Products

Direct Indexing SMAs

WHY PGIM DIRECT INDEXING

As a leader in direct indexing using ETFs, PGIM’s direct indexing SMA platform offers strategies that provide exposure to client-selected benchmarks while seeking to generate tax alpha. 

CUSTOMIZED EXPOSURE

 

Personalized investment experiences and calibrated risk management based on each client’s individual goals, tax situation, and risk profile.

SIGNIFICANT TAX BENEFITS

 

Designed to efficiently generate significant tax benefits in both rising and falling markets with the ability to harvest tax losses throughout the trading day.

FULLY INVESTED STRATEGIES

 

Portfolios consisting of ETFs enhance opportunities to harvest tax losses and capture appreciation by enabling full market participation.

SIMPLICITY AND EFFICIENCY

 

Fewer holdings and less complexity than traditional direct indexing approaches and continually monitored for tax-alpha opportunities via integrated technology.

BENEFITS OF USING ETFS FOR DIRECT INDEXING

Direct indexing typically involves buying the individual stocks that make up an index in the same weights as the index. Direct indexing can provide greater autonomy, control, and tax advantages over owning an index mutual fund or ETF because investors can sell securities in their portfolios to offset capital gains. For taxable clients, we believe the best way to direct index is through ETFs that are tailored to provide the desired market exposure plus tax benefits. Our active tax management discipline aims to deliver tax efficiency through a loss-capture process that is designed to help offset both capital gains within the portfolios and realized gains outside of the portfolios.

Tax-Loss Harvesting

Loss harvesting is the process of capturing capital losses in a client portfolio. Applying those losses against capital gains can help reduce tax exposure, resulting in higher after-tax returns. Our proprietary Smart Capture discipline combines benchmark investing and active tax-loss management in a way that facilitates loss harvesting in both up and down markets. By keeping portfolios fully invested during the process, this discipline has historically offered enhanced loss-capture capabilities while helping limit tracking error. These harvested losses can be used to offset taxable gains within portfolios as well as liabilities stemming from separate taxable events.

SMART CAPTURE INVESTMENT PROCESS

We use a disciplined investment process to provide full exposure to a desired allocation or benchmark while generating tax alpha through customized SMA portfolios of ETFs. Our proprietary Smart Capture process identifies, targets, and facilitates efficient trading throughout the market day via the following steps:

  1. Identify optimal ETFs for each exposure
  2. Construct customized portfolios of ETFs to target desired allocation or benchmark
  3. Determine optimum tax benefit capture trading thresholds
  4. Monitor all ETFs and legacy client positions throughout the day
  5. Harvest tax losses while maintaining full market exposure

Experienced Investment Team

Robert Holderith is the head of PGIM Custom Harvest (formerly known as Green Harvest Asset Management). Robert joined PGIM in December 2021 and founded Green Harvest in 2017. He was previously president and founder of Emerging Global Advisors, LLC (EGA), the advisor to the EGShares family of ETFs, where he was responsible for all aspects of the formation of the firm including research, portfolio management, product development, index conception and design, technology infrastructure, and sales. Robert has been implementing, structuring, and developing ETFs and related strategies since 1999.

Brian Ahrens serves as the CIO of PGIM Custom Harvest and leads PGIM's Strategic Investment Research Group (SIRG). He and his staff focus on investment consulting, portfolio construction, and risk oversight activities. Currently, the team consults on over $200 billion in total assets. Mr. Ahrens is also part of a portfolio management team that manages asset allocation strategies totaling over $80 billion in assets. His responsibilities include asset allocation, portfolio risk management, manager fulfillment, and managing cash flows.  He has been with Prudential for over 30 years. Mr. Ahrens earned his MBA in finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University. He graduated from James Madison University with a double major in finance and German.

Richard Tavis, CFA is portfolio manager at PGIM Custom Harvest. Before joining PGIM Custom Harvest, Mr. Tavis was responsible for the SIRG Investment Strategy Team. The Investment Strategy Team focuses on developing market views, providing thought leadership in support of the management of client investment portfolios, and providing proactive advice to SIRG’s clients. Mr. Tavis joined PGIM in October 2003 as an investment manager research analyst. Before the formation of the Investment Strategy Team, he was a member of SIRG’s Portfolio Construction Group. Prior to joining SIRG, Mr. Tavis worked with Chartwell Consulting, an institutional investment consulting firm, primarily providing due diligence on investment management firms to corporate pension plans, endowments, and foundations. Mr. Tavis earned his BS in economics and finance, summa cum laude, from Rider University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute.

