Separate account management allows for tax efficient strategies. Mutual funds do not.

Mutual funds are usually tax-inefficient because the funds do not consider the individual investor's tax situation when capital gains are distributed. Tax planning is a major selling point for managed accounts versus mutual funds. When an investor buys shares of a mutual fund, he/she also acquires a piece of the fund's tax liability even if he/she did not benefit from the gains giving rise to the liability. This became an especially sore point in 2000 when the average stock fund lost 4.5%, but investors had to pay taxes on a record $345 billion in capital gains distributions by mutual funds (Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2003).

Because investors own the actual securities held in managed accounts, there is greater control over their tax liabilities. Due to the recent bear market, mutual fund shareholders aren't likely to be factoring big capital-gains tax hits any time soon, but the tax capabilities of managed accounts go beyond that. Financial advisers say they like the ability to use the managed account holdings to offset tax liabilities faced on other fronts, such as taxable events elsewhere in a portfolio or in a real-estate transaction. With separate account management, we can often strategically offset tax gains and work within defined client parameters.