VIP Wealth Advisors chose Altruist because modern custody infrastructure directly improves transparency, tax efficiency, execution quality, and long-term client outcomes.
Key Takeaways
- Custody is not a back-office decision - it directly affects transparency, efficiency, and client experience.
- Altruist is a digital-first, self-clearing custodian built specifically for fiduciary advisors and their clients.
- Integrated trading, reporting, billing, and rebalancing reduce errors and eliminate operational friction.
- Automation in rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, asset location, and portfolio management can add meaningful after-tax value over time.
- Modern custody infrastructure allows advisors to spend more time on planning and strategy instead of administration.
Choosing a custodian is one of the most important decisions an independent Registered Investment Advisor can make. While investment philosophy, tax strategy, and planning depth define the advice we deliver, custody determines how that advice is implemented, safeguarded, and experienced by clients day to day.
At VIP Wealth Advisors, we intentionally built a boutique, high-touch firm designed to serve a limited number of households at an exceptional level. That philosophy demands a custodian that enhances transparency, efficiency, and client experience rather than one that relies on legacy processes, hidden costs, and fragmented technology.
After extensive due diligence, we chose Altruist as our primary custodian. This article explains why and, more importantly, what that choice means for you as a client or prospective client.
The Role of a Custodian in Your Wealth Plan
A custodian is the institution that actually holds your investment assets, executes trades at our direction, produces statements, and ensures regulatory safeguards around your money. While advisors like VIP Wealth Advisors are fiduciaries responsible for advice and strategy, custodians provide the infrastructure that makes everything function.
Not all custodians are created equal.
Many legacy custodians were built decades ago for an era of paper forms, phone-based trading, and siloed technology. Over time, those systems became layered with patches, third-party integrations, and fee structures that are often opaque to clients.
Altruist represents a fundamentally different approach.
Altruist at a Glance
Altruist is a modern, digital-first custodian built exclusively for independent RIAs. Unlike traditional custodians that evolved from brokerage firms or banks, Altruist was designed from the ground up for fiduciary advisors and the clients they serve.
Key characteristics that set Altruist apart:
- A self-clearing custodian, meaning custody, trading, reporting, and operations live within a single, integrated platform
- A focus on advisor-led relationships, not retail brokerage accounts
- Transparent pricing without the maze of ticket charges, platform fees, or revenue-sharing conflicts
- Technology designed to eliminate friction, not add layers of complexity
For us, Altruist isn’t just a vendor. It’s an operating system for modern wealth management.
Built for the Way Modern Advisors Actually Work
A Truly Integrated Platform
One of the biggest operational challenges in wealth management is fragmentation. At many firms, custody lives in one system, performance reporting in another, rebalancing in a third, and billing somewhere else entirely. Every additional integration increases complexity, reconciliation risk, and operational drag.
Altruist eliminates that problem by bringing everything together:
- Custody and clearing
- Trading and rebalancing
- Performance reporting
- Fee billing
- Cash management
Because these tools are native to the platform, data flows cleanly and in real time. There is no lag between action and reporting, no manual syncing, and far fewer opportunities for error.
For clients, that integration shows up as clarity. For advisors, it shows up as reclaimed time.
Digital-First, Paperless Onboarding
Account opening is often a client’s first real experience with a custodian. Legacy custodians still rely heavily on PDFs, wet signatures, and multi-step workflows that feel disconnected from the modern financial lives our clients lead.
Altruist’s onboarding process is fully digital. Multiple accounts can be opened within a single household in one streamlined flow. Documents are signed electronically, automatically tracked, and securely stored.
The result is a smoother, faster transition with fewer follow-ups and far less administrative friction.
Transparent, Client-Aligned Pricing
One of our core beliefs at VIP Wealth Advisors is that complexity should live in planning, not in fees.
Traditional custodians often monetize through:
- Ticket charges
- Platform fees
- Cash sweep spreads
- Third-party revenue sharing
These costs are frequently invisible to clients and can quietly erode returns over time.
Altruist takes a different approach.
Commission-Free Trading
Equities and ETFs trade commission-free. That matters not because we trade excessively, but because it removes a subtle friction point that can influence implementation decisions.
No Software or Platform Fees
Portfolio accounting, performance reporting, rebalancing, and billing tools are included rather than sold as add-ons. This keeps the overall cost structure simpler and more predictable.
Altruist One Subscription
For clients who benefit from enhanced features, Altruist offers an optional subscription that can include higher cash yields, tax-aware tools, and access to curated investment models.
We view this pricing clarity as directly aligned with a fiduciary mindset.
