Champaign, IL Office

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors is a large SEC-registered adviser that serves a broad mix of clients—individuals (including both non-HNW and high-net-worth clients), pension and profit‑sharing plans, charitable organizations, trusts and estates, and other retirement-plan sponsors—by offering financial planning, investment management, retirement plan advisory, and financial-wellness services. Services are delivered through a network of independent Financial Professionals and include direct portfolio management, wrap-fee programs (WealthPort), model-based solutions, and referrals to approved third‑party managers.

Investment implementation is offered across multiple custody and platform arrangements (CMAP, FlexMAP, WealthPort, UMA/CAAP) and can be either discretionary or non‑discretionary, with Financial Professionals tailoring strategies to client objectives. The firm maintains both proprietary model strategies under the Founders Gate Capital brand and access to unaffiliated strategists, and the brochure notes that some advisers use tactical approaches and, in a minority of cases, market‑timing services rather than only buy‑and‑hold allocations.

Noteworthy, and less common among peer institutions, is Cambridge’s explicit disclosure of affiliated‑strategy economics and related conflict‑of‑interest controls for Founders Gate Capital, along with documented advisor business relationships that include Financial Professionals who are attorneys or CPAs and may provide or refer legal and accounting services. The brochure also details institutional features tied to the firm’s scale—advisor transition loans/grants and equity participation arrangements, FDIC sweep options, and formal compliance and supervisory processes—which can materially shape how recommendations are selected and implemented.