# LPL adds $700 million Sound Foundation team from Cambridge

URL: https://www.financialadvsr.com/article/lpl-adds-700-million-sound-foundation-team-from-bd36c1
Published: November 10, 2026
By: Grant Whitmore, Moves Correspondent
Section: Moves
Publisher: Financial ADVSR (https://www.financialadvsr.com)

Boise-based Sound Foundation Wealth Advisors, with about $700 million in client assets, has joined LPL's broker-dealer and RIA platforms from Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, according to LPL.

InvestmentNews reported on November 9, 2026, that LPL Financial has added Sound Foundation Wealth Advisors, a team from Cambridge Investment Research Advisors. LPL's own release put the team at about $700 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets. The item was a roundup that also covered a &Partners recruit and a Janney hire in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This article focuses on the LPL deal. LPL issued its own press release on the same day, saying the team's advisors had joined its broker-dealer and RIA platforms.

LPL's release marks the $700 million figure with a footnote and describes it as a total of client assets rather than strictly assets under management. According to the research notes, the $700 million number was calculated from year-end 2025 account and holding information that was supplied to LPL. The sources do not say how the assets are split among advisory, brokerage and retirement plan accounts.

InvestmentNews reported that Sound Foundation is led by founding advisors Nathan Downs and Cory Thomas, and that the firm has six other wealth advisors and six support staff. The firm is headquartered in Boise, Idaho, and was founded in 2018. The team's clients are mostly technology, healthcare and higher-education professionals, along with business owners. InvestmentNews reported that the team builds a full financial plan, including estate planning, before choosing investments.

The advisors cited LPL's technology investments and systems as the main reason for the move, according to LPL's release as republished by StockTitan. LPL's chief growth officer, Marc Cohen, welcomed the team in the release.

LPL is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker LPLA. LPL's latest company-level numbers, as quoted in the release, put its advisor count above 32,000 and its brokerage and advisory custody at roughly $2.6 trillion. Older LPL figures from a 2025 release conflict with these and are not used here.

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors is headquartered in Fairfield, Iowa, and was founded in 1981. Its parent, Cambridge Investment Group, is privately controlled. InvestmentNews reported in March 2025 that Cambridge faced a $15 million penalty tied to recommendations of conflicted funds, after an SEC complaint about client assets held in mutual funds and money market sweep funds. The sources do not connect that matter to the Sound Foundation team.

The sources do not give a transition timeline or describe how the team's existing clients will be moved to LPL. The announcement is the latest in a run of independent and hybrid platform recruiting that the InvestmentNews roundup said is drawing teams.

Key facts:
- About $700 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets, a total client-asset figure per LPL's release
- Sound Foundation Wealth Advisors is headquartered in Boise, Idaho, and was founded in 2018
- Founding advisors Nathan Downs and Cory Thomas, with six other wealth advisors and six support staff
- LPL's latest release puts its advisor count above 32,000 and its brokerage and advisory custody at roughly $2.6 trillion
- Cambridge Investment Research Advisors is headquartered in Fairfield, Iowa, and was founded in 1981

Why it matters: Team moves between large broker-dealers and independent platforms are closely watched by recruiters and firm leaders because they show where client-facing teams are choosing to go. Advisors weighing a similar switch often weigh technology and systems alongside payout and support, and this team cited LPL's technology investments as its main reason for moving. Firms that compete for teams with mixed advisory, brokerage and retirement assets will want to track how this deal is described in future filings and announcements.

Firms in this story, from their SEC Form ADV filings:
- Cambridge Investment Research Advisors (Fairfield, IA; SEC CRD 134139): $139B regulatory assets under management, 361,213 clients, 3,496 advisory staff, 2,340 offices, custodians BNY Pershing, Fidelity; Form ADV filed 2026-09-11. https://www.financialadvsr.com/rias/cambridge-investment-research-advisors-inc

Sources:
- InvestmentNews: https://www.investmentnews.com/independent-broker-dealers/advisor-moves-lpl-lands-700m-cambridge-team-partners-adds-728m/268950
- stocktitan.net: https://www.stocktitan.net/news/LPLA/lpl-financial-welcomes-sound-foundation-wealth-naukamsavt5w.html
- investor.lpl.com: https://investor.lpl.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lpl-financial-welcomes-sound-foundation-wealth-advisors
- irei.com: https://irei.com/news/lpl-financial-welcomes-sound-foundation-wealth-advisors/
- lpl.com: https://www.lpl.com/news-media/press-releases/lpl-financial-welcomes-five-independent-teams-with-700-million-aum.html
- investmentnews.com: https://www.investmentnews.com/transformation/lpl-conquest-and-fmg-push-ai-deeper-into-advisor-workflows/267592