Chad
Bates

Chad E. Bates, CFP^®, is a Partner at Signature Estate & Investment Advisors (SEIA), where he splits his time between the firm’s Los Angeles headquarters and its Chapel Hill, North Carolina office. He works with hundreds of clients — non-profit organizations, foundations, charities, pensions, business owners, and high-net-worth individuals and families — developing financial strategies to fulfill their goals.

The most important conversations often begin long before a market moves. They begin when a foundation takes on an expanded mission, a business owner begins planning for succession, a charity faces a changing funding landscape, or a family prepares to transfer wealth across generations. These moments bring difficult questions about goals, tax planning, and how to use financial resources wisely, while the organization or family is simultaneously facing new priorities and realities.

With more than two decades of experience in the securities and insurance industry, Chad provides comprehensive wealth management through SEIA, integrating strategic financial planning, tax planning, trust and estate planning, investment guidance, and insurance strategies. His focus is helping non-profit organizations, foundations, charities, pensions, business owners, and high-net-worth families ensure these elements work together as their goals and circumstances change.

Chad’s investment philosophy is rooted in comprehensive financial planning, starting with family and estate planning. With deep expertise in trust and estate planning, he has helped his clients review and craft plans tailored to their needs and goals — because effective investment planning demands the full picture, from taxes, to protection, and strategies around generational wealth transfer.

With an extensive Trust and Estate Planning background, Chad guides families through life’s most difficult transitions: the death of a loved one. In the days and weeks that follow, the questions come quickly — What needs to be done first? Who must be notified? Where are the important documents? What are the tax implications? — all while the family is grieving. Executors and heirs must identify and value assets, settle debts, manage tax obligations, and determine how to distribute what remains. Chad walks families through each of these steps, holding their hands through the estate settlement process so that decisions are made with clarity and confidence — not under pressure. By the time a family faces its most difficult moment, the groundwork is already done — Chad plans in the calm for the storm, so no family is ever left to navigate it unprepared.

Chad developed this approach over more than two decades working closely alongside SEIA’s CEO, Brian D. Holmes. He learned that the most important questions are rarely purely financial: What does this family or organization want its resources to achieve? How should assets be structured to support its mission for the long term? How can a plan remain flexible as goals evolve? For high-net-worth families, the questions are equally personal: How can wealth be preserved and protected across generations? What legacy do they want to leave — and how should it be passed on?

Chad joined SEIA in 2002, and his long tenure provides a continuity that clients value — a stable, long-term partner who has guided them through changing markets, leadership and life transitions, and evolving priorities.

As part of SEIA’s North Carolina team — which manages approximately $1.2 billion in client assets — Chad brings substantial resources and institutional depth to every engagement, serving an extensive list of national clients stretching from coast to coast. The goal is to help clients make informed decisions earlier, preserve flexibility, and give their organizations and families a shared plan for moving forward.

Chad earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^™ professional in 2006 after completing the CFP^® education program through the College for Financial Planning, and is also a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #0E38602).

Outside the office, Chad lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and their two daughters. He is active in volunteering, dedicating his time to organizations that provide resources for children and disadvantaged youth. An active sportsman, he has been a competitive ice hockey player since the age of 10 — a discipline and team-first mindset that carries into how he works with clients.