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Strategy
Latest Posts
What Is Portable Alpha?
How portable alpha keeps market exposure while pursuing excess returns from a separate source, the risks it carries, and how return stacking brought it within reach of nearly any portfolio.
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Portfolio Construction
Sep 15, 2026
Stacking Trend Following on a Glidepath
How a trend following stack can sit alongside a glidepath's shifting mix of stocks and bonds, from accumulation through retirement.
TrendRead →
Portfolio Construction
Sep 15, 2026
Glidepath Stacking: Better Outcomes on Both Sides of Retirement
Stacking diversifying exposure on a glidepath, aiming for better outcomes while saving for retirement and while drawing it down.
TrendCarryMerger ArbGoldRead →
Start Here
What is Return Stacking for Outperformance
How return stacking layers diversifying alternatives on top of a traditional stock and bond portfolio in pursuit of outperformance, without giving up core market exposure.
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Foundations
What is Return Stacking for Diversification
An introduction to return stacking: adding diversifying alternative investments on top of traditional stocks and bonds without reducing core allocations.
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Leverage Explained
Mar 13, 2025
Avoiding LICE: The Right and Wrong Ways to Use Leverage in Long-Term Investing
By understanding the nuances of leverage, financial advisors can make more informed decisions and help construct more resilient portfolios.
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All Articles
Foundations
What is return stacking and why it matters
- What Is Portable Alpha?
- Diversification 2.0 Redefining Risk Management with Return Stacking
- Re-Thinking the ‘40’ in 60/40: How Return Stacking May Enhance Portfolio Diversification
- Return Stacking: Turning "Lazy Collateral" Into Opportunity
- Reclaim Core Exposure with Return Stacking
- Diversification Without Compromise: Three Ways to Use Return Stacking in a Portfolio
- Diversification 2.0 Understanding Return Stacking and the Evolution of Portfolio Construction
- Stacking in a Higher Interest Rate Environment
- The Return Stacking How-To Guide
- Portable Alpha: Enhancing Portfolio Returns Through Strategy Separation
- The Return Stacking Visualizer
- The Return Stacking Checklist
- Return Stacking: Strategy for a Low Return Environment
- Building a 100% Stock Portfolio Using Return Stacking
- What is Return Stacking for Outperformance
- What is Return Stacking for Diversification
Strategy Spotlights
Deep dives into individual strategies
- Why Bonds Still Belong: Rethinking Fixed Income in Modern Portfolios
- Return Stacking with Fast and Slow Diversification: A Framework for Market Volatility
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 3: Inflation Hedging
- Should We Constrain Equity Exposure in Managed Futures When Stacking on Equities?
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 2: Absolute Return
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 1: Anti-Beta
- Pent Up Energy - Carry / Managed Futures Why Now?
- We’re All EM Investors Now
- Gold & Bitcoin: From Fringe to Foundational
- Using a Gold Stack to Hedge U.S. Home Equity Bias
- Golden Opportunities: Enhancing Traditional Portfolios with a Gold Futures Stack
- Filling the Gap: Enhancing Traditional Stock and Bond Portfolios with a Managed Futures Stack
- Boosting Bonds: Stacking Merger Arbitrage to Enhance Fixed Income Portfolios
- Trend Following Through Turmoil: Why the Best Protection Comes After the First Punch
- The Potential Return Advantage of Stacking Managed Futures on Equities
- Portable Alpha with Managed Futures: A Diversification Overlay
- Rethinking Corporate Bonds: Swapping Credit Risk for Merger Arbitrage
- Carry the Yield, Ride the Trend: A Strategic Partnership
- Boosting Bond Returns: Return Stacking for Enhancing Liquidity Buckets
- TIPS versus Commodities: Just Return Stacking?
- Investing in Gold
- Managed Futures Trend Following
- Managed Futures Yield (Carry)
- Merger Arbitrage
- Managed Futures - Why Now! Positioning, Energy, De-Dollarization, and Portfolio Blind Spots
Portfolio Construction
How to build stacked portfolios
- Stacking Trend Following on a Glidepath
- Glidepath Stacking: Better Outcomes on Both Sides of Retirement
- Is Now the Right Time to Add My Stack?
- What's the Optimal Stack?
