TALS™ Tax Opportunity Set Estimator | True Wealth Design
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TALS™ — Integrated Tax Strategy

Estimate Your
Tax Opportunity Set

TALS™ (Tax-Aware Long/Short) is True Wealth Design's integrated framework for building and deploying capital losses as a tax asset. At its core is a systematic long/short overlay strategy designed to generate persistent net capital losses — which, when coordinated with your broader tax picture, create a tax opportunity set that can be used in a variety of powerful ways.

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Strategy
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Tax Info
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Results
Step 1 of 2

Your Portfolio & Strategy

Tell us about your overall investable assets and how much you'd like to direct toward the TALS™ strategy, then select your strategy level.

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Approximate value of your liquid, investable wealth — not including primary residence or illiquid business equity.

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These estimates assume a cash-funded account. Funding with a concentrated stock position or other securities is possible but will differ materially and require a personalized analysis.

Each level reflects a different degree of active long and short positioning. Higher tracking error means greater deviation from the benchmark index — which may generate more capital losses but also introduces more variability in investment results.

Long/Short Overlay 145
145% Long / 45% Short  ·  ~100% Net Market Exposure  ·  Tracking Error: ~1.5%  ·  Minimum: $1,000,000
Maintains closer alignment with the benchmark index while systematically generating net capital losses through long and short positioning. Despite the long and short extensions, net market exposure remains approximately 100% — similar to a traditional equity portfolio. Loss generation tends to be steady and persistent, particularly in the earlier years. Held in a traditional Reg T margin account.
Long/Short Overlay 200
200% Long / 100% Short  ·  ~100% Net Market Exposure  ·  Tracking Error: ~4.0%  ·  Minimum: $3,000,000
Allows meaningfully more deviation from the benchmark through expanded long and short positioning, with substantially higher expected capital loss generation. As with the 145 level, net market exposure remains approximately 100%. Requires careful coordination with your overall portfolio, tax plan, and financial objectives. Held in a Portfolio Margin account.
Step 2 of 2

Your Tax Information

Enter your applicable tax rates to calculate the estimated tax asset value your strategy may generate.

Top federal long-term capital gains rate, including the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax. The default reflects the highest applicable bracket. Adjust if your situation differs.
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State Rate 0.0%
Combined Rate Used in Estimates
Federal (40.8%) + State (0.0%) — select a state above to include your state rate
40.8%
See Your Personalized Estimate
Enter your information below to generate your results. A member of our team may follow up to answer questions about your estimate.
Year 1 Est. Capital Losses
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Average scenario
Year 1 Tax Asset Value
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Combined rate applied
10-Yr Cumulative Tax Asset Value
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Average scenario
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Estimated Annual Net Capital Losses — By Year

90th Pctl. Range
Average
10th Pctl.
Capital Loss % of Portfolio
Avg %
Est. Losses
Tax Asset
10-Year Cumulative Estimates — Average Scenario
Total Capital Losses
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As % of Initial Funding
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Cumulative Tax Asset Value
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Understanding Your Tax Opportunity Set
Capital Losses Are a Tax Asset — How You Deploy Them Defines the Opportunity

The capital losses generated by the long/short overlay are a tax asset — the foundation of your tax opportunity set. But like any asset, their value depends entirely on how efficiently they are deployed. A loss used to offset short-term capital gains or ordinary income (taxed at rates up to 40.8% federally) is worth significantly more than the same loss applied against long-term capital gains (taxed at 23.8%). Poor timing or misapplication can reduce the value of the asset substantially.

The full tax opportunity set goes further — incorporating how those losses are coordinated with your income picture, whether a trader fund component is activated in high-income years to generate ordinary losses, and how all of it integrates with your business, estate, and exit planning. Unused losses carry forward indefinitely, giving TALS™ the flexibility to be sustained through lower-income years and fully activated when the opportunity is greatest.

What Turns a Loss Into a Tax Asset

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Strategy Selection & Benchmark Coordination
Choosing the right overlay level is a planning decision, not a product selection. The benchmark, tracking error, and portfolio sizing all interact with your existing holdings, risk tolerance, and tax objectives. This is where experienced guidance matters most — the wrong level can create friction with your broader portfolio rather than enhancing it.
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Deploying Your Tax Asset
The losses this calculator estimates are raw material. A loss used to offset short-term capital gains or ordinary income — taxed at combined federal and state rates that can exceed 50% for high-income earners — is worth far more than the same loss applied against long-term gains. Getting full value requires real-time coordination with your income, business events, asset sales, and other planning decisions throughout the year.
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Amplifying the Opportunity
For clients with substantial ordinary income, a trader fund component can be layered in selectively during high-income years — generating ordinary losses on top of the capital losses the overlay produces. This second phase is a separate investment decision, activated only when the tax opportunity in a given year justifies the cost and complexity. Losses carry forward indefinitely, so timing the deployment matters as much as generating them.
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Integration Across Your Full Financial Picture
TALS™ works best when it reinforces — rather than operates in isolation from — every other dimension of your financial life. Business planning, exit strategy, charitable giving, estate planning, retirement income — each of these creates tax events that the strategy can be positioned to address. That level of coordination requires an integrated team with deep expertise across all of these areas, not just investment management.
Next Steps

The estimate you've seen is just one component of TALS™.

