Hear from Ted Pyne, Head of AQR’s U.S. Wealth Group, on the potential benefits of tax aware alternatives for U.S. taxable investors. To learn more about AQR’s approach to tax aware investing, visit aqr.com/tax.
What is tax aware investing?
For taxable investors in the United States, wealth compounds after tax, so taxes can matter just as much as fees or excess return. Tax aware investing aims to help investors maximize their after-tax returns.
AQR’s tax aware offerings are actively managed, systematic strategies that seek to deliver pre-tax returns tax efficiently and in some cases tax beneficially.
Ted Pyne on the importance of after-tax returns for taxable investors (0:23)
What are the potential benefits of tax aware alternatives for U.S. taxable investors?
Having alternatives in a portfolio can provide valuable diversification. However, taxes often reduce the value alternatives provide because a typical alternative investment does not appreciate tax efficiently. Instead, it may incur a substantial tax drag.
Tax aware alternatives are designed to help U.S. taxable investors get the full measure of benefit from an alternative allocation and compound wealth more quickly after tax. A small, but growing, number of investment managers offer alternative investment strategies in a tax aware implementation. These strategies can range from long-short equity strategies to multi-asset strategies and sophisticated multi-strategy alternatives.
Ted Pyne on Tax Aware Alternatives (0:29)
Tax aware alternative strategies seek to deliver a positive investment return tax efficiently, and may even deliver an additional tax benefit, making them an attractive type of investment for taxable investors. As an example, a tax aware strategy that uses both long and short positions can better facilitate tax loss harvesting, regardless of the direction of the market. In other words, a book comprised of long and short positions reflecting a view of the relative attractiveness of stocks allows investors to harvest losses while the strategy works as designed to produce a positive investment return.
Ted Pyne on potential tax harvesting benefits of systematic Long/Short strategies (0:18)
Ted Pyne on Tax Aware rebalancing at AQR (0:50)
This material is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or tax advice, nor is it intended to replace the advice of a qualified attorney or tax advisor. This material is not intended to be marketing. The recipient should conduct his or her own analysis and consult with professional advisors prior to making any investment decisions.
Risks of Tax Aware Strategies (Not Exhaustive)
1. Underperformance of pre-tax returns: tax aware strategies are investment strategies with the associated risk of pre-tax returns meaningfully underperforming expectations.
2. Adverse variation in tax benefits: deductible losses and expenses allocated by the strategy may be less than expected.
3. Lower marginal tax rates: the value of losses and expenses depends on an individual investor’s marginal tax rate, which may be lower than expected for reasons including low Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) due to unexpected losses and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
4. Inefficient use of allocated losses and expenses: the tax benefit of the strategy may be lower than expected if an investor cannot use the full value of losses and expenses allocated by the strategy to offset gains and income of the same character from other sources. This may occur for a variety of reasons including variation in gains and income realized by other investments, at-risk rules, limitation on excess business losses and/or net interest expense, or insufficient outside cost basis in a partnership.
5. Larger tax on redemption or lesser benefit of gifting: gain deferral and net tax losses may result in large recognized gains on redemption, even in the event of pre-tax losses. Allocation of liabilities should be considered when calculating the tax benefit of gifting.
6. Adverse changes in tax law or IRS challenge: the potential tax benefit of the strategy may be lessened or eliminated prospectively by changes in tax law, or retrospectively by an IRS challenge under current law if conceded or upheld by a court. In the case of an IRS challenge, penalties may apply.
Disclosures
The information set forth herein has been obtained or derived from sources believed by AQR Capital Management, LLC (“AQR”) to be reliable. However, AQR does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the information’s accuracy or completeness, nor does AQR recommend that the attached information serve as the basis of any investment decision. This document has been provided to you solely for information purposes and does not constitute an offer or solicitation of an offer, or any advice or recommendation, to purchase any securities or other financial instruments, and may not be construed as such. This document is intended exclusively for the use of the person to whom it has been delivered by AQR and it is not to be reproduced or redistributed to any other person. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.
This presentation is not research and should not be treated as research. This presentation does not represent valuation judgments with respect to any financial instrument, issuer, security or sector that may be described or referenced herein and does not represent a formal or official view of AQR.
The views expressed reflect the current views as of the date hereof and neither the speaker nor AQR undertakes to advise you of any changes in the views expressed herein. It should not be assumed that the speaker will make investment recommendations in the future that are consistent with the views expressed herein, or use any or all of the techniques or methods of analysis described herein in managing client accounts. AQR and its affiliates may have positions (long or short) or engage in securities transactions that are not consistent with the information and views expressed in this presentation.
The information contained herein is only as current as of the date indicated, and may be superseded by subsequent market events or for other reasons. Charts and graphs provided herein are for illustrative purposes only. The information in this presentation has been developed internally and/or obtained from sources believed to be reliable; however, neither AQR nor the speaker guarantees the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of such information. Nothing contained herein constitutes investment, legal, tax or other advice nor is it to be relied on in making an investment or other decision.
There can be no assurance that an investment strategy will be successful. Historic market trends are not reliable indicators of actual future market behavior or future performance of any particular investment which may differ materially, and should not be relied upon as such. Target allocations contained herein are subject to change. There is no assurance that the target allocations will be achieved, and actual allocations may be significantly different than that shown here. This presentation should not be viewed as a current or past recommendation or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy.
The information in this presentation may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events, targets, forecasts or expectations regarding the strategies described herein, and is only current as of the date indicated. There is no assurance that such events or targets will be achieved, and may be significantly different from that shown here. The information in this presentation, including statements concerning financial market trends, is based on current market conditions, which will fluctuate and may be superseded by subsequent market events or for other reasons. Performance of all cited indices is calculated on a total return basis with dividends reinvested.
The investment strategy and themes discussed herein may be unsuitable for investors depending on their specific investment objectives and financial situation. Please note that changes in the rate of exchange of a currency may affect the value, price or income of an investment adversely.
Neither AQR nor the speaker assumes any duty to, nor undertakes to update forward looking statements. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made or given by or on behalf of AQR, the speaker or any other person as to the accuracy and completeness or fairness of the information contained in this presentation, and no responsibility or liability is accepted for any such information. By accepting this presentation in its entirety, the recipient acknowledges its understanding and acceptance of the foregoing statement.
Diversification does not eliminate the risk of experiencing investment losses. Targets may be subject to change and there is no guarantee that they will be met. There is no guarantee, express or implied, that long-term return and/or volatility targets will be achieved. Realized returns and/or volatility may come in higher or lower than expected.
There is a risk of substantial loss associated with trading commodities, futures, options, derivatives and other financial instruments. Before trading, investors should carefully consider their financial position and risk tolerance to determine if the proposed trading style is appropriate. Investors should realize that when trading futures, commodities, options, derivatives and other financial instruments one could lose the full balance of their account. It is also possible to lose more than the initial deposit when trading derivatives or using leverage. All funds committed to such a trading strategy should be purely risk capital.
© 2021 AQR Capital Management, LLC. All rights reserved.