Description of Firm
Shade Tree Advisors LLC is a registered investment adviser based in Saratoga Springs, New York.
We are organized as a limited liability company ("LLC") under the laws of the State of New York. We
have been providing investment advisory services since 2017. We are wholly owned by Oak Leaf
Holdings, LLC.
The following paragraphs describe our services and fees. Refer to the description of each investment
advisory service listed below for information on how we tailor our advisory services to your individual
needs. As used in this brochure, the words "we," "our," and "us" refer to Shade Tree Advisors and the
words "you," "your," and "client" refer to you as either a client or prospective client of our firm.
FAMILY OFFICE WEALTH PLANNING SERVICES
Our firm primarily offers Family Office Wealth Planning Services directed towards high-net-worth
clients designed to help our clients organize their financial situation and plan for the successful transfer
of wealth to the next generation in the most tax-advantaged manner. Such Family Office Wealth
Planning Services generally include financial planning in the following areas:
•Family Continuity
•Estate Planning
•Integrated Tax and Financial Planning
•Tax Preparation
•Family Philanthropy
•Risk Management
•Bill Paying
As part of this service, we will develop a personalized plan for each client designed to help guide us in
reaching your financial goals and objectives. The process varies for each client as it is based on the
client's individual needs and financial circumstances. Additionally, in conjunction with Family Office
Wealth Planning Services our firm also offers the following additional services listed below as may be
requested by you.
•Financial Planning
We offer financial planning services which typically involve providing a variety of advisory services to
clients regarding the management of their financial resources based upon an analysis of their
individual needs. These services can range from broad-based financial planning to consultative or
single subject planning. If you retain our firm for Integrated Wealth Management, financial planning will
be included. However, you are also free to engage us separately for stand-alone financial planning
without any additional services. In either case, we will meet with you to gather information about your
financial circumstances and objectives. We may also use financial planning software to determine your
current financial position and to define and quantify your long-term goals and objectives. Once we
specify those long-term objectives (both financial and non-financial), we will develop shorter-term,
targeted objectives. After we review and analyze the information you provide to our firm and the data
derived from our financial planning software, we will deliver a written plan to you, designed to help you
achieve your stated financial goals and objectives.
Financial plans are based on your financial situation at the time we present the plan to you, and on the
financial information you provide to us. You must promptly notify our firm if your financial situation,
goals, objectives, or needs change.
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You are under no obligation to act on our financial planning recommendations. Should you choose to
act on any of our recommendations, you are not obligated to implement the financial plan through any
of our other investment advisory services. Moreover, you may act on our recommendations by placing
securities transactions with any brokerage firm.
•Portfolio Management Services
We offer non-discretionary portfolio management services. Our investment advice is tailored to meet
our clients' needs and investment objectives. If you enter into non-discretionary arrangements with our
firm, we must obtain your approval prior to executing any transactions on behalf of your account. You
have an unrestricted right to decline to implement any advice provided by our firm on a non-
discretionary basis. If you retain our firm for portfolio management, we will meet with you to determine
your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and other relevant information at the beginning of our
advisory relationship. We will use the information we gather to develop a strategy that enables our firm
to give you continuous and focused investment advice and/or to make investments on your behalf. As
part of our wealth management services, we will customize an investment portfolio for you in
accordance with your risk tolerance and investing objectives and/or we may invest your assets
according to one or more model portfolios. Once we construct an investment portfolio for you, or select
a model portfolio, we will monitor your portfolio's performance on an ongoing basis, and will periodically
recommend rebalancing the portfolio as required by, among other things, changes in market conditions
and in your financial circumstances.
We also offer discretionary portfolio management services which will incorporate asset allocation-
based strategies using Exchange Traded Funds and mutual funds that will be managed on an account
by account basis to the agreed upon strategy at the onset of the investment advisory relationship. If
you participate in our discretionary portfolio management services, we require you to grant our firm
discretionary authority to manage your account. Discretionary authorization will allow us to determine
the specific securities, and the amount of securities, to be purchased or sold for your account without
your approval prior to each transaction. Discretionary authority is typically granted by the investment
advisory agreement
you sign with our firm and the appropriate trading authorization forms.
