Model portfolios have a branding problem. Goldman Sachs argues advisors are still operating off outdated assumptions, and the misconceptions are costing them opportunities. The biggest one: that outsourcing core construction to a model is a crutch for CIOs who can't build portfolios themselves, when the real value is freeing up time for higher conviction work, with outsourcing studies showing advisors can save around 9 hours a week doing it. Another myth treats models as too basic for high net worth clients, ignoring that modern versions now weave in direct indexing, custom fixed income SMAs and alternatives right alongside the ETFs. Tax awareness gets oversimplified too. Simply swapping the Agg for municipal bonds counts as outdated thinking, not real tax efficiency, which actually requires coordinated asset location, systematic loss harvesting and tax aware vehicles working together. The common thread across every myth is the same: models have quietly gotten far more sophisticated than the advisors avoiding them realize.

Finsum: Every advisor who wrote off model portfolios as too basic for serious clients is competing against firms already using them to save hours a week and deliver more personalized portfolios.