Chapel Hill Investment Analysts Inc

Chapel Hill Investment Analysts is an SEC‑registered advisory firm that serves individuals (including high‑net‑worth clients), businesses, trusts and pension plans and manages over $400 million for roughly 1,411 clients. With three advisers on staff, the firm operates at a notably high client‑to‑advisor ratio and provides tailored financial planning, asset management, retirement planning, education funding, estate planning support, and the sale of insurance products.

The firm’s investment approach centers on a core, diversified allocation of ETFs and mutual funds to limit single‑issuer concentration, complemented by a smaller, actively traded equity sleeve for opportunistic exposure; clients may also select volatility‑based portfolios including a fixed‑income “No Volatility” option. Chapel Hill generally manages accounts on a discretionary basis, executes trades through Charles Schwab as its exclusive custodian, and may utilize third‑party money managers for select mandates.

Distinctive aspects of the firm include formal, disclosed relationships with accounting firms (including fee‑sharing and solicitor arrangements with Graney & Company and DeBlasio & DeBlasio), partnerships with law firms that provide estate‑planning documents (where CHIA assists in delivery and receives pre‑approved flat fees), and multiple insurance‑brokerage relationships plus an asset‑management arrangement involving Nationwide. Those integrated referral and compensation arrangements, along with the firm’s high client load per adviser and active involvement in insurance product placement, are less common among similarly sized supported RIAs and are identified in the brochure as potential conflicts that clients can mitigate by comparing outside providers.