- Return Stacking with Fast and Slow Diversification: A Framework for Market Volatility
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 3: Inflation Hedging
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 2: Absolute Return
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 1: Anti-Beta
- Gold & Bitcoin: From Fringe to Foundational
- Diversification 2.0 Redefining Risk Management with Return Stacking
- Re-Thinking the ‘40’ in 60/40: How Return Stacking May Enhance Portfolio Diversification
- Reclaim Core Exposure with Return Stacking
- Don’t Skew It Up: Return Stacking for Smoother Returns
- Return Stacking: A Fresh Perspective on Long-Only Active U.S. Equity Strategies
- The “Rebalance Drag” Myth in Leveraged ETFs: What Advisors Need to Know
- Diversification 2.0 Understanding Return Stacking and the Evolution of Portfolio Construction
- The Return Stacking How-To Guide
- Bonds Plus Alternatives and Chill?
- Tracking Error: Return Stacking versus Replacement
- Stacking the Odds in Retirement
- Return Stacking in an Inverted Yield Curve Environment
- Portable Alpha: Enhancing Portfolio Returns Through Strategy Separation
- Return Stacking: A Different Way to Outperform our Benchmarks
- The Glide Path Re-Imagined (Part 2)
- Capital Market Assumptions when Return Stacking
- The Glide Path Re-Imagined (Part 1)
- Financial Advisors: Immunize Business Risk from Bear Markets & Inflation Regimes
- Building a 100% Stock Portfolio Using Return Stacking
Leverage Explained
Understanding leverage, margin, and volatility
- What Is Portable Alpha?
- Return Stacking: Turning "Lazy Collateral" Into Opportunity
- Avoiding LICE: The Right and Wrong Ways to Use Leverage in Long-Term Investing
- Portable Alpha with Managed Futures: A Diversification Overlay
- Margin Management in Return Stacking
- The “Rebalance Drag” Myth in Leveraged ETFs: What Advisors Need to Know
- The Risks of Leverage
- Return Stacking and the Cost of Leverage
- Portable Alpha: Enhancing Portfolio Returns Through Strategy Separation
- Return Stacking and Volatility Drag
- Volatility is Bad for Your Wealth
Mechanics & Operations
Taxes, distributions, tracking error
Practice Management
How return stacking helps your business
- Diversification Without Compromise: Three Ways to Use Return Stacking in a Portfolio
- Behavioral Alpha: How Return Stacking Can Help Investors Avoid Line-Item Risk
- Financial Advisors: Immunize Business Risk from Bear Markets & Inflation Regimes
- Cash Drag, Liquidity Needs, and Return Stacking
- If You're a Successful Financial Advisor You Got LUCKY
- The Key Business Risk Metric I Use Financial Advisors Don't
Research & Case Studies
Evidence and real-world examples
- Stacking Trend Following on a Glidepath
- Glidepath Stacking: Better Outcomes on Both Sides of Retirement
- What's the Optimal Stack?
- We’re All EM Investors Now
- Return Stacking: A Fresh Perspective on Long-Only Active U.S. Equity Strategies
- The Potential Return Advantage of Stacking Managed Futures on Equities
- Delta's Pension Miracle: A Portable Alpha Case Study
- Excess Returns through a Structural Edge
- More Than Enough is Too Much
- Can Randomly Allocated Portfolios Generate Excess Returns?
- A Mystery Equity Factor
Trend
Managed futures trend following
- Stacking Trend Following on a Glidepath
- Glidepath Stacking: Better Outcomes on Both Sides of Retirement
- Return Stacking with Fast and Slow Diversification: A Framework for Market Volatility
- Should We Constrain Equity Exposure in Managed Futures When Stacking on Equities?
- Pent Up Energy - Carry / Managed Futures Why Now?
- We’re All EM Investors Now
- Filling the Gap: Enhancing Traditional Stock and Bond Portfolios with a Managed Futures Stack
- Re-Thinking the ‘40’ in 60/40: How Return Stacking May Enhance Portfolio Diversification
- Return Stacking: Turning "Lazy Collateral" Into Opportunity
- Trend Following Through Turmoil: Why the Best Protection Comes After the First Punch
- Don’t Skew It Up: Return Stacking for Smoother Returns
- Diversification Without Compromise: Three Ways to Use Return Stacking in a Portfolio
- Return Stacking: A Fresh Perspective on Long-Only Active U.S. Equity Strategies
- Behavioral Alpha: How Return Stacking Can Help Investors Avoid Line-Item Risk
- The Potential Return Advantage of Stacking Managed Futures on Equities
- Portable Alpha with Managed Futures: A Diversification Overlay
- Margin Management in Return Stacking
- Carry the Yield, Ride the Trend: A Strategic Partnership
- Boosting Bond Returns: Return Stacking for Enhancing Liquidity Buckets
- Bonds Plus Alternatives and Chill?
