From Risk to Return

🔷 Case Study: Sterling Advisors

✅ 1. Title

From Risk to Return: How Sterling Advisors Drove 4.5% Market Outperformance for a Family Office Using a Data-Driven Portfolio Strategy

✅ 2. Executive Summary

Facing portfolio stagnation and high volatility, the Harrison Family Office partnered with Sterling Advisors to modernize its investment approach. By implementing a proprietary data-driven strategy, Sterling Advisors re-allocated assets, reduced risk concentration, and achieved an annualized return of 14.5%—outperforming the market benchmark by 4.5% and doubling the portfolio’s risk-adjusted return.

✅ 3. About the Client: The Harrison Family Office

• Industry: Private Wealth Management / Family Office
• Business Type: A multi-generational family office responsible for stewarding and growing significant private capital.
• