. “For those thinking about succession, it means certainty: for their clients, their team, and the legacy they’ve built.”
Cetera Financial Group acquired TRPG in June 2023, when it had $1.4 billion in client assets and 40 employees, including 14 advisers. Cetera acquired Avantax in September 2023 in an all-cash transaction that valued Avantax at approximately $1.2 billion. Genstar Capital LLC, a private equity firm, is the majority owner of Cetera Holdings, which in turn owns Cetera Financial Group.
For the last six years, Cetera has grown its employee-adviser RIA business through approximately 70 transactions, according to the announcement.
Cetera firms include approximately 12,000 financial professionals and institutions. They managed approximately $640 billion in assets under administration and $294 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2025, according to the announcement.