Stance Capital for Family Offices

A taxable portfolio accumulated over decades, with embedded gains in every position, concentrated holdings from a business exit or employer equity, and a cost basis that makes rebalancing expensive, is not a problem that a standard ETF allocation or a bundled managed account program addresses well. The same is true for a family office managing assets across multiple entities, generations, and investment mandates at once.

Stance Capital works directly with family offices, and alongside the financial advisors and investment consultants who serve them.

Who This Is For

Family offices with dedicated investment staff seeking a separately managed account partner or quantitative and sustainable investing research. Family offices whose advisors access Stance through one of our platform relationships. Foundations and charitable vehicles managed within a broader family structure. Institutions with multi-entity account needs, complex tax situations, or conservation mandates.

For Family Offices

Direct investment management relationships. Family offices with dedicated investment staff can engage Stance directly as a separately managed account manager or as a source of quantitative and sustainable investing research. For family offices that manage their own investment process but want to add a sustainable equity allocation with genuine analytical depth, Stance strategies are available as model portfolios that can be integrated into the office's existing infrastructure without disrupting current manager relationships. Learn about model delivery.

Multi-entity account structures. Family office assets frequently span multiple legal entities: accounts held in trust, family limited partnerships, foundations, and charitable vehicles. Stance SMAs can be opened across entity types through the same custodial relationships, with consistent strategy implementation and coordinated tax management across the full family structure. Learn about managed accounts.

Quantitative research and consulting. For family offices with their own CIOs or investment committees seeking outside quantitative and sustainable investing research, factor model analysis, or alternative data, Stance's team works directly with you. This is a research and consulting relationship, not model delivery, and the scope is defined around what the office actually needs. Learn about consulting.

Tax-managed separately managed accounts. For portfolios with significant unrealized gains in taxable accounts, the SMA structure provides tax management capabilities that pooled vehicles cannot: position-level tax-loss harvesting, coordinated gain and loss management across the account, in-kind funding for appreciated legacy holdings, and step-up-in-basis planning for estate purposes. Stance manages accounts at the security level with attention to each client's specific tax situation throughout the year. Learn about managed accounts.

Portfolio customization. Accounts can be configured with security-level exclusions, sector restrictions, and concentration limits. A client who holds employer stock and does not want additional exposure to that company, or who has specific criteria not reflected in Stance's standard construction, can have those requirements applied directly. There is no limit on the number of exclusions.

Understanding Section 351 for deeply appreciated portfolios. For portfolios that have grown deeply appreciated and where traditional tax-loss harvesting capacity has been exhausted, the Section 351 exchange is a tax provision worth understanding. It may allow appreciated securities to be contributed in-kind to a newly formed ETF, with the gain deferred rather than recognized at the time of transfer, depending on the investor's specific circumstances and with the involvement of qualified tax counsel. Read the Section 351 primer.

What Makes Stance Different

Sustainable investing backed by research. For family offices that want genuine sustainable exposure, not a commercial index with a screen applied, Stance's strategies are built on proprietary quantitative models and independently verified company-level data. The research methodology varies by strategy: Stance Sustainable Beta uses Corporate Knights' 125-factor framework; Stance ESG US Large Cap Core applies 25 material risk factors. The sustainability integration reflects how each portfolio is constructed, not how it is marketed.

Tax awareness at the account level. Stance manages gains and losses actively on an ongoing basis throught the year. For portfolios with complex annual tax planning requirements, this ongoing coordination is designed to support better after-tax outcomes over time, though results will vary based on market conditions and individual circumstances.

Custodial flexibility. Stance strategies are available through Fidelity, Schwab, LPL, First Affirmative, Adhesion, and SMArtX. Family offices do not need to change custodians or open accounts at unfamiliar institutions to access Stance strategies.

Starting the Conversation

For family offices, the first conversation typically starts with your investment policy statement, mandate, and current manager relationships. If you work with an advisor or investment consultant, they can contact us directly about platform access. We are direct about whether Stance is the right fit, and comfortable pointing you elsewhere if it is not.

Get in touch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Stance work directly with family offices or only through advisors?

Both. Stance works directly with family offices and also through the financial advisors and investment consultants who serve them. The right entry point depends on how the office prefers to manage the investment relationship.

Can Stance manage accounts across multiple legal entities for a family?

Yes. Stance SMAs can be opened across trusts, family limited partnerships, foundations, and other entity types through the same custodial relationships. Strategy implementation and tax management can be coordinated across the full family structure.

What is the minimum for a Stance separately managed account?

Minimums vary by strategy and account type. Reach out and we can tell you whether your specific situation meets the threshold for the strategy you have in mind.

Can a Stance SMA be funded with securities already held rather than cash?

Yes. Stance accepts in-kind transfers of existing securities. A transition plan is built to move from the current holdings to the target Stance strategy in a tax-aware sequence, working around positions with the largest embedded gains where possible.

What is the Section 351 exchange and is it relevant to our situation?

The Section 351 exchange is a tax provision that may allow appreciated securities to be contributed to a newly formed ETF without triggering capital gains recognition at the time of transfer, depending on the investor's specific circumstances and with the involvement of qualified tax counsel. It is most relevant for portfolios that have been fully harvested over the years and cannot be meaningfully rebalanced without a significant tax cost. See the Section 351 Primer for a full explanation.

How does Stance approach sustainable investing for family offices?

Stance builds its sustainable strategies on independently verified company-level data. The methodology varies by strategy: Stance Sustainable Beta uses Corporate Knights' 125-factor framework, which evaluates companies on sustainable revenue, capital allocation, and governance practices. Stance ESG US Large Cap Core applies 25 material risk factors across the US large-cap universe. For family offices that want to know their portfolio has been independently assessed, the distinction between this approach and a screened index is worth understanding.