One of our outstanding 2026 Summer Interns, Sebastian Peritore, collaborated with Nell Schiffer to write this article. 

A recent piece in the WSJ makes the case that investors’ priorities can be misaligned when picking which investment funds to place their money in. Captivated by chasing returns, investors often lose sight of the most consequential factors.

When choosing an investment fund, most investors focus on returns.

That’s understandable. Performance numbers are easy to find, easy to compare, and often dominate marketing materials.

But by focusing too heavily on returns, investors can overlook a factor that may have an even greater impact on long-term wealth: taxes.

Avoiding a Common Mistake

Not all investment funds are created equal.

Decades of research show that investors who try to pick winning stocks or time the market face long odds. While some managers outperform for short periods, taxes and fees often erode those gains over time.

As a result, many investors have embraced low-cost index funds that allow them to participate in market returns without relying on forecasts or stock-picking skill.

That’s a meaningful step forward. But choosing an index fund is only part of the equation.

What Many Investors Overlook

Most investors compare funds based on historical returns and expense ratios. Both matter.

What many investors fail to consider is how much of those returns they actually keep after taxes.

Most mutual funds highlight pre-tax performance, while the tax consequences of owning the fund receive far less attention. Yet research cited in a recent Wall Street Journal article suggests that taxes can reduce an investor’s accumulated wealth by nearly one-third over time.

In other words, investors may spend considerable effort searching for a slightly higher return while overlooking a factor that can have a far greater impact on their long-term results.

Keeping More of What You Earn

Successful investing requires more than pursuing returns. It requires keeping as much of those returns as possible.

That’s why we believe investors should evaluate returns, costs, and tax efficiency together rather than in isolation.

At Hill, we look for opportunities to combine evidence-based investing with thoughtful innovation to help clients keep more of what they earn.

One example is the Longview Advantage Fixed Income ETF (NASDAQ: LVIG). LVIG is a fixed-income ETF structured as a fund of funds and designed to reduce some of the tax friction that income distributions can create in taxable accounts.

The Long View

The most successful investors don’t simply focus on what they earn. They focus on what they keep.

Over a lifetime of investing, even small differences can compound into meaningful outcomes. A seemingly minor drag on performance, repeated year after year, can have a significant impact on long-term wealth.

That’s why taxes deserve a seat at the investment table alongside returns and fees.

Investors who avoid overlooking tax implications put themselves in a stronger position to preserve more of their wealth and stay focused on what matters most: taking the long view®.

As we’ve kicked of the official start to summer, many of our clients and friends are looking for some great reading material that different than the New York Times list. Further, after our recent webinar with Marilyn Wechter, we asked her to share a few of her favorite books that explore families and their relationship with money that go a bit deeper than what we could cover in just an hour. Some we’ve highly recommended before and others are new.

Enjoy! If you have any questions about what you read or a book sparks a desire to dig deeper, have a conversation, or hold a family meeting to discuss the topic, we’re here to answer questions and facilitate conversations. That’s how families stay together and multi-generational wealth is both created and perpetuates itself. Open communication.

Here we go:

• The Thin Green Line – Paul Sullivan
• The Art of Spending Money – Morgan Housel (Bonus points if you also listen to Matt’s podcast episode here with Morgan)
• Wealth in Families – Charles Collier

Finally, as we continue to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Odds On, please consider sending a copy (book, Kindle, or audiobook) to someone you are trying to help whether it be a family member or friend. I say “help” very intentionally because why else would you make any recommendation to anyone? You are simply trying to be helpful, and HIG is working to make it easy for you to show up in that role, because that spirit of helpfulness is one of the qualities we value most in our clients and friends of the firm. Request Odds On here.

We can’t wait to hear from you.

Summer has a way of reminding us what all of this is really for.

A few quiet days on a river. Pool time. A long dinner with friends. Time away without constantly checking markets, headlines, or account balances.

(The photo above is my dad and daughter, Harper, fly fishing together in Mid-Missouri.)

Lisa and I recently celebrated our only child’s high school graduation. Like many parents, it was one of those moments that made you pause. You realize how quickly chapters of life move and how important it is to actually be present for them.

In our experience, one of the most overlooked benefits of good planning and disciplined, evidence-based investing is the ability to zoom out and fully engage with life beyond money.

Not because uncertainty disappears. Markets will always move. Tax laws will change. Life will remain complicated.

But when there’s a real plan in place, when someone is helping coordinate the moving pieces, when important things are being tended to before they become problems, and when your investment approach isn’t dependent on predictions or headlines, something valuable happens:

You gain the freedom to stop carrying your financial life around in your head all the time.

That doesn’t happen accidentally.

Behind the scenes, our team spends an enormous amount of time thinking about taxes, estate planning, cash flow, investment implementation, behavioral coaching, and the hundreds of small decisions that quietly compound over time. Michael Kitces and others have written extensively about this often unseen value of financial advice, particularly the role advisors play not just in improving outcomes, but in helping ensure important things actually get done.

In many ways, the real value of planning is not simply financial optimization. It is creating the conditions that allow people to be more present for the moments that matter most.

We hope this summer gives you some of those moments.