Case Study: How One Family Reclaimed Control of Their $30M Portfolio
A client came to us with a $30 million portfolio spread across three investment advisors. On the surface, everything seemed in order—diversified across Canadian and U.S. equities, fixed income, real estate, alternatives, and cash. A textbook case of manager diversification. But beneath the surface, things weren’t nearly as coordinated as they appeared. What looked like a smart strategy lacked integration, efficiency, and oversight. It was a classic case of too many moving parts without a conductor. What appeared to be prudent diversification turned out to be overlapping holdings, redundant strategies, and high fees hiding in plain sight. Income was inconsistent. Taxes weren’t optimized. And no one had a clear view of whether the portfolio was actually working to meet the family’s needs. What the family needed wasn’t more diversification—it was streamlined stewardship.
They didn’t want to micromanage the details. They just wanted steady, reliable income—and someone to bring the moving parts into sync. There was so much complexity, when what they needed was clarity, structure, and the streamlined stewardship to turn it into results.
What Wasn’t Working
The family’s multi-advisor setup had created a perfect recipe for confusion—and cost.
First, each advisor was operating in their own silo. There was no collaboration, no central oversight, and definitely no one responsible for managing the big picture. The result? Duplicated holdings, conflicting asset allocations, and decisions made in a vacuum.
Then came the fees. On the surface, none of the fees looked outrageous. But once we ran a consolidated audit, we uncovered over $330,000 in annual costs—some of it transparent, much of it buried inside fund structures. To make matters worse, a significant portion wasn’t even tax-deductible.
Meanwhile, the portfolio was generating around $600,000 per year in pre-tax income, which translated to just $400,000 after tax. That wasn’t enough to support the family’s $600K annual draw requirement. So advisors were quietly selling assets to cover the difference—creating more capital gains and eroding the long-term health of the portfolio.
And finally, there was no tax strategy. U.S. dividends were being taxed inefficiently, Canadian equities under-yielded, and the real estate portion was illiquid and underperforming.
How We Helped: A Four-Step Fix
Step 1: Create a Strategy That Actually Reflects Their Goals
The first thing we did was get everyone on the same page. We drafted a simple but powerful Investment Policy Statement (IPS) to define the family’s objectives, risk tolerance, liquidity needs, and asset mix.
Their goals were straightforward:
- Preserve capital over the long term
- Generate reliable, after-tax income
- Avoid unnecessary complexity
The new target portfolio looked like this:
- 15% Canadian equities
- 15% US equities
- 10% international equities
- 30% fixed income
- 15% real estate
- 10% alternatives
- 5% cash
For the first time, the family had a formal framework for making decisions, measuring success, and practicing streamlined stewardship across the entire portfolio.
Step 2: Bring the Portfolio Into Focus
We imported the full portfolio into Addepar, our consolidated reporting platform—a beast of a task in its own right. Between syncing account feeds, tracking down login credentials, and reconciling holdings across three advisors, it’s like trying to solve a 10,000-piece puzzle… with no picture on the box.
But that’s our job. And trust us—we love a good puzzle.
Once everything was connected, we were finally able to give the family (and ourselves) a clear, bird’s-eye view of the entire portfolio. Every account, every asset, every fee—organized, transparent, and finally speaking the same language. What once felt like noise became a readable story.
It’s a heavy lift—but one of the most important steps. And we handle all of it, so the family doesn’t have to.
What we discovered wasn’t surprising, but it was important:
- The actual asset mix didn’t match the IPS
- Cash was scattered across five different vehicles, each with different fees and interest rates
- Real estate was locked up in illiquid funds delivering low yields
- Tax inefficiencies were built into almost every layer
Now that we could see the full picture, it was time to act.
Step 3: Restructure the Fees and Align Incentives
Here’s where the transformation really took shape.
Before
- Total fees: $330,000/year
- Fragmented across three advisors
- Many fees hidden and non-deductible
- No economies of scale
After
- Total fees: $150,600/year
- Streamlined across fewer relationships
- Most fees now fully tax-deductible
- Aligned mandates with better pricing
Here’s how we did it:
We moved both the Canadian and US equity mandates to a single portfolio manager on a custodial platform. Their transparent pricing of 0.425%, plus our 0.10% oversight, brought the total fee for each mandate down to 0.525%—a huge drop from the original 1.00%.
For fixed income and preferred shares, we expanded the role of Advisor #2, who was willing to take on the full $9M fixed income mandate (30% of the portfolio) for a flat 0.50% fee, down from 0.75%. They also agreed to:
- Hold $1.5M in cash with no fee
- Hold international equities (via iShares EAFE ETF) for no fee, charging only $250 per trade
Despite lowering their rate, Advisor #2 actually increased their compensation from $75K to $87.5K/year because of the larger role—a perfect example of aligned incentives.
We also moved the real estate and alternatives allocations to Advisor #2 under a 0.75% structure, simplifying oversight and reducing duplication.
As for Advisor #3? Their model—based on expensive mutual funds with 1.20% embedded fees—was outdated. They were also nearing retirement. We exited the relationship and eliminated legacy costs.
Here’s what the new fee structure looks like:
| Asset Class | Allocation | Before (%) | Before ($) | After (%) | After ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Equity | 15% | 1.00% | $45,000 | 0.525% | $23,625 |
| US Equity | 15% | 1.00% | $45,000 | 0.525% | $23,625 |
| International Equity | 10% | 1.10% | $33,000 | 0.070% | $2,100 |
| Fixed Income | 30% | 1.10% | $99,000 | 0.500% | $45,000 |
| Real Estate | 15% | 1.20% | $54,000 | 0.750% | $33,750 |
| Alternatives | 10% | 1.20% | $39,000 | 0.750% | $22,500 |
| Cash | 5% | 0.50% (est.) | $15,000 | 0.000% | $0 |
| Total | 100% | 1.10% (avg.) | $330,000 | 0.502% | $150,600 |
✔ Annual savings: $179,400
✔ Less complexity, more control
✔ Tax efficiency, due to the way fees are being charged
Step 4: Build Income That’s Built to Last
Now that the structure was in place, it was time to address the income shortfall.
The original portfolio was producing just $400K after tax, well below the $600K the family needed each year. Selling assets to bridge the gap wasn’t sustainable—and it was creating extra tax exposure.
So we worked with their investment advisors to engineer the portfolio to boost yield without increasing risk:
- Introduced preferred shares into the fixed income allocation to improve yield and reduce tax drag
- Shifted US equities toward growth stocks, deferring taxable gains and reducing current income tax
- Tilted Canadian equities toward dividend-paying names, benefiting from preferential dividend tax credit from Canadian stocks
- Replaced underperforming real estate funds with commercial REITs that are more liquid and income-generating
- Consolidated cash into fee-free, high-yield deposit options
The Result?
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Tax Yield | $600,000 (2%) | $1,000,000 (3.33%) |
| After-Tax Income | $400,000 | $600,000+ |
| Income Target Met? | ✖ | ✔ |
| Capital Being Sold? | ✔ | ✖ |
What This Family Gained
- $179,000+ in annual fee savings
- 50% increase in after-tax income
- A documented investment policy
- Simplified advisor relationships
- Quarterly reporting and real-time visibility
- A modern, tax-efficient structure for the future
Stewardship in Action
This is what responsible wealth management looks like. It’s not about throwing more products at a problem—it’s about stepping back, seeing the full picture, and delivering streamlined stewardship: a system designed to serve the family, not just the market.
When families understand how their portfolio works—and know that it’s working for them—they gain more than just financial returns. They gain confidence, clarity, and peace of mind.
Is your portfolio doing the same?
