Financial Planning Partners merges with Encore Financial in $90M deal

What's the deal? Encore FinancialDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an independent advisory firm, has merged with Financial Planning PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, adding roughly $90 million in assets under management. The deal brings veteran financial advisor Joan Gilles and her client base over from Cetera to Encore's platform.

Gilles said the move was driven by succession planning — she wanted a team that could serve her clients long after she steps back. "Providing my clients with the best possible care means planning ahead, not just for their finances, but for the continuity of the advice they rely upon," she said.

Why now? Gilles spent her career helping families navigate major life transitions and determined it was time to apply the same logic to her own practice. She sought a firm with a long-term, client-centred approach and said she had known many on the Encore team for years.

Founded in 2021, Encore has grown from $400 million to more than $1.2 billion in assets under management. It now operates with 11 advisors and an integrated model combining in-house portfolio management and tax services.

The signal: Encore Financial's leap from $400 million to over $1.2 billion in AUM since its 2021 founding — while still classified as an early-growth firm — illustrates how independent advisory platforms are using roll-up mergers to scale rapidly outside the traditional wirehouse model. With succession planning becoming an industry-wide imperative as senior advisors retire, smaller practices like Financial Planning Partners increasingly favour merging into integrated, independently networked firms over outright sales to large incumbents.

Read more: pulse2.com