Note on “Applying After-Tax Asset Allocation”

Abstract

The author discusses an area within the field of after-tax asset allocation in which he and his co-author William Jennings disagree with the point proposed in the preceding article by Stephen Horan. But, more importantly, the author expresses the importance of those areas in which Horan, Jennings and he, as well as other scholars, agree. In particular, there appears to be wide agreement among scholars that, when calculating an individual's asset allocation, one should distinguish between pretax funds and after-tax funds. In short, taxes matter! He concludes with a crucial message: if it is indeed right to argue that funds in tax-deferred or tax-exempt portfolios should be accounted differently than those held through fully taxable structures, then the profession is currently miscalculating individuals' asset allocations, and the measurement errors can be substantial.