You may limit our discretionary authority (for example, limiting the types of securities that can be
purchased or sold for your account) by providing our firm with your restrictions and guidelines in
writing.
As part of our portfolio management services, we may use one or more sub-advisers to manage a
portion of your account on a discretionary basis. The sub-adviser(s) may use one or more of their
model portfolios to manage your account. We will regularly monitor the performance of your accounts
managed by sub-adviser(s), and may hire and fire any sub-adviser without your prior approval. We
may pay a portion of our advisory fee to the sub-adviser(s) we use; however, you will not pay our firm a
higher advisory fee as a result of any sub-advisory relationships.
•Selection of Other Advisers
As part of our investment advisory services, we may recommend that you use the services of a third-
party money manager ("MM") to manage all, or a portion of, your investment portfolio. After gathering
information about your financial situation and objectives, we may recommend that you engage a
specific MM or investment program. Factors that we take into consideration when making our
recommendation(s) include, but are not limited to, the following: the MM's performance, methods of
analysis, fees, your financial needs, investment goals, risk tolerance, and investment objectives. We
will periodically monitor the MM(s)' performance to ensure its management and investment style
remains aligned with your investment goals and objectives.
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The MM(s) will actively manage your portfolio and will assume discretionary investment authority over
your account. We will assume discretionary authority to hire and fire MM(s) and/or reallocate your
assets to other MM(s) where we deem such action appropriate.
•Asset Allocation Service
We offer asset allocation services that are tailored to meet our clients' needs and investment
objectives. Once you have retained our firm for asset allocation services, we will gather information
about your financial situation and objectives, and assist you in determining your investment goals,
objectives, risk tolerance, and retirement plan time horizon. We will initially provide you with
recommendations as to how to allocate your investments among categories of assets. We will then
review your account on a periodic basis. Where appropriate, we may provide you with
recommendations to change your asset allocation in an effort to remain consistent with your stated
financial objectives. You are free at all times to accept or reject any of our investment
recommendations. You are solely responsible for implementing our recommendations. Unless you
separately retain our services, we will not execute any transactions or changes in asset allocation on
your behalf.
Chief Investment Officer Service
Shade Tree Advisers also offers a non-discretionary Chief Investment Officer (CIO) service under a
consulting arrangement. We will not execute any trades for the clients under this agreement. We will
analyze your portfolio and assist with performing the due diligence for various types of investments.
Types of Investments
We offer advice on all types of securities and do not necessarily limit the types of investments that we
recommend or provide advice on. We may advise you on various types of investments based on your
stated goals and objectives. We may also provide advice on any type of investment held in your
portfolio at the inception of our advisory relationship.
IRA Rollover Recommendations
Effective December 20, 2021 (or such later date as the US Department of Labor ("DOL") Field
Assistance Bulletin 2018-02 ceases to be in effect), for purposes of complying with the DOL's
Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 ("PTE 2020-02") where applicable, we are providing the
following acknowledgment to you.
When we provide investment advice to you regarding your retirement plan account or individual
retirement account, we are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act and/or the Internal Revenue Code, as applicable, which are laws governing retirement
accounts. The way we make money creates some conflicts with your interests, so we operate under a
special rule that requires us to act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours. Under
this special rule's provisions, we must:
•Meet a professional standard of care when making investment recommendations (give prudent
advice);
•Never put our financial interests ahead of yours when making recommendations (give loyal
advice);
•Avoid misleading statements about conflicts of interest, fees, and investments;
•Follow policies and procedures designed to ensure that we give advice that is in your best
interest;
•Charge no more than is reasonable for our services; and
•Give you basic information about conflicts of interest.
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We benefit financially from the rollover of your assets from an ERISA account to an account that we
manage or provide investment advice to, because the assets increase our Assets Under Management
and, in turn, our advisory fees. In contrast, we receive less, or no, compensation if assets remain in the
current plan or are rolled over to another Company's plan in which you may participate.
Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, we provide continuous management services for $794,714,403 in client
assets on a discretionary basis, and $0 in client assets on a non-discretionary basis.