Cambridge Associates Review
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Is this your firm? Apply for Trusted badge | October 28th, 2020
Cambridge Associates, registered in 1978, is a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) in 50 state(s) with a licensed staff of 422 advisors. Cambridge Associates manages $183.5 billion and provides investment advisory services for 516 clients (1:2 advisor/client ratio).
Disciplinary Questions
After checking the disciplinary records of Cambridge Associates, our system found no disciplinary questions to ask. Checks take place monthly.
Conflict Questions
After checking the regulatory records of Cambridge Associates, our system has identified the following question(s) to ask. Learn more.
Do you offer mutual funds that have 12b-1 fees?
Why ask? 12b-1 fees increase the total annual cost of owning a mutual fund with no guarantee of higher returns. Some firms receive these fees as payments, which creates an incentive to promote them.
Do you offer products that have performance-based fees, or do you accept performance-based fees? Will any of my assets be invested in those products?
Why ask? When performance-based fees are charged, the financial advisor is paid for outperforming a benchmark, typically an index. While this may seem like an attractive compensation structure to ensure your advisor is making your money work for you, often, the managers of those products are incentivized to take inappropriate risks to beat their performance benchmark. For instance, research has shown that mutual funds that use incentive fees take on more risk that funds that do not, and tend to double down and increase their risk following a poor performance. This could be detrimental to a client during down markets.
Do you perform side-by-side management? How do you mitigate conflicts that arise from managing accounts with differing fee structures?
Why ask? This typically occurs when firms manage mutual funds or hedge funds alongside smaller retail accounts. Side-by-side management can create an incentive for the advisor to favor the larger funds, potentially leading to unequal trading costs and unfavorable trade executions for their retail clients.
It appears you recommend securities that you or your affiliates underwrite or in which you serve as general or managing partner? Will any of my assets be invested in those products?
Why ask? This firm recommends securities that they may have recently taken public or otherwise have controlling interest over. This relationship could introduce bias where a firm and its advisors may push those products over others that may have a more favorable performance with which they are not affiliated.
Which securities do you trade for yourself that you will also be recommending to me?
Why ask? This firm has marked in their disclosures that they trade recommended securities. While this often can be seen as "eating your own cooking," there are several inherent conflicts that can arise. For example, front running is when a financial professional buys or sell securities ahead of their client. In short, any financial professional should disclose all positions they hold (or have sold short) that they will also be recommending to you.
Our system found no other conflict questions to ask. Checks take place monthly.
Firm Information
As a financial advisory firm, also known as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), Cambridge Associates can provide a variety of financial planning services for Americans. The goal of a financial advisor is to review your personal finances and work with you to achieve your life goals, e.g., saving for retirement, by creating a comprehensive financial plan. Financial advisors focus primarily on money management, including investments like stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds.
Financial planning services can include tax planning, estate planning, retirement planning, or life-based event planning such as saving for college, getting married, purchasing a home, paying down debt, or planning an inheritance.
| Summary | Firm |
| Minimum Investment | Ask firm |
| Average Client Balance | $355,537,821 |
| Total AUM | $183.5 billion |
| Fee Range | Ask firm |
| Advisor / Client Ratio | 1:2 |
| Website | Visit Site |
| Phone Number | 617-457-7500 |
| Headquarters | Boston, MA |
| Locations | See locations |
| Facebook page unknown | |
| Twitter handle unknown | |
| LinkedIn page unknown | |
| SEC Filings | View SEC IAPD CRD #104942 |
Disciplinary History
An important aspect of the Trust Algorithm is processing the SEC Form ADV Part 1 filing of each Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). “Item 11 Disclosure Information” contains a list of valuable disclosures that are relevant for Americans.
As identified in SEC Form ADV Part 1, Item 11 “Disclosure Information”, the Trust Algorithm identified the following disciplinary disclosures for Cambridge Associates:
Cost
Unfortunately, there is no single, uniform pricing standard for working with a financial advisor. Catchphrases, including "fee-only," can be helpful; however, Americans often get confused with competitors promoting "fee-based" in response.
Ultimately, to understand the underlying costs of advisory services, we always recommend asking for an itemized fees breakdown and reading the firm's ADV Part 2 Brochure (Item 5, "Fees and Compensation").
| Disclosure | Firm |
| 12B-1 Conflict | Ask firm |
| Attorney Conflict | No |
| Broker-Dealer Conflict | No |
| Performance-Based Fees | Ask firm |
| Commissions Conflict | No |
| Insurance Agent Conflict - Affiliation | No |
| Insurance Agent Conflict - Firm | No |
| Non-Secure Website | No |
| Private Investment Management | Yes |
| Proprietary Products | No |
| Side-by-Side Management | Ask firm |
| Soft-dollar Arrangements | No |
| Trades Recommended Securities | Yes |
FAQs
Where is Cambridge Associates headquartered? Which states do its financial advisors serve?
Cambridge Associates is headquartered in Boston, MA. Cambridge Associates offers financial advisor services in 50 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
What is the average client balance at Cambridge Associates?
While Cambridge Associates advises clients across a variety of portfolio sizes, the average client balance is currently $355,537,821. In total, Cambridge Associates manages $183,457,515,802 in assets.
What is the historical performance of Cambridge Associates?
The SEC, nor FINRA, tracks portfolio performance metrics for the financial planning industry. As a result, unlike hedge funds, there is no historical performance for any financial advisory firm. Financial plans and investment portfolios are always unique to the client's personal financial situation.
Can I write a review of Cambridge Associates or file a complaint?
investor.com relies on regulatory data from the SEC to rate and review financial advisor firms. As a result, we do not support personal reviews on the site. To file a complaint or dispute with this firm, please fill out the SEC Investor Complaint Form.
Other Firms
D/B/A Financial Awareness Institute, Frazier Financial Consultants, Weikart Advisory Services, Cullen Financial Advisors
This automated report was generated using SEC and FINRA data and was last updated on October 28th, 2020*. For data support, email "support@investor.com". Views: 102 (trailing six months). Firms that receive a 4.5 or 5-star rating are considered Trusted by investor.com. Learn more.
*SEC data last verified 10/28/2020. For the most up-to-date information, please view the applicable SEC and FINRA reports above. By visiting these sites, you are subject to their terms of use (IAPD, BrokerCheck). Any data inaccuracies, please contact our team. All requests for updated information should also be reported directly to the SEC and/or FINRA. Firm’s/Financial Professional’s investor.com profile pages may contain certain limited information directly provided to investor.com by the Firm/Financial Professional including, by way of example only, the “Personal Bio,” “Certifications,” and/or “Investment Philosophy” portions of the profile page. With respect to such information, investor.com cannot and does not independently verify, audit, validate, assess or guarantee the adequacy, accuracy, or completeness of such information; such information is not included or otherwise incorporated within investor.com’s Trust Score algorithm or review process.
