Track record

Including the years we lost.

Ten years of the balanced composite, net of every fee and cost, against the reference blend it is measured on. Two of those years came in behind it. They are in the table at the same size as the others, because a record you can only read in the good years is not a record.

10-year annualised, net: +8.2%
Reference blend: +7.0%
Years behind reference: 2 of 10
Assets under stewardship: $4.6B

Ten years, net of everything.

Sightline Balanced Composite · net · FY2016–FY2025

Annual composite return net of all fees, against a 60/40 global reference blend. Dispersion is the asset-weighted standard deviation across mandates held the full year.
Year	Net	Reference	Dispersion	Mandates
2016	+6.9	+6.1	0.9	41
2017	+14.2	+13.6	1.1	46
2018	−3.1	−4.8	1.0	52
2019	+18.4	+17.9	1.2	58
2020	+11.6	+10.2	1.8	63
2021	+15.1	+14.4	1.3	71
2022	−9.8	−13.9	1.5	76
2023	+12.7	+13.1	1.1	84
2024	+10.4	+9.6	0.9	91
2025	+9.2	+8.4	1.0	97
10-yr	+8.2	+7.0	—	97

Annualised. Two of ten years behind the reference — 2023 by 0.4 points, and 2016 within the fee. Both are in the table for the same reason the good years are.

Three files, redacted.

No client is named on this site and none ever will be. What the situation was, what we did about it, and what changed — that part we will publish.

CASE 01

Sold the company. Kept the risk.

SituationA founder exited a logistics software business into a single acquirer stock position worth 71% of net worth, with a twelve-month lock and a tax bill due before it lifted.

What we didWe funded the tax liability from a collar rather than a forced sale, then unwound the position across nine quarters against a budget agreed in advance, in tranches sized to average daily volume.

Single-line exposure: 71% → 12%
Unwind period: 9 quarters
Tax vs. budget: Under by 8%

CASE 02

Four entities, three custodians, no single view.

SituationA second-generation family held assets across two trusts, an LLC and a foundation, reported quarterly by three different institutions on three different calendars. Nobody could state the family’s total equity exposure without a week of work.

What we didEvery entity was instrumented into one model with its own policy and its own bands. Reporting was consolidated to a single quarterly statement; the trustee got a governance record that reads the same to an auditor as it does to a beneficiary.

Statements per quarter: 3 → 1
Quarter-end close: 3 weeks → 1 day
Duplicated exposure found: 9.4% of book

CASE 03

A spending rule that had to survive a bad decade.

SituationA regional foundation drew 5% annually against a portfolio built for a market that no longer existed, with a board that turned over every three years and an auditor who wanted evidence rather than assurances.

What we didThe policy was re-derived against the spending rule instead of against a peer group, with a liquidity floor covering three years of grants and a stress case published alongside it. Committee minutes are now produced in the format the audit already accepts.

Liquidity floor: 3 yrs of grants
Grants maintained in 2022: 100%
Audit findings since: None

How the number is built.

The composite includes every discretionary mandate over five million, for every full quarter it was held, with no exclusions for accounts that did badly and no back-filled history. Returns are asset-weighted, calculated from custodian valuations rather than our own, and stated net of all fees and costs. Mandates that left are in the figures up to the day they left.

Past performance is not a guide to future results, and no return shown here is a promise of any future one. The figures on this page are illustrative and exist to demonstrate the reporting format — this is a template, not a live composite. Advisory services for qualified clients only; nothing on this page is an offer of securities or personal advice.

Composite: Sightline Balanced
Inclusion: All discretionary mandates ≥ $5M
First full period: FY2016
Fees: Net of all fees and costs
Reference blend: 60 / 40 global
Valuation: Third-party custodian

Ask us about 2022.

The year the composite fell 9.8% is the most useful forty minutes of conversation we have. Bring your own statements and we will run the same arithmetic on them.

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