{
  "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/business-owners",
  "url": "https://advisorcensus.com/advisors/il/chicago/business-owners",
  "page_type": "metro_niche",
  "title": "Financial advisors for business owners in Chicago, IL",
  "filters": {},
  "scope_total": 3,
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "How many financial advisory firms are there in Chicago, IL?",
      "a": "AdvisorCensus lists 1,071 investment advisory firms with a principal office in the Chicago metro area, from Form ADV filings as of October 2026: 635 SEC-registered, 299 state-registered, and 137 exempt reporting advisers. Firms may request removal, so the count can differ slightly from the number of firms that file Form ADV."
    },
    {
      "q": "How does AdvisorCensus know a firm works with business owners?",
      "a": "The firm says so in its Form ADV Part 2A brochure or on its website, and AdvisorCensus records the sentence. Presence on this page means the firm states the focus; it does not mean the firm works only with that group, and absence means no statement was found."
    },
    {
      "q": "How many fee-only financial advisors are in Chicago, IL?",
      "a": "277 of the 1,071 firms meet AdvisorCensus's fee-only test: paid only by a percentage of assets, hourly charges, fixed fees, or subscription fees on Form ADV Item 5.E (no commissions, performance-based fees, or other compensation), with no sales-related compensation ties in the same filing: no employee registered with a broker-dealer or licensed as an insurance agent (Item 5.B), no brokerage, insurance, real estate, or other product sales business (Item 6.A), no related broker-dealer, insurance company, real estate broker, or futures commission merchant (Item 7.A), and no referral fees from others or other sales interest (Item 8). Form ADV has no fee-only box, so this is derived from the filing; it is not a fee-only certification, and a firm's own page lists its compensation arrangements as filed."
    },
    {
      "q": "How many financial advisors in Chicago, IL offer financial planning?",
      "a": "465 of the 934 firms in Chicago, IL that answer Form ADV Item 5.G, which asks what advisory services a firm provides, report financial planning services, as of October 2026. Exempt reporting advisers do not answer Item 5.G. Each firm page lists every advisory service the firm reports."
    },
    {
      "q": "Are the financial advisors in Chicago, IL fiduciaries?",
      "a": "Every firm on this page is an investment adviser that files Form ADV, and an investment adviser owes its clients a fiduciary duty under federal law, made up of a duty of care and a duty of loyalty: it must act in the client's best interest and not put its own interests ahead of the client's, and must eliminate its conflicts of interest or disclose them fully and fairly. Form ADV has no fiduciary box because the duty comes with being an investment adviser. The duty covers the firm's advice; a firm or its people may also sell securities through a broker-dealer or insurance as licensed agents, roles held to other standards. The 277 firms that meet AdvisorCensus's fee-only test report none of those sales ties."
    },
    {
      "q": "How do I check whether a financial advisor has disciplinary disclosures?",
      "a": "Each firm page shows how many Form ADV Item 11 disciplinary questions the firm answered yes and links to the firm's record on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site (adviserinfo.sec.gov), where the detail of each disclosure is public. Individual advisers' records are on the same site and on FINRA BrokerCheck."
    },
    {
      "q": "Does AdvisorCensus rate, verify, or recommend these firms?",
      "a": "No. The directory shows what each firm filed, in alphabetical order unless you choose another sort, and no firm's position depends on payment. Firms that claim their page can add a description and links, marked as provided by the firm; the filed facts are never changed by that content."
    },
    {
      "q": "What does regulatory assets under management mean?",
      "a": "Regulatory assets under management (RAUM) is the figure a firm reports on Form ADV Item 5.F: the securities portfolios it provides continuous and regular supervisory or management services for, at market value, including assets managed without discretion. It measures scale, not performance or quality."