- Stacking the Odds in Retirement
- Return Stacking and Taxes
- The Return Stacking Visualizer
- Excess Returns through a Structural Edge
- TIPS versus Commodities: Just Return Stacking?
- A Mystery Equity Factor
- The Return Stacking Checklist
- Return Stacking: Strategy for a Low Return Environment
- Managed Futures Trend Following
- Managed Futures - Why Now! Positioning, Energy, De-Dollarization, and Portfolio Blind Spots
Carry
Futures yield across asset classes
- Glidepath Stacking: Better Outcomes on Both Sides of Retirement
- Why Bonds Still Belong: Rethinking Fixed Income in Modern Portfolios
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 1: Anti-Beta
- Pent Up Energy - Carry / Managed Futures Why Now?
- We’re All EM Investors Now
- Rethinking Corporate Bonds: Swapping Credit Risk for Merger Arbitrage
- Carry the Yield, Ride the Trend: A Strategic Partnership
- Managed Futures Yield (Carry)
Gold
Gold as a portfolio diversifier
Bitcoin
Bitcoin exposure and sizing
Merger Arb
Deal-spread premium
- Glidepath Stacking: Better Outcomes on Both Sides of Retirement
- Return Stacking with Fast and Slow Diversification: A Framework for Market Volatility
- Boosting Bonds: Stacking Merger Arbitrage to Enhance Fixed Income Portfolios
- Rethinking Corporate Bonds: Swapping Credit Risk for Merger Arbitrage
- Excess Returns through a Structural Edge
- Merger Arbitrage
Bonds
Fixed income as the base layer
- Why Bonds Still Belong: Rethinking Fixed Income in Modern Portfolios
- Boosting Bonds: Stacking Merger Arbitrage to Enhance Fixed Income Portfolios
- Boosting Bond Returns: Return Stacking for Enhancing Liquidity Buckets
- Diversification 2.0 Understanding Return Stacking and the Evolution of Portfolio Construction
- Stacking in a Higher Interest Rate Environment
- The Return Stacking How-To Guide
- Bonds Plus Alternatives and Chill?
- Return Stacking in an Inverted Yield Curve Environment
Equities
Stacking on top of stocks
- Should We Constrain Equity Exposure in Managed Futures When Stacking on Equities?
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 1: Anti-Beta
- We’re All EM Investors Now
- Don’t Skew It Up: Return Stacking for Smoother Returns
- Return Stacking: A Fresh Perspective on Long-Only Active U.S. Equity Strategies
- Behavioral Alpha: How Return Stacking Can Help Investors Avoid Line-Item Risk
- The Potential Return Advantage of Stacking Managed Futures on Equities
- Capital Market Assumptions when Return Stacking
- A Mystery Equity Factor
- Building a 100% Stock Portfolio Using Return Stacking
General
Core return stacking concepts
- What Is Portable Alpha?
- Is Now the Right Time to Add My Stack?
- What's the Optimal Stack?
- Return Stacking and Fund Distributions: How Structure Drives Tax Drag
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 3: Inflation Hedging
- Stacking for Different Objectives Part 2: Absolute Return
- Diversification 2.0 Redefining Risk Management with Return Stacking
- Reclaim Core Exposure with Return Stacking
- Avoiding LICE: The Right and Wrong Ways to Use Leverage in Long-Term Investing
- The “Rebalance Drag” Myth in Leveraged ETFs: What Advisors Need to Know
- Delta's Pension Miracle: A Portable Alpha Case Study
- The Risks of Leverage
- Tracking Error: Return Stacking versus Replacement
- Return Stacking and the Cost of Leverage
- Portable Alpha: Enhancing Portfolio Returns Through Strategy Separation
- Return Stacking: A Different Way to Outperform our Benchmarks
- The Glide Path Re-Imagined (Part 2)
- The Glide Path Re-Imagined (Part 1)
- More Than Enough is Too Much
- Can Randomly Allocated Portfolios Generate Excess Returns?
- Financial Advisors: Immunize Business Risk from Bear Markets & Inflation Regimes
- Cash Drag, Liquidity Needs, and Return Stacking
- If You're a Successful Financial Advisor You Got LUCKY
- The Key Business Risk Metric I Use Financial Advisors Don't
- Return Stacking and Volatility Drag
- Volatility is Bad for Your Wealth
- What is Return Stacking for Outperformance
- What is Return Stacking for Diversification
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