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Gary Cates

Advisor Image
Gary Cates
Financial Advisor
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Part of the Heart of Illinois Financial Advisors practice
2101 Eastland Dr. Ste D
Bloomington, IL 61704
Armed Forces & Veterans
Tax Efficient Planning
Young Families
Retirement Planning
Business Owners
Your Future Deserves a Plan That Lasts. Let's Create One Together.
Your Future Deserves a Plan That Lasts. Let's Create One Together.

Welcome! I’m Gary Cates, a Financial Advisor with Thrivent, serving Central Illinois. With six years of service in the Illinois Army National Guard and a deployment to Afghanistan, I know firsthand the importance of preparation, discipline, and taking care of those who depend on you. Today, I help people bring that same mindset into their financial lives.


Who I Serve

I specialize in helping:

  • Retirees and Pre-Retirees – Fine-tune your retirement plan so you can enjoy your next chapter with clarity and confidence.
  • Veterans and Active Service Members – Navigate the unique financial opportunities and challenges that come with military service.
  • Small Business Owners – Balance growth, protection, and long-term planning for yourself, your family, and your business.
  • Families and Individuals – From starting a family to planning for college or buying your first home, I’ll help you build a strong financial foundation.


Why Work With Me?

I’ve seen the impact of both good and poor financial decisions. My mission is simple:

✔️ Clarity about where you are today.

✔️ Confidence about where you’re headed.

✔️ A plan aligned with your values and goals.


What to Expect When You Connect

  • Step 1: A short conversation about your goals and what matters most to you.
  • Step 2: I’ll review your current situation and share options tailored to your needs.
  • Step 3: Together, we’ll decide if working together is the right fit for you.


My qualifications
  • Bachelors of Marketing, Illinois State University
  • Series 7 - General Securities Representative
  • Securities Industry Essentials
My state licenses
  • Illinois
  • Michigan

Insights

View all 
Insight image
Thinking about the topics that come up from business owners this time of year. 🏢 Spring turns into summer. Clients get busy. Employees rotate vacations. And the business keeps running, so ownership attention quietly shifts to wherever the fire is that week. That’s usually when bigger questions get postponed: • Are cash reserves still where they should be? • What happens to income if the owner can’t work for a stretch? • Are my employees confident in their retirement plans? • Is there a backup plan if a key person is suddenly out? Nothing has to be wrong for those questions to matter. Most of the time, they just get delayed until fall...when they’re harder to deal with. Shoot me a DM or find a time on my website to chat about those things. Disclosures: thrivent.com/social
The past couple of years I've noticed May is when plans usually don’t fall apart but, they fade into the background 📅 Kids finish school. Summer schedules take shape. Vacations, weddings, and weekends fill the calendar faster than expected. One pattern I see every year: people plan to revisit things “after summer”… and then fall shows up quicker than anyone anticipated. What does that usually look like? - Are my retirement contributions on track? - How is my current retirement strategy holding up? - Is my budget up to date? - Have I taken a look at my protection needs (what happens if I can't work)? A brief check‑in now, before schedules completely fill, often prevents rushed decisions later in the year. Disclosures: thrivent.com/social
Insight image
Business owners: here’s a quick way to spot blind spots before they get expensive. If the business is “doing fine” but you still feel behind, it’s usually because one of these dials is off: 💵CASH FLOW: If revenue dipped for 60 days, what would you cut first, and what would you protect? 🕰️TIME: What’s the one thing you’re still doing that you should not be doing anymore? 🔥RISK: If you (or a key person) were out unexpectedly, what breaks first? Quick insight: most surprises happen when business decisions and personal goals aren’t coordinated, so you’re winning week‑to‑week but guessing long‑term. This is what I help business owners do: connect the dots between the business and personal goals so decisions get simpler and blind spots get smaller. If you know an owner who’d relate to this, feel free to pass it along. Or if you are a business owner shoot me a DM. Which dial feels most off right now: cash flow, time, or risk? Disclosures: thrivent.com/social
Office location
Bloomington Location
2101 Eastland Dr. Ste D
Bloomington, IL 61704
Phone309-295-6087Hours
M – F: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Licensing is available through your State Insurance Department’s website, which can be located through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website.

Thrivent and its financial advisors and professionals do not provide legal, accounting or tax advice. Consult your attorney or tax professional.

Thrivent financial advisors and professionals have general knowledge of the Social Security tenets. For complete details on your situation, contact the Social Security Administration.

Thrivent provides advice and guidance through its Financial Planning Framework that generally includes a review and analysis of a client’s financial situation. A client may choose to further their planning engagement with Thrivent through its Dedicated Planning Services (an investment advisory service) that results in written recommendations for a fee.

Designations
For additional information on professional designations and the requirements to earn them, visit https://www.thrivent.com/designations