    }
  ],
  "period": "2026-10-01",
  "answer_paragraph": "AdvisorCensus lists 3 investment advisory firms with a principal office in the Chicago metro area whose Form ADV brochure states a focus on business owners in the firm's own words, from filings as of October 2026. Only SEC-registered firms' brochures are read. Firms are listed alphabetically; sort by years registered or assets band using the controls below.",
  "about_market": "Chicago has 1,071 investment advisory firms with a principal office in the metro area as of October 2026: 635 SEC-registered, 299 state-registered, and 137 exempt reporting advisers. 277 of them meet AdvisorCensus's fee-only test (paid only by client fees, with no sales-related compensation ties such as an employee registered with a broker-dealer or licensed as an insurance agent), and 266 report under $100 million in regulatory assets under management. The metro area has 3,643,783 households, 596,838 of them with income of $200,000 or more, or 557 such households for each firm (Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates).",
  "citation": "AdvisorCensus. Financial advisors for business owners in Chicago, IL: 3 firms from Form ADV filings as of October 2026.",
  "total_firms": 3,
  "page": 1,
  "total_pages": 1,
  "sort": "name",
  "registration_types": {
    "sec": 3,
    "state": 0,
    "exempt": 0
  },
  "fee_model_mix": [
    {
      "code": "fee-only",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "percentage_of_aum",
      "count": 3
    },
    {
      "code": "hourly",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "subscription",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "fixed",
      "count": 1
    },
    {
      "code": "commissions",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "performance_based",
      "count": 1
    },
    {
      "code": "other",
      "count": 1
    },
    {
      "code": "not_reported",
      "count": 0
    }
  ],
  "years_registered_distribution": [
    {
      "code": "under_5",
      "count": 1
    },
    {
      "code": "5_to_9",
      "count": 1
    },
    {
      "code": "10_to_19",
      "count": 1
    },
    {
      "code": "20_plus",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "not_reported",
      "count": 0
    }
  ],
  "raum_band_distribution": [
    {
      "code": "under_25m",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "25m_100m",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "100m_500m",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "500m_1b",
      "count": 1
    },
    {
      "code": "1b_5b",
      "count": 2
    },
    {
      "code": "over_5b",
      "count": 0
    },
    {
      "code": "not_reported",
      "count": 0
    }
  ],
  "firms": [
    {
      "crd_number": 298079,
      "name": "Aaron Wealth Advisors",
      "name_as_filed": "AARON WEALTH ADVISORS",
      "url": "https://advisorcensus.com/firm/aaron-wealth-advisors-chicago-il-298079",
      "city": "Chicago",
      "state": "IL",
      "years_registered": 8,
      "raum_band": "1b_5b",
      "compensation_types": [
        "percentage_of_aum",
        "fixed"
      ],
      "enhanced": false
    },
    {
      "crd_number": 317544,
      "name": "Alley Company",
      "name_as_filed": "ALLEY COMPANY",
      "url": "https://advisorcensus.com/firm/alley-company-lake-forest-il-317544",
      "city": "Lake Forest",
      "state": "IL",
      "years_registered": 4,
      "raum_band": "500m_1b",
      "compensation_types": [
        "percentage_of_aum"
      ],
      "enhanced": false
    },
    {
      "crd_number": 156096,
      "name": "Frontenac",
      "name_as_filed": "FRONTENAC",
      "url": "https://advisorcensus.com/firm/frontenac-chicago-il-156096",
      "city": "Chicago",
      "state": "IL",
      "years_registered": 14,
      "raum_band": "1b_5b",
      "compensation_types": [
        "percentage_of_aum",
        "performance_based",
        "other"
      ],
      "enhanced": false
    }
  ],
  "states": [],
  "metros": [],
  "siblings": {
    "national": "/advisors",
    "state": {
      "path": "/advisors/il",
      "label": "Financial advisors in Illinois"
    },
    "metro": {
      "path": "/advisors/il/chicago",
      "label": "Financial advisors in Chicago, IL"
    },
    "city_pages": [
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/naperville",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Naperville, IL",
        "firm_count": 41
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/northbrook",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Northbrook, IL",
        "firm_count": 34
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/oak-brook",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Oak Brook, IL",
        "firm_count": 24
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/evanston",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Evanston, IL",
        "firm_count": 20
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/northfield",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Northfield, IL",
        "firm_count": 16
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/downers-grove",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Downers Grove, IL",
        "firm_count": 15
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/lake-forest",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Lake Forest, IL",
        "firm_count": 15
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/wheaton",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Wheaton, IL",
        "firm_count": 15
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/schaumburg",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Schaumburg, IL",
        "firm_count": 14
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/barrington",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Barrington, IL",
        "firm_count": 12
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/hinsdale",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Hinsdale, IL",
        "firm_count": 12
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/lisle",
        "label": "Financial advisors in Lisle, IL",
        "firm_count": 11
      }
    ],
    "fee_pages": [
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/fee-only",
        "label": "Fee-only financial advisors in Chicago, IL",
        "firm_count": 277
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/flat-fee",
        "label": "Flat-fee financial advisors in Chicago, IL",
        "firm_count": 432
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/hourly",
        "label": "Hourly financial advisors in Chicago, IL",
        "firm_count": 307
      }
    ],
    "niche_pages": [
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/attorneys",
        "firm_count": 1,
        "label": "Financial advisors for attorneys in Chicago, IL"
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/corporate-executives",
        "firm_count": 1,
        "label": "Financial advisors for corporate executives in Chicago, IL"
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/financial-independence-and-early-retirement",
        "firm_count": 1,
        "label": "Financial advisors for financial independence and early retirement in Chicago, IL"
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/pre-retirees",
        "firm_count": 1,
        "label": "Financial advisors for pre-retirees in Chicago, IL"
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/retirees",
        "firm_count": 1,
        "label": "Financial advisors for retirees in Chicago, IL"
      },
      {
        "path": "/advisors/il/chicago/women",
        "firm_count": 1,
        "label": "Financial advisors for women in Chicago, IL"
      }
    ]
  },
  "csv": null,
  "source": {
    "name": "Form ADV",
    "as_of": "2026-10-01",
    "operator": "BH Monitor Services, LLC",
    "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
    "credit": "AdvisorCensus (advisorcensus.com), from SEC Form ADV data"
  }
}