Personal Finance

What’s portfolio tuning, anyway?

By
Alexander Harmsen
Alexander Harmsen is the Co-founder and CEO of PortfolioPilot. With a track record of building AI-driven products that have scaled globally, he brings deep expertise in finance, technology, and strategy to create content that is both data-driven and actionable.
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PortfolioPilot Compliance Team
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What’s portfolio tuning, anyway?

Once you've linked your account, Global Predictions can give you personalized recommendations about how to tune your investments to best align your investment objectives with your asset allocation. If you're thinking "but what's portfolio tuning, anyway?" - this post is for you.

TLDR: Portfolio tuning is the process of making small and large adjustments to your portfolio to either enhance your projected returns, or better align your risk exposure with your goals.

Tuning and rebalancing is commonplace within asset management, and done by the teams overseeing hedge fund investing, or even the construction of any mutual funds or ETFs you might own. We're applying this same concept to your specific portfolio. We are not constrained by a theme (like an ETF, that might have a specific focus on energy equities, for example), or by a maturation date (like a retirement mutual fund, that returns capital on a specific future date), or even an asset class. That means we can give you suggestions based on your objectives, not ours.

Directly uploading your portfolio is the best way to ensure that weightings are done accurately and risks are accounted for holistically among all your relevant investments. The types of recommendations you might see come in many forms: dropping projected low-performing stocks, taking advantage of specific market conditions, adjusting risk through diversification, or adding new securities in unheld asset classes. It could also be as simple as adjusting your risk preferences or switching index funds to ones with lower costs. All of these recommendations come from a smart algorithm that takes into account both your personal investment preferences and globally modeled economic conditions.

Global Predictions has no hidden fees, and offers you these insights and recommendations automatically, without commitments to taking our suggestions. Only you can make changes to your portfolio - we have read only access and cannot implement changes made within your actual investment account.

You can click "compute trades to execute" and Global Predictions will create an easily readable list of which securities you can buy or sell to align your draft portfolio with your brokerage account.

Even if you don't take Global Predictions' recommendations, we bet you'll benefit from seeing a birds eye view of all your assets, and will walk away with real insight about how you might want to reallocate investments or make future purchases.

Portfolio Tuning FAQs

What is portfolio tuning in investment management?
Portfolio tuning refers to adjusting portfolio holdings to enhance projected returns or align risk exposure with financial goals. It can involve small or large changes, similar to practices used in hedge funds, mutual funds, or ETFs.
How does portfolio tuning differ from simple rebalancing?
While rebalancing restores target allocations, portfolio tuning may also involve dropping underperforming securities, adding new asset classes, or switching to lower-cost funds, making it broader than standard rebalancing.
Why might dropping projected low-performing stocks be recommended?
The algorithm may identify holdings with weak expected returns under current global economic conditions, suggesting removal to improve alignment with an investor’s long-term objectives.
How does diversification factor into portfolio tuning recommendations?
Tuning may suggest adding exposure to unheld asset classes or adjusting allocations across sectors to manage risk more effectively while maintaining alignment with stated preferences.
Can portfolio tuning adjust for market-specific conditions?
Yes. The process may recommend short-term adjustments, such as reallocating to sectors expected to benefit from prevailing conditions, while still considering long-term objectives.
How are index funds incorporated into tuning recommendations?
Tuning can flag opportunities to switch from higher-cost index funds to lower-cost alternatives, potentially improving net returns without changing the underlying exposure.
How does portfolio tuning compare to thematic ETFs or retirement-date mutual funds?
Unlike ETFs constrained by themes or mutual funds tied to maturity dates, tuning is unconstrained and based solely on the investor’s objectives, not product-level mandates.
Why is directly uploading a portfolio important for tuning accuracy?
Uploading ensures the algorithm accounts for total portfolio weightings, correlations, and risks holistically, rather than basing recommendations on incomplete or manually input data.
What role does Global Predictions’ algorithm play in portfolio tuning?
The algorithm integrates personal investment preferences with globally modeled economic conditions to generate suggestions for asset allocation, diversification, and cost efficiency.
How does Global Predictions handle execution of suggested trades?
The platform has read-only access. It provides a computed trade list for buy and sell actions, but only the investor can implement changes in their brokerage account.

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1: As of February 20, 2025