Investing with Stance: How to Get Started

Stance Capital manages investment strategies across the advisory and institutional market. Our clients include financial advisors, foundations, endowments, employer retirement plans, and family offices. Whether the goal is sustainable investing, managing concentrated positions, generating income, or reducing tax drag, this page walks through who we work with and how the process typically begins.

Who Stance Works With

Financial advisors. Stance strategies are available as separately managed accounts or model portfolios through Fidelity, Schwab, LPL, First Affirmative, Adhesion, and SMArtX, which means you can likely access them on a platform you already use. Whether your clients are interested in sustainable strategies, tax-efficient transitions from concentrated positions, or income generation, there is probably a Stance strategy worth considering. See the Stance for Financial Advisors page for a full description of how we work with the advisor channel.

Foundations, endowments, and institutions. Stance works directly with foundations, endowments, and other institutional investors to build separately managed accounts that fit your investment policy statement and operational requirements. You have full transparency into every holding, the ability to customize the strategy to your specific mandate, and direct access to Stance's portfolio management team. For organizations with conservation or sustainability mandates, our Stance KB strategies are built specifically for that purpose. See the Stance for Foundations and Endowments page.

Family offices. Stance works with family offices managing assets across multiple entities, generations, and investment mandates. Whether your office has dedicated investment staff seeking a sustainable equity allocation with genuine analytical depth, or you are looking for a separately managed account partner with full transparency into every holding, Stance can work directly with you or alongside your existing advisor relationships. See the Stance for Family Offices page.

Asset managers, RIAs, and institutions. Stance works with asset managers and RIAs looking to expand their product lineup or access outside investment capabilities. That includes sub-advisory relationships where Stance manages a sleeve or strategy on your behalf, co-development of custom separately managed account strategies built around your client base, access to Stance's quantitative research and factor modeling capabilities, and support for ETF launches where Stance serves as the portfolio manager or sub-adviser. If you have a specific investment problem and want to explore whether Stance can help build a solution around it, see the ETF Capabilities and Consulting pages.

The Strategies

Stance manages five strategies. All are available as separately managed accounts, and some are also accessible in ETF form. Each can be customized to your specific requirements, whether that means adjusting the underlying universe, adding exclusion criteria, or tailoring the strategy to fit an existing investment policy statement.

Stance Sustainable Beta. An equal weight US equity strategy that excludes fossil fuel producers and is certified carbon neutral each year by Ethos, an independent third-party certifier. Rather than weighting by market cap, every holding gets an approximately equal allocation, which reduces the mega-cap concentration you get in most index strategies. Stance pays for the carbon offsets directly, at no cost to the investor. Works well as a core equity position. See the full strategy page.

Stance ESG U.S. Large Cap Core. An active US large cap equity strategy using proprietary factor models and machine learning to identify companies that meet rigorous sustainability criteria and exhibit quantitative characteristics associated with return potential, though no specific outcome is guaranteed. The portfolio is optimized quarterly to balance factor exposures and reduce tail risk. For investors who want an active, differentiated investment process rather than a rules-based index approach. See the full strategy page.

Stance Derivative Income. A covered call income strategy that systematically sells call options against an equity portfolio to generate current income. The options overlay is applied consistently rather than opportunistically, so income generation reflects a disciplined approach to option selection and sizing. For investors who want equity participation with a reliable income component, particularly in retirement or income-focused accounts. See the full strategy page.

Stance KB US Conservation. A domestic equity strategy built around biodiversity and habitat preservation criteria, applying a conservation lens to US public equities. Named for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly, the strategy is designed for investors and institutions with US conservation mandates who want their equity portfolio to reflect a commitment to protecting natural ecosystems, not just excluding certain industries. See the full strategy page.

Stance KB Global Biodiversity. A global equity strategy applying biodiversity criteria across international public equities. Where the US Conservation strategy focuses on domestic habitat and species preservation, this strategy extends the same framework across global markets, making it appropriate for investors and institutions with global conservation or impact mandates who want consistent biodiversity criteria applied worldwide. See the full strategy page.

A Note on Tax Situations

If you have a taxable account with significant embedded gains, you have probably already done the math and concluded the tax cost of transitioning is too high. That may be right. But it is worth a conversation before you rule it out.

Stance manages in-kind account transitions, which means we can often work around positions with the largest embedded gains rather than forcing a sale. For portfolios with large embedded gains that have been fully harvested, the Section 351 exchange may allow appreciated securities to be contributed to an ETF structure with capital gains recognition deferred at the time of transfer, depending on the investor's specific circumstances and with the involvement of qualified tax counsel. The right approach depends on account size, holding period, and cost basis. See the Section 351 Primer for more detail.

Starting the Conversation

The first step is a 30 to 45 minute conversation. We will ask about your situation: your account structure, your current holdings, your tax picture, and what you are trying to accomplish. We will tell you honestly whether Stance is the right fit and, if so, what the engagement looks like.

We turn away work that is not a good fit. If a different manager, a different strategy, or a different vehicle makes more sense for your situation, we will tell you that. Schedule a conversation to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a financial advisor to work with Stance?

Not always. Stance strategies are available as separately managed accounts and model portfolios on Fidelity, Schwab, LPL, First Affirmative, Adhesion, SMArtX, and other platforms — so if you already work with an advisor, they can likely access Stance without any custodian change. Family offices and institutions can engage Stance directly. You can also purchase Stance-managed ETFs on brokerage platforms without an advisor relationship.

What platforms and custodians does Stance work with?

Separately managed accounts are available on Fidelity, Schwab, LPL, First Affirmative, Adhesion, SMArtX, and more. Model portfolio delivery is available as well. If you are working with an advisor on a platform not listed here, reach out and we can tell you whether access is possible.

What does carbon-neutral certified mean for Stance Sustainable Beta?

The strategy's residual carbon emissions are calculated annually by Ethos, an independent third-party certifier, and Stance purchases verified carbon offsets to cover the full amount. The offsets come from Holganix's regenerative agriculture program, which pays American farmers for verified soil carbon sequestration. Stance pays for the offsets, not the investor. See What Is Carbon-Neutral Investing for a full explanation.

Can I transition an existing portfolio of appreciated securities to a Stance strategy without selling everything?

Often yes. Stance accepts in-kind account transfers, which means you can fund a separately managed account with existing holdings rather than cash. For portfolios with large embedded gains that have been fully harvested, the Section 351 exchange may allow a transition to an ETF structure with capital gains recognition deferred at the time of transfer, depending on the investor's specific circumstances and with the involvement of qualified tax counsel. The right approach depends on your specific situation and we will walk through it with you in the initial conversation.

How is a separately managed account different from a mutual fund or ETF?

In a separately managed account, you own each security directly in your own brokerage account. In a fund, you own units in a pooled vehicle and the fund owns the securities. Direct ownership means position-level tax-loss harvesting throughout the year, the ability to customize your holdings, in-kind funding from an existing portfolio, and a step-up in cost basis at death. It also means full transparency into every position at any time.