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Configure Platform Calculation Settings

Benchmarks, Proxies, Thematic Constraints, Portfolio Optimizer, Risk Categories, and Forecast settings

Updated over a month ago

Benchmarks

Benchmarks are used on TIFIN Wealth when reviewing the performance of a clients portfolio or your model/recommendation. There are 4 default benchmarks:

  1. SPY 60 AGG 40

  2. SPY 40 AGG 60

  3. SPY

  4. AGG

To edit the weighting of an existing benchmark, click the Edit button on the right:

To create a new benchmark, click Create New:

Click Change to edit the Equity & Fixed Income ticker and weight (%) fields > Name the benchmark > click Create to save.

To upload a benchmark with a custom return series, switch to the Upload Custom tab and click Upload New > download the sample .csv file to view the file format for uploading a custom benchmark:

Copy & Paste your custom benchmark returns and the respective period end date in the appropriate columns. Be sure that the date is in MM/DD/YYYY format and the Return % is numerical only without formatting.

NOTE: The file must be a CSV and contain over 5 years of historical returns.

Save your benchmark returns file > Click to Upload the .csv or Drag & Drop it onto the upload widget > Name the Benchmark > click Upload

Proxy Override

If a portfolio contains unrecognized securities such as an old ticker pre-acquisition, a bond CUSIP, or a cash placeholder, a "Proxy" creates a mapping table to reconcile unrecognized securities to a preset, representative security with similar characteristics. This ensures our calculation engines accurately project forward returns and risk metrics.

To create a proxy:

  1. Go to Settings > click Configurations > click on the Proxy Override tab:

  2. Click Assign New Proxy > in the Assign fund to a Proxy widget, input the current symbol, cusip and respective information for the security you wish to proxy. Then enter a Proxy ticker that will replace the current security in risk and performance calculations.

  3. Once you've set the proxy > click Save.

    1. In this example, a client's portfolio held a JP Morgan perpetual bond with a 6.125% coupon (designated by the symbol 46625HJW1). A Schwab MMF was assigned as a proxy because of its low Risk Score.

  4. To Edit or Delete an existing proxy, scroll to the right > click the three dots > Edit or Delete.

Proxy Override FAQs

I want to use fixed income securities in my custom models, how do I do that?

  • To use unrecognized securities in your custom models, you'll need to add the proxy override first, then use the file upload workflow for adding your model. The "create from scratch" option will not work for models with unrecognized securities.

How do I assign risk scores to unrecognized fixed income securities in my client portfolios?

  • If the portfolio is coming over from an integration (Schwab, Fidelity, etc.), TIFIN will automatically assign those securities a risk score based on their asset class type.

  • If you want to use unrecognized securities in a manually added portfolio, you'll need to add the proxy override first, then use the file upload workflow for adding the portfolio. The "create from scratch" option will not work for portfolios with unrecognized securities.

Risk Categories

Note: Risk Categories are only relevant for the Retirement Planning model recommendations.

If a client completes a retirement plan assessment and their current portfolio isn't uploaded, TIFIN will use the client's age to assign a Risk Tolerance category of Conservative, Moderate, or Aggressive.

The assigned model is used when projecting the client's wealth growth:

To change the Default Age Bands, click the Edit pencil symbol on the right > make the changes > click the checkmark to apply.

Note: changing the Risk Categories is not retroactive and will only apply to portfolios optimized after the settings have changed.

Forecasts

TIFIN averages Capital Market Assumptions (CMAs) reported across the largest global asset managers (i.e., JP Morgan, BlackRock, etc.) to generate a “wisdom of the experts” estimate. These assumptions are used across the whole platform when determining a portfolio's forward looking expected return and volatility, however, the changing/customization of these forecasts only applies to Goals-based Retirement journeys.

To change the forward looking assumptions:

  1. Hover over a CMA > click the Edit pencil icon to the right of an Asset Class:

  2. Adjust the Expected Return or Volatility > click the Checkmark to Save

  3. To reset the forward looking assumptions, click Reset to Default:

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