A Better Client Experience
Clean, Intuitive Interfaces
Clients interact with their custodian more than they may realize. Portals, statements, confirmations, and performance views all shape how transparent and trustworthy the experience feels.
Altruist’s client interface is modern, intuitive, and designed for clarity rather than confusion. Performance is easy to understand. Documents are easy to access. Cash balances and transactions are visible in real time.
This matters because confidence is built not only through advice but through consistent visibility.
Real-Time Data and Reporting
Because Altruist’s systems are fully integrated, performance and balances reflect reality, not delayed snapshots. Clients don’t need to wait for end-of-month reports to understand where they stand.
Transparency is not a feature. It’s a baseline expectation.
Cutting-Edge Portfolio Technology: Where Automation Creates Real Alpha
Modern portfolio management is no longer about simply selecting good investments. Increasingly, long-term results are driven by implementation discipline - how consistently, tax-efficiently, and unemotionally portfolios are managed over time.
Altruist has invested heavily in advanced, advisor-controlled technology that automates many of the most powerful portfolio management techniques available today. This is an area where the gap between modern custodians and legacy platforms is especially wide.
Automated Rebalancing: Discipline Without Delay
Rebalancing is one of the few investment behaviors with strong empirical support. Left unmanaged, portfolios naturally drift as markets move, increasing risk without necessarily increasing expected return.
Altruist’s automated rebalancing engine continuously monitors portfolios against target allocations and model tolerances. When drift thresholds are exceeded, trades can be executed systematically and consistently without waiting for quarterly reviews or manual intervention.
Research across multiple asset managers suggests that disciplined rebalancing can add approximately 20-40 basis points of annualized return over a full market cycle by maintaining intended risk exposure and preventing behavioral errors.
It enforces discipline during volatile markets, eliminates hesitation and delay, and scales precision across all client accounts simultaneously.
Legacy custodians typically rely on manual or semi-manual rebalancing workflows spread across disconnected systems, increasing the likelihood of drift, inconsistency, and execution lag.
Automated Tax Loss Harvesting: Turning Volatility Into Opportunity
Tax loss harvesting is one of the most reliable sources of after-tax alpha for taxable investors. When implemented consistently, it converts market volatility into real tax savings that compound over time.
Altruist’s platform supports continuous, rules-based tax loss harvesting that scans portfolios for opportunities throughout the year rather than at isolated checkpoints.
Numerous studies estimate that systematic tax-loss harvesting can add roughly 0.5% to 1.3% to the annual after-tax return over the long run, with variation depending on tax situation, portfolio composition, volatility, and implementation approach.
Opportunities are identified in real time, wash sale rules are managed systematically, replacement securities are applied consistently, and emotional decision-making is removed from the process.
By contrast, many legacy custodians treat tax-loss harvesting as a periodic, manual project - often dependent on advisor bandwidth rather than market opportunities.
Model-Based Portfolio Design Grounded in Modern Portfolio Theory
Altruist’s model marketplace and portfolio construction tools allow advisors to design, implement, and maintain portfolios grounded in Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), optimizing expected return for a given level of risk through diversification.
Model-driven portfolios ensure:
- Consistent implementation across clients
- Clear risk targeting
- Efficient exposure to return drivers
- Ongoing alignment with planning objectives
Well-constructed, diversified portfolios designed around MPT principles have historically delivered 10-30 basis points of efficiency gains through improved diversification and reduced unintended concentration.
More importantly, models make portfolios repeatable and governable. Changes are intentional, documented, and applied systematically rather than account by account.
Legacy custodians often force advisors to manage portfolios in fragmented account-level workflows, increasing inconsistency and operational risk.
Advanced Asset Location and Placement Techniques
Beyond what you own is where you own it.
Altruist’s integrated platform allows us to implement asset placement strategies across taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts within a household, aligning asset types with the most tax-efficient locations.
Done properly, asset location can add an estimated 20-50 basis points of annual after-tax benefit, particularly for high-income households with multiple account types.
Viewing the household as a unified portfolio, coordinating trades across account types, and maintaining placement discipline as balances change.
Manual systems struggle to manage asset location at scale, especially when data is siloed across custodial, reporting, and trading platforms.
Why Automation Beats Manual Every Time
The advantage of Altruist’s technology is not that it replaces human judgment - it amplifies it.
| Automation excels at | Advisors excel at |
|---|---|
| Consistency | Strategy |
| Speed | Context |
| Precision | Planning integration |
| Emotional neutrality | Behavioral coaching |
Legacy custodial platforms were built for manual workflows and retrofitted with partial automation. Altruist was designed for systematic execution from day one.
