[narrator]

Why can't I buy VTI and dividend reinvest? I compared that to Betterment since 2004 and it wins handily. What am I missing? Tax loss harvesting sounds fancy but what's the actual bottom line benefit after fees?

[zazpowered]

VTI is less diversified, you basically only have US stocks. I probably wouldn't mind being only invested VTI but some people want more diversification.

[matwood]

Yeah, I would consider VTI to be one of my portfolio pillars along with international, bonds, and REITs.

[Veratyr]

Betterment maintains a more diversified portfolio and optimizes it for a few things like downside risk, explained here: https://www.betterment.com/resources/investment-strategy/por...

[sulam]

I don't use a robo-advisor, but TLH saves me 6 figures in taxes every year. Sadly I'm not comfortable disclosing the size of my portfolio. It's big enough to have an account with most bankers, but not big enough to require dedicated staff. :)

[matwood]

> but TLH saves me 6 figures in taxes every year.

This is a bit misleading since the only way to save 6 figures on capital gains every year from TLH is to have realized > 6 figure loss at some point in the past.

The offset on regular income is also maxed at 3k/year.

The losses/gains must also be in a taxable account.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax_loss_harvesting#Using_a_...

TLH can be useful in certain situations (like yours), but I think generally it is oversold by the likes of Wealthfront and Betterment.

[narrator]

So you have big capital gains somewhere else in your portfolio that lets you take big deductions from TLH?

[sulam]

Yes, absolutely. I also have an AMT overhang, but I doubt that will be used up in my lifetime.