After TaxTax Playbook

Tax Playbook · Investment tax wins

Direct indexing & tax-managed SMAs

Instead of buying one fund holding 500 stocks, you buy the 500 stocks yourself. Then whenever some dip, you sell the losers and buy something similar — collecting tax savings all year. On big accounts this can add 1%+ a year in tax savings. Fancy ‘long/short’ versions use borrowed money and charge higher fees, so they're riskier — not the same as plain indexing.

Good for: Big taxable accounts (roughly $250k+) — the higher your bracket, the more it saves.

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Educational summary, not tax advice. Limits and rules change — confirm current law with your tax adviser.