The cumulative impact of disciplined rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, efficient portfolio design, and intelligent asset allocation can reasonably add 1%-2% of annualized after-tax value over time, not through market timing, but through better implementation.
In wealth management, execution is the quiet engine of compounding.
Implementation Alpha at a Glance
- Automated rebalancing: ~20-40 basis points
- Systematic tax-loss harvesting (continuous, rules-based): ~80-110+ basis points
- Portfolio efficiency through disciplined diversification: ~10-30 basis points
- Intelligent asset location and placement: ~20-50 basis points
- Estimated cumulative impact: ~130-200+ basis points of potential annualized after-tax value over full market cycles
These gains accrue to clients, not the platform.
Operational Efficiency That Benefits Clients
Efficiency is not about cutting corners. It’s about eliminating unnecessary steps so more energy can be directed toward strategy, planning, and proactive advice.
Altruist’s automation and workflow design allow us to:
- Spend less time on administrative tasks
- Respond more quickly to client requests
- Implement investment changes with precision
- Focus on planning decisions that actually move the needle
In a boutique firm like ours, efficiency scales quality, not volume.
Security, Safeguards, and Peace of Mind
No amount of innovation matters without strong safeguards.
Altruist operates under the same regulatory framework as other qualified custodians, including:
- Segregation of client assets
- SEC custody rule compliance
- Industry-standard encryption and data security
- Multi-factor authentication and access controls
Client assets are held in custody, separate from the advisor and protected within established regulatory guardrails.
It means purpose-built.
Why This Matters for VIP Wealth Advisor Clients
Our choice of custodian is an extension of our philosophy.
By partnering with Altruist, we believe our clients benefit from:
- Lower structural friction and hidden costs
- Faster, cleaner execution of investment decisions
- Clearer visibility into portfolios and performance
- A technology experience that reflects how wealth management should feel in 2026 and beyond
This is not about chasing novelty. It’s about choosing infrastructure that supports thoughtful, long-term planning.
Infrastructure Is Strategy
Custody is often invisible when it’s working well and painfully obvious when it’s not.
We chose Altruist because it allows VIP Wealth Advisors to deliver advice without compromise. Fewer distractions. Fewer inefficiencies. More time spent where it belongs: helping clients make smart decisions with their wealth.
That alignment matters. And over decades, it compounds.
Frequently Asked Questions About Altruist and Custody
What is a custodian in wealth management?
A custodian is the financial institution that actually holds your investment assets, executes trades, provides statements, and ensures regulatory safeguards. Your advisor provides advice and direction, while the custodian provides the infrastructure.
Why does VIP Wealth Advisors use Altruist instead of a traditional custodian?
We chose Altruist because of its integrated technology, transparent pricing, digital onboarding, and client-friendly experience. It supports our high-touch, low-volume advisory model better than legacy platforms.
Are my assets safe with Altruist?
Yes. Client assets are held in segregated accounts and protected under standard SEC custody rules. Altruist uses industry-standard security, encryption, and authentication protocols.
Does Altruist replace my advisor?
No. Altruist is the custodian. VIP Wealth Advisors remains your fiduciary advisor responsible for planning, investment strategy, tax coordination, and ongoing advice.
Can I access my accounts online and on mobile?
Yes. Altruist provides a modern web interface and mobile access so clients can view balances, performance, and documents anytime.
Are there hidden fees with Altruist?
Altruist’s pricing model is designed to minimize hidden costs. There are no ticket charges on stocks and ETFs, and no required software platform fees for core functionality.
What types of accounts can be held at Altruist?
Altruist supports a wide range of account types, including taxable brokerage accounts, IRAs, trusts, and other commonly used planning structures.
Is there guaranteed alpha?
No. There is no such thing as guaranteed alpha in investing, and any advisor who suggests otherwise is not acting as a fiduciary.
The techniques discussed - disciplined rebalancing, systematic tax-loss harvesting, efficient portfolio construction, and intelligent asset location - are implementation advantages, not market predictions. Their value shows up over full market cycles and varies based on tax rates, account structure, volatility, and investor behavior.
What is predictable is that automation improves consistency, speed, and discipline. Over time, avoiding behavioral mistakes and capturing available tax and implementation efficiencies can meaningfully improve after-tax outcomes.
How does this benefit me as a client?
A modern custodian reduces friction, improves transparency, and allows your advisor to spend more time on strategy rather than administration. Over time, that improves both experience and outcomes.
Want to See How This Infrastructure Supports Your Wealth Plan?
Choosing the right custodian is not about technology for its own sake. It is about execution, transparency, and long-term outcomes.
If you want to understand how modern custody, tax-aware portfolio management, and planning-first advice work together in practice, let’s talk.
