Portfolio Management
Low-cost, tax-aware portfolios built around what each account is for
A portfolio has one job: to fund the plan. Ours are built account by account around what each dollar is for, kept low-cost and diversified, and managed with as much attention to taxes as to returns. There is no product to sell and nothing proprietary to hold you in.
Accounts are held at Charles Schwab in your name. We manage them under a limited trading authorization, you see everything in real time, and our fee is the only way we are paid.
How we build a portfolio
Every account has a job
Near-term spending, long-term growth, a Roth meant for the next generation and a taxable account holding company stock should not all own the same thing. We set the mix for the household, then decide what goes where.
The right asset in the right account
Bonds and high-turnover funds in tax-deferred accounts, broad equity index funds in taxable, the highest-growth assets in Roth. Done well, asset location adds return without adding risk.
Low-cost, broadly diversified, mostly index
Expense ratios in the hundredths of a percent, no commissions, no loads. Where we take active risk it is deliberate and small.
Company stock handled on purpose
For clients with large employer stock positions, the diversified portfolio is built around the concentration and the sell-down schedule, not in ignorance of it.
Concentrated Stock Diversification Planner
Enter your position, its cost basis and the rest of your portfolio. See a year-by-year sell-down schedule with the tax bill and concentration at each step.
What ongoing management includes
Rebalancing with a tax lens. We rebalance with new contributions, dividends and withdrawals before we sell anything, and when we do sell, we choose the lots.
Loss harvesting. Losses in taxable accounts are captured and carried forward to offset the gains that come with diversifying company stock or selling a home. In some years this pays for the fee by itself.
The retirement paycheck. For clients drawing on the portfolio, we set up a monthly transfer from the right account, refill the cash reserve on a schedule, and adjust the withdrawal each year to what the plan and the markets allow.
Reporting you can read. Performance against a real benchmark, net of fees, with a plain explanation of what changed and why. No jargon, no 40-page quarterly.
What we don’t do
We don’t pick individual stocks, chase managers, time the market or use products that pay us. We don’t hold your assets, and we don’t have discretion over anything outside the accounts you have asked us to manage. If a strategy is not something we would use with our own money, it does not go in yours.
Want a second opinion on your current portfolio?
Send us a recent statement. We’ll tell you what it costs, how it is positioned for taxes, and where the concentration risk is, with no obligation.
Schedule a Call