Like shifting sands under ones feet, Style Drift is a phemomenon in investing creating unstable ground. And, like a house built on a sand dune, an investment portfolio built on investments with Style Drift, may have you on top of things one day, and buired the next.

Style "drifts" significantly in most investments because investment managers don't maintain an objective. An investment that you thought was meant for one purpose suddenly changes every time the "investment" winds blow.

This kind of drift (demonstrated in the graph to the right) makes managing for risk nearly impossible. Furthermore, what was a well designed portfolio one day, suddenly becomes overly tilted in one direction the next. Before you know it, your under the dune instead of on top of it.

At Archetype, we seek to design our portfolios using asset classes which hold their objectives regardless of the current winds. By using asset classes with minimal Style Drift, our clients can know that their investments are built on solid ground.