DS Investment Advisors

ITEM 5: FEES AND COMPENSATION

DS Investment Advisors LLC – Firm Brochure       3

For Non-ERISA Investment Management Accounts:
Our fees are based on an annualized percentage of the market value of your portfolio’s assets under
our management. Our standard fee schedule for investment management services is:

                                             Assets Under Management

                                    Under $1,000,000              1.00%
                                    $1,000,000-$3,000,000         0.75%
                                    Over $3,000,000               0.60%

We bill our fees quarterly or monthly, in advance, as specified in our investment management
agreement with you. We calculate our fee on the total market value of the securities, including
bank deposits and cash balances, under our management, as of the last trading day of the preceding
month, as reported by the account custodian. This fee can be adjusted for mid-quarter deposits or
withdrawals at the assigned advisor’s discretion. When our services are engaged any time other
than the beginning of a calendar quarter, our fees will be prorated. The prorated fee amount will
be based on initial deposit total market value as described above and time remaining in the month
or quarter, as specified in investment management agreement with you. We generally do not
prorate our fees with respect to additions to, or withdrawals from, your account during any quarter;
however, fee adjustments may be made on a case-by-case basis when appropriate and in
consultation with you. We appreciate advanced notice of anticipated additions or withdrawals so
that we can better plan for the management of your account.

Our investment management fees are negotiable and agreed upon at the time of our engagement.
We may agree to a fixed management fee for certain accounts. If you, your family or related
persons also have accounts under our management, those accounts may be aggregated for fee
calculation purposes. We may negotiate our fees taking into consideration such things as the size
of your account, the number of managed portfolios, your relationship with other clients, the length
of our relationship with you, the complexity of your personal circumstances, the composition of
your portfolio, the complexity of investment strategies, the frequency of desired meetings or
special reporting, and other factors that affect our cost of providing services for you. For these
reasons, our fees may vary among clients who may appear to be in similar circumstances.

For ERISA (Qualified) Retirement Plan Services:

Our fees and the payment terms for qualified plan services are negotiable and agreed upon at the
time of engagement as disclosed in our ERISA Investment Management Agreement. Depending
on the scope of services we provide and the total plan assets, the range of fees can be between
.05% and .42% of total plan assets under management. Generally, our annual management fee for
retirement plans is based on an annual percentage, payable monthly or quarterly, in arrears, based
on the plan’s assets, net of Excluded Assets, as of the last day of a calendar month, as applicable.
We prorate fees if services to the plan are initiated or terminated during a billing period.

Under the agreement, the plan fiduciary determines the method to pay our management fee for
services to the plan and Advice Services for any plan participants electing Advice Services. Any
fees billed directly to the plan sponsor are payable promptly from the date of invoice. Fees

DS Investment Advisors LLC – Firm Brochure             4

deducted from any plan participant’s account will be based on the value of the plan participant’s
account as of the last day of a calendar month, as applicable.

Fees for Non-discretionary Investment and Retirement Advice Services for Qualified Plan
Participants

The Investment Manager and its Advisors shall receive no direct or indirect compensation in
connection with the provision of non-discretionary investment and retirement advice to Plan
participants and beneficiaries under ERISA Section 3(21).

There is no agreement signed by us or the participant for giving that non-discretionary advice. Our
agreement for services rendered are between DS Investment Advisors, LLC and the Plan Sponsor.
Such ERISA Section 3(21) services are provided solely as part of the Investment Manager’s
overall fee for plan-level investment management services, including services provided under
ERISA Section 3(38).
Direct Billing to Your Custodian

Generally, clients authorize us under our investment management agreement and/or the custodian
authorization form to directly deduct our fee from their account(s). If you provide us with such
authorization, your management fee payment will show on your custodian statement. You may
terminate this fee deduction at any time by giving us written notice. If you request an invoice, your
payment is due within 10 days following receipt of our billing invoice.

Transaction Fees and Other Expenses

Our investment management fees do not include brokerage commissions, transaction fees, and
other related costs and expenses incurred in connection with providing investment management
services to you. Notably, most custodians have now adopted zero-cost trading for equities, which
we intend to utilize. Some of our investment strategies include mutual funds, index funds,
exchange-traded funds and/or other types of funds All fees paid to us for investment management
services are separate and distinct from the fees and expenses charged by these funds to their
shareholders. These fees and expenses are described in each fund’s prospectus and potentially
include a management fee, distribution fee (i.e., Rule 12b-1 fee), sales charge and other fund
expenses. It is important for you to understand that if you are invested in funds that charge a
management fee, shareholder servicing, or other fund expense, you are directly and indirectly
...

ITEM 7: TYPES OF CLIENTS

We provide investment management services to individuals, high net worth individuals, profit-
sharing plans, trusts, estates, and charitable organizations, and companies.

While we do not impose a minimum account size to engage our services, we may charge minimum
annual fees of $500 per account to cover our administrative costs in servicing an account.