Harsh Parikh, PhD is the Director of Investment Research and portfolio manager at PGIM Custom Harvest. Before joining PGIM Custom Harvest, Mr. Parikh was a portfolio manager for two years for SIRG at PGIM, where he was responsible for managing portfolios, enhancing investment processes, and helping build asset allocation capabilities. Prior to SIRG, Mr. Parikh worked as a Principal in PGIM's Institutional Advisory & Solutions (IAS) group. Mr. Parikh headed the real assets research program and was also responsible for index-based solutions research. He joined PGIM as an Investment Vice President in April 2015 from BNY Mellon’s Investment Strategy & Solutions Group, where he was a Vice President, Portfolio Manager, and Strategist. Mr. Parikh was a co-portfolio manager for BNY Mellon Real Asset Strategy. Prior to that, he worked for GMAC ResCap (Ally Financial), Countrywide Capital Markets (Bank of America) and CMS BondEdge (ICE). Mr. Parikh earned his B.E. degree in Computer Engineering from Gujarat University, his M.S. degree in Computer Science and M.S. degree in Mathematical Finance from the University of Southern California, and his PhD degree in Finance from EDHEC Business School.

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*PGIM Investments acquired Green Harvest Asset Management (now known as PGIM Custom Harvest) in December 2021.

Alpha is a measure of the investment’s value added based on its beta or market-related risk profile. Tracking error is the difference in actual performance between a portfolio and its corresponding benchmark.

 

Risks—Investing involves risks. Some investments are riskier than others. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate, and shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than the original cost. Actively managed portfolios may carry additional risks, such as analyses performed cannot always predict outcomes, that the investment techniques applied do not have the expected results, and that external factors can change the course of investment performance. The fees associated with active management may be higher than those associated with passive strategies. Unlike mutual funds, ETF shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than their net asset value (NAV), and are not individually redeemed from the Fund. Shares may only be redeemed directly from the Fund by Authorized Participants in creation units only. You may incur brokerage commissions when buying and selling shares on an exchange or through your financial intermediary, which may reduce returns. Market returns are based upon the closing price or the midpoint of the bid/ask spread, as applicable, at the time when the Fund’s NAV is determined (normally 4:00 p.m. Eastern time), and do not represent the returns you would receive if you traded shares at other times. There can be no guarantee that an active trading market for ETF shares will develop or be maintained, or that their listing will continue or remain unchanged. While the shares of ETFs are tradable on secondary markets, they may not readily trade in all market conditions and may trade at significant discounts in periods of market stress. 

 

The availability of tax alpha is highly dependent upon the initial date and time of investment as well as market direction and security volatility during the investment period. Tax loss harvesting outcomes may vary greatly for clients who invest on different days, weeks, months, and all other time periods. A client's tax alpha will depend on the client's individual circumstances, which are outside of PGIM Custom Harvest's knowledge and control.

 

PGIM Custom Harvest does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. This material is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction. Although PGIM Custom Harvest does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice, we stand ready to assist clients and their advisors in reviewing the relevant tax rules.

 

SMAs differ from pooled vehicles like mutual funds in that each portfolio is unique to a single account therefore the investment decisions may vary from those made for other accounts. SMAs do not issue registered prospectuses, and the fee structures differ from those normally seen in mutual funds and generally carry higher account investment minimums. Please remember that there are inherent risks involved with investing in the markets, and investments may be worth more or less than initial investment upon redemption. There is no guarantee that the investment managers' objectives will be achieved. Professional money management is not suitable for all investors. Investment objectives, risk tolerance, and liquidity needs must be reviewed before suitable programs can be recommended. Asset allocation and diversification strategies do not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets. Investors should consult with their attorney, accountant, and/or tax professional for advice concerning their particular situation.

 

PGIM Custom Harvest is a registered investment adviser and a Prudential Financial company. 

 

MANAGED ACCOUNTS  | Are not insured by the FDIC or any federal government agency | May lose value | Are not a deposit of or guaranteed by any bank or any bank affiliate. 

 

© 2026 Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities. PGIM Custom Harvest, PGIM Investments, PGIM, and the PGIM logo are service marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.

 

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