For many RIAs, the appeal of Custom Model Solutions (CMS) is straightforward: work with outside managers to create a firm-specific model lineup that reflects your investment philosophy, while relying on specialists to support research, portfolio construction, maintenance, and trading.
Any hesitation usually comes from a different question: What do we give up by embracing CMS?
In practice, the decision is less about outsourcing your investment identity and more about deciding where your firm should spend its time and expertise. The most common concerns typically come down to control, client value, differentiation, and the transition of existing taxable portfolios.
“Will our firm lose control of the investment process?”
Using CMS does not mean outsourcing judgment. Your firm (typically through its CIO or investment leadership) helps define the investment philosophy, model design, and investment parameters for the model suite. The asset manager can then support research, construction, and ongoing maintenance, while Adhesion handles trading, rebalancing, cash management, and tax overlay.
That division of labor allows the firm to retain control over the decisions that define its investment approach without requiring internal teams to perform every implementation task. It also creates a more consistent framework for delivering the firm’s advice across advisors and households.
“If we outsource portfolio work, are we weakening the advisor’s value?”
Clients typically experience an advisor’s value through judgment, planning, personalization, communication, and progress toward their goals … not by knowing who submitted an individual trade. CMS can shift time away from repeatable portfolio-management tasks and toward the client-facing work where advisors have the greatest opportunity to make an impact.
For a growing firm, that can be an important distinction. The goal is not to remove advisors from the investment conversation. It is to give them a repeatable investment framework they can apply to each client while preserving more capacity for planning, advice, and relationship management.
“Will using an outside asset manager make us less differentiated?”
Differentiation does not require performing every investment function internally. A firm can differentiate through its planning experience, client service, portfolio philosophy, model architecture, communication, and the way advisors apply the models to individual client needs.
A credible custom model program begins with the firm’s own objectives and investment preferences. CMS provides a way to turn those choices into a governed model lineup that can be implemented consistently. In that sense, an outside asset manager can support the expression of the firm’s investment identity rather than replace it. Furthermore, CMS models can be white labeled with your firm’s brand.
“How do we move clients into the models without causing tax bills?”
For advisors with established client portfolios, the transition itself can be a major concern, especially when selling appreciated holdings could trigger capital gains. That does not have to be treated as an all-or-nothing implementation decision.
Tax Management Services (TMS), powered by AssetMark, is fully integrated with Custom Model Solutions at Adhesion and is designed to support tax-aware portfolio transitions and ongoing tax management for eligible taxable accounts. TMS can help advisors transition accounts while seeking to minimize tax consequences, then continue applying automated tax optimization and potential tax-loss harvesting over time. Actual results will vary based on holdings, market conditions, timing, selected tax sensitivity, and other factors.
The business owner’s way to think about Custom Model Solutions
The efficiency benefits of outsourcing investment management can be significant. AssetMark’s 2026 Impact of Outsourcing Study found that advisors who outsource investment management for at least 20% of their assets save an average of 9.1 hours per week. Separate research from Cerulli* found advisors who outsource portfolio construction spend just 10.6% of their time on investment management, which allows advisors to increase focus on planning, client relationships, and business development.
So, the question for an RIA is not simply whether to manage investments internally or outsource them. It is which responsibilities make the most sense for the business to own … and which can be supported by a scalable operating structure.
CMS allows a firm to keep its investment philosophy and governance at the center while using an asset manager and Adhesion to support the work required to maintain and implement the models. For RIAs, that can mean a more consistent client experience across the firm, more time for high-value client work, and an efficient way to grow without giving up what makes the firm distinct.
Learn more about Custom Model Solutions in two ways:
Speak to a platform consultant about adopting Custom Model Solutions in your practice
*Advisors Leverage Model Portfolios to Move… | Cerulli Associates
Accounts invested in Custom Model Solutions are not subject to Adhesion platform fees; however, accounts are subject to advisor management fees, fund fees, applicable product/model manager fees, and transaction fees charged by custodians, as applicable.
TMS is designed to improve the after-tax return for the client’s account, consistent with the risk/return profile of the investment models based on the selected tax sensitivity. TMS may cause the account to deviate from the investment models and can affect the risk profile and performance of the account. A higher tax sensitivity account setting can have a higher deviation from the investment models than a lower tax sensitivity. Adding TMS customizations to the account can impact the account’s tax and investment results. Actual tax management results are subject to change based on investment holdings, market conditions, timing, and other factors.