Firm Description
Trellis Advisors, LLC (Trellis, “we,” “our,” “us,” “the firm”) is an SEC-registered investment
adviser with its principal place of business located in Ellensburg, Washington, and with an
office located in Seattle, Washington. Trellis Advisors, LLC was founded in 2005 by M. Ray
Gilmour who owns 100% of the company.
We provide clients with financial planning, investment and non-investment related consulting,
and discretionary investment management services. Trellis is a fee-only firm that embraces
the fiduciary standard of putting our clients’ interests first.
Advisory Services
Clients generally engage us to provide initial and ongoing financial planning and discretionary
investment management services on a fee-only basis.
We serve clients as follows:
Analyze Current Situation - Assist clients in reviewing current financial situation to identify
unique needs, goals and constraints. As appropriate, we also review and discuss a client's
prior investment history, as well as family composition and background.
Develop Asset Allocation - Help clients understand their risk tolerance, tax situation, time
horizon, and cash flow needs. Assist clients in defining appropriate investment objectives and
allocating investment assets among different asset classes and different investment styles to
optimize the risk and return objectives.
Formalize Investment Plan - Prepare a written investment policy statement and asset
allocation model that details the implementation of the investment strategy and guidelines
consistent with the client's goals and risk tolerance.
Implementation - Assist clients in selecting specific investment vehicles and implementation
of the investment plan. Trellis primarily implements investment recommendations with mutual
funds, exchange-traded funds and other types of managed accounts (collectively, "Funds").
Trellis may utilize independent third-party money managers for part of the client’s portfolio
implementation. Depending on a client's individual circumstances and needs, Trellis may
determine that the client’s portfolio is suitable for one or more third-party money managers
and assist the client in selecting the money manager. The third-party money manager will
have discretionary authority over the portion of the client’s assets under their management,
though Trellis will also retain discretionary authority to reallocate among managers or to
terminate a particular third-party manager’s oversight. Clients will enter into a separate
agreement with the third-party manager describing the terms of the arrangement and the
specific fees to be charged. See Item 5 for additional information on fees charged by these
managers.
Monitoring & Supervision - Provide ongoing advice regarding the selection of investments
and changes to the asset allocation, as appropriate. Periodic reports will be provided to
clients, as well as monthly statements from the custodian, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (see
Brokerage Practices section). Provide ongoing review, analysis, and monitoring of
investments including performance and costs.
Personal Financial Consulting - In addition to the services above, Trellis provides personal
financial consulting to clients upon request. Financial consulting services generally include an
analysis of a client's net worth, cash flow projections, retirement planning, education savings,
and limited estate planning, as well as providing other advice as requested by clients, such as
advice about real estate and insurance.
Some clients are provided a written plan that includes a personal balance sheet and
certain
projections. All reports, financial statement projections, and analyses are intended
exclusively for client use in developing and implementing their financial plan. In view of this
limited purpose, the statements should not be considered complete financial statements.
Accordingly, clients should understand that such statements cannot be used to obtain credit
or for any purpose other than developing their personal financial plan. Trellis will not audit
(examine), review or compile such statements and, accordingly Trellis will not express an
opinion or other form of assurance on them, including the reasonableness of assumptions
and other data on which any prospective financial statements are based. It is likely that there
will be differences between projected and actual results because events and circumstances
frequently do not occur as expected and such differences may be material.
Trellis' analyses will be highly dependent on certain economic assumptions that clients must
make about the future. Therefore, another important step in the process is establishing the
client's familiarity with historical data regarding key assumptions such as inflation and
investment rates of return as well as an understanding of how significantly these assumptions
affect the results of the analyses. Trellis may counsel clients as to the consistency of the
client's assumptions with relevant historical data, but Trellis will not express any assurance as
to the accuracy or reasonableness of their specific data and assumptions. Clients are
ultimately responsible for the assumptions and personal data upon which Trellis' procedures
and projections are based.
In performing our services, we are not required to verify any information received from the
client or from the client's other professionals and we are expressly authorized to rely on the
information provided. Clients are advised that it remains their responsibility to promptly notify
us if there is ever any change in their financial situation or investment objectives for the
purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising Trellis' previous recommendations and/or services.
Our independent, objective investment advice is not limited to any specific product or service.
Our services are tailored to the individual needs of clients through the analysis and
implementation methods described above. Clients may impose reasonable restrictions on
investing in certain securities, types of securities, or industry sectors.
Important Information for Retirement Investors
When we recommend that you rollover retirement assets or transfer existing retirement assets
(such as a 401(k) or an IRA) to our management, we have a conflict of interest. This is
because we will generally earn additional revenue when we manage more assets. In making
the recommendation, however, we do so only after determining that the recommendation is in
your best interest. Further, in making any recommendation to transfer or rollover retirement
assets, we do so as a “fiduciary,” as that term is defined in ERISA or the Internal Revenue
Code, or both. We also acknowledge we are a fiduciary under ERISA or the Internal Revenue
Code with respect to our ongoing investment advisory recommendations and discretionary
asset management services, as described in the advisory agreement we execute with you. To
the extent we provide non-fiduciary services to you, those will be described in the advisory
agreement.
Amount of Managed Assets
As of December 31, 2022, Trellis managed approximately $427.6 million of clients' assets on
a discretionary basis, and approximately $2 million of clients’ assets on a non-discretionary
basis.