A. Firm Information
Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors, LLC (“Arbor Trust” or the “Advisor”) is a registered investment advisor with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Arbor Trust is organized as a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”)
under the laws of the State of Delaware. The Advisor was founded in August 2014, and is principally owned by
Carol Sewell, Gary Haapala, James Winslow, Charles Waterhouse, and Sonia Patel.
This Disclosure Brochure provides information regarding the qualifications, business practices, and advisory
services provided by Arbor Trust. For additional information regarding this Disclosure Brochure, please contact
the Advisor’s Chief Compliance Officer, Laura Yarckow at (734) 389-7794.
B. Advisory Services Offered
Arbor Trust offers advisory services to individuals, high net-worth individuals, trusts, estates, retirement plans,
charitable organizations, state-municipal entities, and businesses (each referred to as a “Client”).
The Advisor serves as a fiduciary to Clients, as defined under the applicable laws and regulations. As a fiduciary,
the Advisor upholds a duty of loyalty, fairness and good faith towards each Client and seeks to mitigate potential
conflicts of interest. Arbor Trust’s fiduciary commitment is further described in the Advisor’s Code of Ethics. For
more information regarding the Code of Ethics, please see Item 11 – Code of Ethics, Participation or Interest in
Client Transactions and Personal Trading.
Investment Management Services
Arbor Trust provides customized investment advisory solutions for its Clients which generally includes ongoing
continuous personal Client contact and interaction, a broad range of comprehensive financial planning and/or
consulting services (as described below), as well as discretionary management of investment portfolios and
related services. Arbor Trust works with each Client to identify their investment goals and objectives as well as
risk tolerance and financial situation in order to create a portfolio strategy. Arbor Trust will then construct a
portfolio primarily consisting of individual equity securities, individual fixed income securities, mutual funds,
and/or exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”). In certain circumstances, the Advisor may also employ limited
partnerships, real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and other types of investments, as appropriate. The Advisor
may also retain certain legacy investments based on portfolio fit and/or tax considerations.
Arbor Trust’s investment approach is primarily long-term focused, but the Advisor may buy, sell or re-allocate
positions that have been held for less than one year to meet the objectives of the Client or due to market
conditions. Arbor Trust will construct, implement and monitor the portfolio to ensure it meets the goals,
objectives, circumstances, and risk tolerance agreed to by the Client. Each Client will have the opportunity to
place reasonable restrictions on the types of investments to be held in their respective portfolio, subject to
acceptance by the Advisor.
Arbor Trust evaluates and selects investments for inclusion in Client portfolios only after applying its internal due
diligence process. Arbor Trust may recommend, on occasion, redistributing investment allocations to diversify the
portfolio. Arbor Trust may recommend specific positions to increase sector or asset class weightings. The
Advisor may recommend employing cash positions as a possible hedge against market movement. Arbor Trust
may recommend selling positions for reasons that include, but are not limited to, harvesting capital gains or
losses, business or sector risk exposure to a specific security or class of securities, overvaluation or
overweighting of the position[s] in the portfolio, change in risk tolerance of the Client, generating cash to meet
Client needs, or any risk deemed unacceptable for the Client’s risk tolerance.
At no time will Arbor Trust accept or maintain custody of a Client’s funds or securities, except for the limited
authority as outlined in Item 15 – Custody. All Client assets will be managed within their designated account[s] at
the Custodian, pursuant to the terms of the investment advisory agreement. For additional information, please
see Item 12 – Brokerage Practices.
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Retirement Accounts – When the Advisor provides investment advice to Clients regarding ERISA retirement
accounts or individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), the Advisor is a fiduciary within the meaning of Title I of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and/or the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), as applicable,
which are laws governing retirement accounts. When deemed to be in the Client’s best interest, the Advisor will
provide investment advice to a Client regarding a distribution from an ERISA retirement account or to roll over
the assets to an IRA, or recommend a similar transaction including rollovers from one ERISA sponsored Plan to
another, one IRA to another IRA, or from one type of account to another account (e.g. commission-based
account to fee-based account). Such a recommendation creates a conflict of interest if the Advisor will earn a
new (or increase its current) advisory fee as a result of the transaction. No Client is under any obligation to roll
over a retirement account to an account managed by the Advisor.
