Cetera has introduced a new suite of model portfolios built around alternative investments, a move that underscores the firm’s broader strategy to attract RIAs and advisors serving high-net-worth clients.
The first offering, the Cetera Blended Alternatives Model – Moderate, is designed for use with accredited investors and includes allocations to private credit, private equity, and private real estate. The model incorporates six funds sourced with input from iCapital and vetted by Cetera’s investment research and due diligence teams.
The new model portfolios reflect growing client demand for access to alternative assets and are intended to help advisors implement those exposures through pre-built frameworks. According to the 2025 iCapital Global Advisor Survey, client growth has emerged as a top reason to use alternatives, joining other considerations as access to sophisticated investments and diversification.
The allocation models are available through Cetera’s My Advice Architect platform and are aimed at integrating non-correlated assets into existing investment strategies.
“Especially for high-net-worth clients, financial advisors should have access to alternative investments as another tool within their overall financial planning strategy because alternatives can help dampen the effects market volatility has on a client's investment portfolio,” Matt Fries, head of investment products and partner solutions at Cetera, said in the firm's announcement Wednesday.
By offering packaged alternatives access, Cetera is attempting to meet the expectations of RIAs and high-net-worth–focused advisors who increasingly expect streamlined access to institutional-style investments. The firm’s model portfolio approach also aligns with industry-wide trends emphasizing scalable, turnkey strategies over individualized fund selection.
“Model portfolios are critical in how we meet advisors where they are. Advisors are seeking a portfolio-level solution to incorporate alternative investments in their overall portfolio,” said Kunal Shah, managing director and head of private markets research and model portfolios at iCapital.
Cetera Investment Management (CIM), the investment research division of Cetera Financial Group, played the central role in designing the models, including identifying the underlying funds and establishing allocation targets, in partnership with iCapital. iCapital will provide ongoing reporting on the models going forward.
The launch comes as part of a broader effort by Cetera to expand its appeal beyond traditional independent broker-dealer affiliations. In June, the firm rolled out its RIA and Branches Channel, a fifth advisor channel designed to support a range of affiliation models. That group, headed by Mariner alum Jen Hanau, includes more than 600 advisors overseeing $33.5 billion in assets.
Cetera, which oversees more than $554 billion in assets under administration and $246 billion in assets under management, is also among a handful of hungry IBDs and hybrid RIAs competing to recruit advisors from Commonwealth Financial Network, which is being acquired by LPL. Cetera hasn't been shy in courting those advisors, with Cetera Wealth Management President Todd Mackay posting a second open letter last month making a direct appeal for them to make the switch.
"We've built an ecosystem – not a platform," Mackay said. "We support multiple models, multiple custodians, and multiple definitions of success. We're not here to pick winners and losers."
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