Model Portfolio

A model portfolio is a predefined target allocation of assets that an advisor applies across many client accounts. Each model — say, "Moderate Growth" or "Conservative Income" — specifies which securities to hold and at what weights.

Advisors build models to deliver consistent, repeatable portfolios at scale. Rather than construct each account by hand, you assign a client to a model, and the system builds and maintains their holdings against it. When the investment committee updates a model, that change can cascade to every account that subscribes to it.

Models are the backbone of most investment management software: the rebalancer measures drift against the model, trading engines bring accounts into line, and reporting shows each client's alignment.

Firms typically organize models by:

• Risk tier — mapped to client risk tolerance and goals
• Sleeve or nested structure — combining sub-models within one account
• Tax status — taxable versus tax-deferred variants

Managing models well is what lets a small team run thousands of accounts consistently. See how vendors handle model management on our vendors page.