Trust Fiduciary Services
Arbor Trust may provide fiduciary services to certain trust
Clients. Arbor Trust does not serve as a trustee for any
account relationships; however, Arbor Trust has an agreement with Tri-Star Trust Bank (the “Bank”) to serve as
trustee for Clients in need of these services. In addition to the investment management services described
above, Arbor Trust will provide administrative services and other fiduciary services to the Bank, the settlor and/or
the beneficiaries of the trusts.
Financial Planning Services
In limited instances where a Client does not engage the Advisor for investment management services, Arbor
Trust offers a stand-alone financial planning and consulting service to Clients, pursuant to a written financial
planning agreement. Services are offered in several areas of a Client’s financial situation, depending on their
goals, objectives and financial situation. Generally, such financial planning and consulting services will involve
preparing a financial plan or rendering a financial consultation based on the Client’s financial goals and
objectives. This planning or consulting may encompass one or more areas of need, including, but not limited to:
Retirement Planning Education Planning
Investment Management Social Security & Medicare Planning
Estate Planning Philanthropy
Cash Flow / Budgeting Generational Wealth Transfer
Insurance / Asset Protection
A financial plan developed for or financial consultation rendered to the Client will usually include general
recommendations for a course of activity or specific actions to be taken by the Client. For example,
recommendations may be made that the Client start or revise their investment programs, commence or alter
retirement savings, establish education savings and/or charitable giving programs. Arbor Trust may also refer
Clients to an accountant, attorney or another specialist, as appropriate for their unique situation. The Advisor will
offer to provide a written summary of Client’s financial situation, observations, and recommendations. Plans or
consultations are typically completed within six months of contract date, assuming all information and documents
requested are provided promptly.
Financial planning and consulting recommendations pose a conflict between the interests of the Advisor and the
interests of the Client. For example, the Advisor has an incentive to recommend that Clients engage the Advisor
for investment management services or to increase the level of investment assets with the Advisor, as it would
increase the amount of advisory fees paid to the Advisor. Clients are not obligated to implement any
recommendations made by the Advisor or maintain an ongoing relationship with the Advisor. If the Client elects
to act on any of the recommendations made by the Advisor, the Client is under no obligation to implement the
transaction through the Advisor.
Retirement Plan Advisory Services
Arbor Trust provides both discretionary and non-discretionary retirement plan advisory services to qualified
employee benefit plan sponsors (each a “Plan Sponsor”) and the plans (each a “Plan”). This suite of institutional
services is designed to assist Plan Sponsors in structuring, managing and optimizing their Plans.
Each engagement is individually negotiated and customized, and may include any or all of the following services:
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Plan Design & Strategy Plan Fee & Cost Analysis
Plan Review & Evaluation Plan Committee Consultation
Executive Planning & Benefits Fiduciary & Compliance
Investment Selection Participant Education
As disclosed in the related advisory agreement, certain of the foregoing services are provided by Arbor Trust as
a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). In accordance
with ERISA Section 408(b)(2), the Plan Sponsor is provided with a written description of Arbor Trust’s fiduciary
status, the specific services to be rendered and all direct and indirect compensation the Advisor reasonably
expects under the engagement.
C. Client Account Management
When engaging Arbor Trust to provide services, each Client is required to enter into one or more agreements
with the Advisor that define the terms, conditions, authority and responsibilities of the Advisor and the Client.
These services may include:
• Establishing an Investment Strategy – Arbor Trust, in connection with the Client, will develop a strategy
that seeks to achieve the Client’s investment goals and objectives.
• Asset Allocation – Arbor Trust will develop a strategic asset allocation that is targeted to meet the
investment objectives, time horizon, financial situation, and tolerance for risk for each Client.
• Portfolio Construction – Arbor Trust will develop a portfolio for the Client that is intended to meet the
stated goals and objectives of the Client.
• Investment Management and Supervision – Arbor Trust will provide investment management and
ongoing oversight of the Client’s investment portfolio and where provided, financial planning and
consulting services.
D. Wrap Fee Programs
Arbor Trust does not manage or place Client assets into a wrap fee program.
E. Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2023, Arbor Trust manages $527,644,441 in Client assets, $515,380,273 of which are
managed on a discretionary basis and $12,264,168 on a non-discretionary basis. Clients may request more
current information at any time by contacting the Advisor.