Altamira Financial Group

The firm's primary strategy is direct indexing with systematic tax-loss harvesting. It constructs equity portfolios of individual stocks designed to track a broad market index, held in separately managed accounts. This enables the firm to sell individual positions at a loss to offset taxable gains, then reinvest in a correlated substitute to maintain benchmark exposure. The goal is to improve after-tax returns without taking active bets on security selection or market direction.

When a client holds an ETF, they own a share of a pooled vehicle and cannot control the embedded gains or losses of the underlying securities. With direct indexing at Altamira, the client owns the individual stocks outright. This allows the firm to selectively sell securities that have declined in value, generating capital losses that can offset gains from other investments. An ETF holder can only realize a loss on the ETF share itself, missing the granular tax-management opportunities.

The firm operates as a fee-only registered investment advisor, typically charging clients an annual advisory fee calculated as a percentage of assets under management. This structure aligns the firm's compensation with portfolio growth rather than commissions on product sales. Because the strategy generates a high volume of trades, the firm's fee is designed to cover both advisory and trading costs, with the tax savings intended to exceed the all-in cost for taxable investors.

The firm focuses on high-net-worth individuals and families whose portfolios generate significant taxable events. The direct indexing strategy is most valuable for clients in the top marginal tax brackets with concentrated stock positions, large realized gains from business exits, or substantial ongoing capital gains distributions from other holdings. The value proposition diminishes for assets held in tax-advantaged accounts like IRAs.

The firm's public identity centers on its direct-indexed equity strategy, which forms the core of client portfolios. Fixed income and alternative allocations are incorporated as satellite positions, structured around the equity core to meet each client's liquidity, income, and diversification requirements. These allocations are typically implemented through third-party managers or low-cost vehicles rather than in-house proprietary funds.