The Tax Diagnostic

One place coordination becomes measurable.

Taxes are the most measurable expression of coordination — the same discipline behind your estate planning, withdrawal strategy, liquidity, and how your advisors work together. Here it shows on identical holdings: a concentrated, high-turnover portfolio gives up return to tax every year; coordinated as one system, the same holdings keep far more. A tax-efficiency result, not a claim about pre-tax returns.

modeled after-tax improvement / year
How coordination changes the outcome
Exhibit I USD per $1,000,000 · one year · modeled

Where a gross return goes

Line
Position
USD
Gross return
8.0% on $1,000,000, before anything
80,000
Taxes
Dividends, interest, realized gains — top brackets
(21,000)
Fees
Advisory at 20 bps + fund expenses at cost
(2,000)
Inflation
2.5% CPI assumption on the base
(25,000)
After-tax real return
What compounding actually gets
32,000

Coordination works the tax line — placement, lot selection, and harvesting; the gross return and inflation are not ours to promise. Modeled, illustrative — not a forecast or advice.

PurposeDecompose one year of gross return into what survives taxes, fees, and inflation. MethodStatic decomposition at the stated rates, in accounting convention. Inputs8.0% gross · top marginal brackets · 20 bps advisory + fund costs · 2.5% CPI. SourceDriftwood After-Tax Review — modeled, hypothetical, illustrative. As ofJuly 2026 · v1.0 · reviewed quarterly
The higher the tax, the more there is to keep — after-tax growth by state, per year
Tax environmentUncoordinatedCoordinatedAfter-tax recovered
See it on your own portfolio.
The full After-Tax Review turns this into your numbers — what coordination keeps, by bracket, state, and holdings.