Make your portfolio more efficient with these clear steps

On Super Bowl Sunday, the U.S. government announced it will no longer mint new pennies because, according to the U.S. Mint, each one costs nearly 4 cents to produce.

If that math makes you scratch your head, you’re not alone.

Even in the age of political polarization, this seems like an idea a majority of Americans can support. Let’s have a little more sense and a lot less cents. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the easiest ones to overlook.

If we apply that same approach to investing, it might surprise you how many simple steps you can take to make your portfolio more efficient. Here are a few worth sharing:

If your taxable income allows you to contribute to a Roth IRA, do it. If your company has a 401(k) plan and offers an employer match, you should contribute at least the amount needed to receive the full match. If your income lands in a higher tax bracket, you’ll want to save as much as you can in pre-tax accounts before utilizing brokerage or nonqualified ones.

An investor who owns growth stocks, value stocks and bonds doesn’t need to have an equal share in every account. Roth IRAs offer the most advantageous long-term benefits (tax-free growth) so it’s a great place to hold more aggressive investments with the highest growth potential. Traditional IRAs still offer tax-deferred growth. Joint, trust and other nonqualified accounts are a good fit for more conservative investments like bonds, especially if you have withdrawal needs.

Even if you don’t have an adviser, you’re paying fees. Investors don’t receive a bill for internal expenses, but they reduce your returns just the same. Data from Morningstar showed mutual funds and ETFs charged 0.44% per year on average in 2023. On a $250,000 portfolio, that’s more than $1,000 every year. Eliminating mutual funds in favor of individual stocks and bonds is the approach we prefer. If you want built-in diversification in one product, use index funds instead.

The larger your portfolio, the more important tax efficiency becomes. Mutual funds are inefficient from a tax perspective. Alternative investments and hedge funds are even worse; and don’t get us started on annuities. You’ll have much more control of realized gains if you own individual stocks or index funds. Tax-loss harvesting should be a priority even with investments you might love. You can always buy them back 31 days later. High earners should consider municipal bonds instead of corporates.

You should be netting a reasonable yield on the cash held inside your investment accounts. Unlike banks, which routinely pay 0% on checking or savings accounts, most financial custodians offer a variety of money-market funds. Interest rates will fluctuate with market conditions, but at present you should be nabbing around 4% annualized on your cash equivalents. If you’re not, make a change.

Receiving more statements doesn’t make you more diversified. It makes you more disorganized. Being able to view and manage your money holistically is a big deal. The more places where you have accounts, the more difficult it is to see how your total portfolio looks. And the harder it will be to make changes when you deem it appropriate. 401(k) accounts often need to remain at your employer, but did you know most companies offer an “in-service distribution” if you are age 59 ½ or older? It’s another method you can use to consolidate assets in one place.

Very few investors are concerned about being overdiversified. Maybe they should be. Morningstar has a “Stock Intersection” report that aggregates your total exposure to each stock even if all you own are mutual funds. You might own 10 funds but 3,000 individual companies, which is kind of like just owning the index: only a lot more expensive.

Financial success isn’t just about picking the best stocks. It’s about leveraging all the resources you can to make better decisions. When should you start collecting Social Security? Should you be doing annual Roth IRA conversions? Will your Medicare premiums increase if you sell more investments this year? They might! These are questions that a well-built financial plan will answer.

Take the time to fix all the inefficiencies in your portfolio. If it seems like a project you’re too busy to tackle, find an investment adviser to help. It will be time well spent and save you more than a few pennies.

Ben Marks is chief investment officer at Marks Group Wealth Management in Minnetonka. He can be reached at ben.marks@marksgroup.com. Brett Angel is a senior wealth adviser at the firm.