Coordination across sub-accounts of a U.S.-based individual investor can potentially uncover opportunities to more effectively manage tax liability. Our case study found this result independent of the client’s benchmark-tracking and tax preferences.

Continuous tax-loss harvesting, versus a dedicated year-end process, could potentially generate greater net realized losses. And with modern portfolio-management systems, it can be largely automated as part of a regular rebalancing cadence.

The MSCI Similarity Score represents a significant evolution in wealth-management practice, aiding firms in balancing individual client needs with scalable processes and shifting perspective from a holdings-based analysis to behavioral similarity. 

The concept of tax alpha can help a wealth manager explain a client’s after-tax performance. In a new article in the Journal of Wealth Management, we propose two frameworks for the after-tax calculation used to measure tax alpha. 

For wealth managers and financial advisers seeking customized solutions to meet growing client demand, rules-based management approaches for model portfolios may offer opportunities to improve on traditional management approaches.    

Tax-loss harvesting is one strategy individual investors can use to help reduce tax liability and improve after-tax return. It may result, however, in high turnover and tracking error, lowering return. Balancing these factors for each taxpayer is key. 

Wealth managers, interested in adding EAFE equity exposure to a U.S. client’s portfolio but concerned about the potential tax implications? We compared the tax efficiency of EAFE ADRs and shares of the underlying securities.  

Householding applies one target asset allocation across all family assets and manages them holistically for the highest practicable after-tax return. We compare the outcomes of two use cases for householding vs. a single-portfolio approach. 

Listen in on an in-depth discussion about the growing demand for and personalized tax-efficient strategies from wealth-management clients — driven by technological revolution and the coming, intergenerational transfer of wealth.

Direct indexing and ETFs can both play a part in designing a tax-efficient investment strategy. We compare those roles in a U.S.-domiciled portfolio.  

Selling a capital asset at a loss to reduce your tax liability is one side of the coin. The other side is thoughtfully selecting the security that replaces it.   

We analyze a framework for wealth managers considering the impact of managing their clients’ investment preferences alongside different tax-management approaches. 

Wealth managers now have the option to complement domestic allocations with direct indexing using the 370 constituents of the MSCI EAFE Expanded ADR Index.

Prior MSCI research has shown that ESG momentum — a measure of year-over-year changes to a company’s industry-adjusted ESG score — has been an impactful financial indicator, but it’s important to reassess its validity in the current market environment.

Direct indexing has prompted wealth managers to evaluate their implementation choices for individual clients. Our research focuses on aspects of the wealth manager’s implementation of direct indexing as well as tax optimization.

The largest source of many companies’ carbon emissions come from their suppliers. We look at how firms across industries approach this challenge as they work toward their net-zero goals, including the efforts of HP and MSCI.

Given the complexity of U.S. tax regulation, wealth advisers continue to grapple with how to build tax-efficient portfolios while balancing clients’ other objectives. We propose a rules-based way of doing so and analyze its benefits and trade-offs.