
Douglas Gilliland, CFP®, ChSNC®

My Mission Statement
My Story and Services
With over 20 years of experience in financial and wealth management, I specialize in helping high-tech industry professionals navigate the complexities of their financial lives. Many of the families I serve have built their wealth through company stock options and restricted stock grants. I understand the unique challenges that come with concentrated stock positions, and I partner with you to design tailored strategies for diversification, liquidity, risk reduction, and philanthropy strategies.
My mission is simple: to help you transform the wealth you've earned into the lifestyle you envision and the legacy you aspire to leave behind. Through a disciplined and collaborative financial planning process, I address the full spectrum of your financial needs—from building a secure retirement to planning for your children's education, generating sustainable income, and ensuring the seamless transfer of wealth to future generations.
I believe that effective wealth management goes beyond numbers. It's about understanding your goals, values, and aspirations. By working closely with your estate attorneys, tax advisors, and other trusted professionals, I aim to deliver a holistic plan that reflects your unique circumstances and helps you achieve your financial objectives.
Whatever your goals may be, I would be honored to be a part of your journey.
- Wealth ManagementFootnote1
- Financial PlanningFootnote2
- Planning for Individuals with Special Needs
- Planning for Individuals with Special Needs and their Families
- Retirement PlanningFootnote3
- Estate Planning StrategiesFootnote4
- LGBT+ Planning ServicesFootnote5
- 529 PlansFootnote6
- Asset Management
- Fixed IncomeFootnote7
- Alternative InvestmentsFootnote8
- 401(k) Rollovers
- Trust AccountsFootnote9
- UGMA/UTMAFootnote10
- Exchange Traded FundsFootnote11
- Donor Advised Funds
NMLS#: 1255461
Biography
Douglas has more than 20 years of experience providing financial and wealth management advice. He focuses on financial planning for individuals in the high technology industry. Most of the families Douglas works with have achieved their wealth through company stock options and restricted stock grants. Douglas focuses on working with these families with their concentrated stock issues, offering diversification, liquidity, risk reduction, and philanthropy strategies. With the Chartered Special Needs Consultant designation, Douglas also has the experience to help Special Needs Families with the unique challenges they face.
By taking his clients through the financial planning process he is able to deliver a comprehensive approach to wealth management, retirement planning, college planning, income generation, wealth transfer, and philanthropy. Douglas works with client's outside advisors to help them achieve their estate and tax planning goals.
Douglas has been a Financial Advisor since 2004. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2011 after a distinguished 7 year career at Merrill Lynch. Douglas has a degree in Molecular Biology from U.C. Berkeley. Previous to his career as a Financial Advisor he spent 7 years working in the biotechnology field. Douglas lives in Sunnyvale with his son, and they both enjoy the reef aquarium.
TRUST AND ESTATE PLANNING
• Objectively educate you about income tax and estate planning strategies
• Analyze planning techniques in relation to your goals
• Implement the estate plan to the extent that you are comfortable but we do not provide tax or legal advice
• Integrate investment and estate planning strategies - combining “asset location” with “asset allocation”
Location
Portfolio Insights
Family
- Estate Planning Strategies
- 529 Plans / Education Savings Planning
- Long Term Care Insurance
- Special Needs Planning
- Trust Services
Retirement
- 401(k) Rollovers
- IRA Plans
- Retirement income strategies
- Retirement plan participants
- Annuities
Business Planning
- Succession Planning
- Business Planning
- Qualified Retirement Plans
Investing
- Asset Management
- Wealth Planning
- Traditional Investments
- Alternative Investments
- Impact Investing
Financial Wellness
- Reduce employee stress,
- Improve retention and engagement, and
- Set themselves apart by offering comprehensive financial wellness benefits.
Philanthropy
- Endowments
- Foundations
- Donor Advised Funds
- Impact Investing
1Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is the trade name of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, a registered broker-dealer in the United States.
For more information, please see the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC Client Relationship Summary.
2Morgan Stanley offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences or review our Understanding Your Brokerage and Investment Advisory Relationships brochure available at www.morganstanley.com/wealth-relationshipwithms/pdfs/understandingyourrelationship.pdf.
3When Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors and Private Wealth Advisors (collectively, “Morgan Stanley”) provide “investment advice” regarding a retirement or welfare benefit plan account, an individual retirement account or a Coverdell education savings account (“Retirement Account”), Morgan Stanley is a “fiduciary” as those terms are defined under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”), as applicable. When Morgan Stanley provides investment education, takes orders on an unsolicited basis or otherwise does not provide “investment advice”, Morgan Stanley will not be considered a “fiduciary” under ERISA and/or the Code. For more information regarding Morgan Stanley’s role with respect to a Retirement Account, please visit www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/dol. Tax laws are complex and subject to change. Morgan Stanley does not provide tax or legal advice. Individuals are encouraged to consult their tax and legal advisors (a) before establishing a Retirement Account, and (b) regarding any potential tax, ERISA and related consequences of any investments or other transactions made with respect to a Retirement Account. Individuals should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning, charitable giving, philanthropic planning and other legal matters.
4Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors and Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning and other legal matters.
5Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors and Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning and other legal matters.
6Investors should consider many factors before deciding which 529 plan is appropriate. Some of these factors include: the Plan’s investment options and the historical investment performance of these options, the Plan’s flexibility and features, the reputation and expertise of the Plan’s investment manager, Plan contribution limits and the federal and state tax benefits associated with an investment in the Plan. Some states, for example, offer favorable tax treatment and other benefits to their residents only if they invest in the state’s own Qualified Tuition Program. Investors should determine their home state’s tax treatment of 529 plans when considering whether to choose an in-state or out-of-state plan. Investors should consult with their tax or legal advisor before investing in any 529 Plan or contact their state tax division for more information. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC does not provide tax and/or legal advice. Investors should review a Program Disclosure Statement, which contains more information on investment options, risk factors, fees and expenses and possible tax consequences.
7Fixed Income investing entails credit risks and interest rate risks. When interest rates rise, bond prices generally fall.
8Alternative Investments are speculative and include a high degree of risk. An investor could lose all or a substantial amount of his/her investment. Alternative investments are appropriate only for qualified, long-term investors who are willing to forgo liquidity and put capital at risk for an indefinite period of time.
9Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors and Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning and other legal matters.
10Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors and Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning and other legal matters.
11An investment in an exchange-traded fund (ETF) involves risks similar to those of investing in a broadly based portfolio of equity securities traded on exchange in the relevant securities market, such as market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic and political developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in stock prices. The investment return and principal value of ETF investments will fluctuate, so that an investor’s ETF shares, if or when sold, may be worth more or less than the original cost.
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the ETF. To obtain a prospectus, contact your Financial Advisor or visit the ETF company’s website. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
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