What you've seen here is the potential loss-generation capacity of the long/short overlay — the engine that builds the tax asset. The full TALS™ framework is about what happens next: coordinating when and how those losses are built, timed, deployed, and integrated across your tax, investment, business, and estate planning. That coordination is what True Wealth Design specializes in, and it's what separates a capital loss from a lasting, meaningful tax asset.

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Recognition & Awards
USA Today Best Financial Advisory Firms 2025 Crain's Cleveland Business 2025 Newsweek America's Top Advisory Firms 2025

Newsweek 2025: The Newsweek rating was issued on 03/14/2025, for the 2024 calendar year. True Wealth Design LLC did not provide compensation in connection with obtaining or using the rating.

USA Today 2025: The USA Today rating was issued on 04/23/2025, for the 2025 calendar year. True Wealth Design LLC did not provide compensation in connection with obtaining or using the rating.

Crain's: The Crain's rating was issued on 10/06/2025, for the 2025 calendar year. True Wealth Design LLC did not provide compensation in connection with obtaining or using the rating.

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⚑ Important Disclosures — Please Read Before Using This Tool

Hypothetical Performance, Key Assumptions & Regulatory Disclosures

Interactive Analysis Tool. This calculator is an interactive analysis tool as defined under the SEC's Marketing Rule (Rule 206(4)-1). Users may input their own assumptions to produce simulations and statistical analyses presenting the likelihood of various outcomes, serving as an additional resource in the evaluation of potential tax planning strategies. Results may vary with each use and over time. The tool generates outcomes that are hypothetical in nature and do not represent actual investment results.

Key Assumptions and Limitations. The estimates generated by this tool are based on the following assumptions: (1) the strategy is funded with cash; (2) capital losses offset short-term capital gains at the federal and state rates entered by the user; (3) loss estimates are scaled proportionally from a $100M hypothetical cash-funded account; (4) fees reflected in the underlying data are AQR management fees only and do not include True Wealth Design advisory fees or other costs; (5) results do not account for individual tax circumstances, wash sale rules, at-risk rules, passive activity limitations, or other factors that may reduce the usability of generated losses. These assumptions may have a material impact on the estimates presented. Results will vary based on individual circumstances.

For Illustrative and Educational Purposes Only. The estimates shown are based on hypothetical backtested data and are intended solely to illustrate the potential capital loss generation of a tax-aware long/short equity strategy. They do not represent actual results achieved by any investor. This calculator is a planning tool only and does not constitute investment advice, tax advice, or a solicitation to invest.

Source of Loss Estimates. Net capital loss estimates are derived from AQR Capital Management, LLC hypothetical backtest simulations of the AQR Flex Overlay strategies (Flex 45 and Flex 100 Overlay), covering 15 ten-year periods beginning January 2000 through January 2014. Results are net of AQR management fees of 0.45% and 1.00% per annum respectively. Source: AQR Capital Management, LLC, December 2023. Universe of investments considered: US All Cap equities (Russell 3000). The tool does not consider investments outside this universe; other strategies not analyzed may have characteristics similar or superior to those presented.

HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE LIMITATIONS. HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE LOSSES OR TAX BENEFITS SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN. THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED. HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE IS PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT AND DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK. THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR STRATEGY IN SPITE OF LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS THAT CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL RESULTS.

Fees. The loss estimates embedded in this tool reflect AQR management fees of 0.45% per annum for the Long/Short Overlay 145 and 1.00% per annum for the Long/Short Overlay 200. These fees represent the highest fee tier applicable to each strategy level. True Wealth Design advisory fees are not reflected in the loss estimates and would reduce net results. Please refer to True Wealth Design's Form ADV Part 2A for a complete description of fees.

Account Minimums. Account minimums are set by the custodian and are subject to change. Currently: $1,000,000 minimum for the Long/Short Overlay 145 (Reg T margin account); $3,000,000 minimum for the Long/Short Overlay 200 (Portfolio Margin account). Minimums apply to all new enrollments and incoming transferred accounts.

Not Investment, Tax, or Legal Advice. This calculator is intended for informational and educational purposes only. True Wealth Design, Inc. is a registered investment adviser with the SEC. Registration does not imply any level of skill or training. Please consult a qualified tax advisor and your investment adviser before making any investment decision. For a complete description of our services, fees, and conflicts of interest, please refer to our Form ADV Part 2A at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.

State Tax Rates. State rates reflect the top marginal rate applicable to capital gains in each state as of 2024. Rates are provided for estimation purposes only and may vary based on local surcharges, individual circumstances, or legislative changes.

TALS™ is a service mark of True Wealth Design, Inc. The hypothetical loss estimates presented in this tool are derived from research published by AQR Capital Management, LLC. True Wealth Design, Inc. is not affiliated with AQR Capital Management, LLC, and AQR has not reviewed or endorsed this calculator. All rights reserved. TrueWealthDesign.com | 330.333.5900