Investment Strategy

A handful of decisions drive most of a portfolio’s long-run result: how much to hold in each asset class, where to use index funds and where to pay for active management, how far to diversify beyond the U.S., and how to keep taxes and fees from consuming the return. The articles in this section take those decisions one at a time, for families and for institutions.

Each explains what the strategy is, when it helps, what it costs and what to ask before using it, so a family or a committee can judge it against its own plan rather than the market’s mood.

Start here

• Active vs. passive, asset class by asset class
• The case for and against international stocks
• Direct indexing and who should use it
• How tax-loss harvesting works
• Year-round and long/short tax-loss harvesting
• Hedging a concentrated stock position
• Covered call ETFs
• Choosing a policy benchmark