For the right person, there seems to be more benefits to direct indexing than are indicated in this article. Tax-loss harvesting is one potential benefit, but s

For the right person, there seems to be more benefits to direct indexing than are indicated in this article. Tax-loss harvesting is one potential benefit, but so are things like charitable gifting. Anyone who is in a high marginal tax bracket, maintains a substantial portfolio in a taxable account, and gives a considerable amount to charities can receive substantial benefits from direct indexing. Instead of your gifting being limited to the average appreciation of all stocks within a given index (as is the case with an ETF), you can pick out the stocks with the largest gains to give to charities. Unlike tax-loss harvesting, this type of tax strategy does not ratchet down your basis (thus deferring larger capital gains for the future) or create any wash sale issues (so you don't need to take the risk of not holding a particular security for a period of time).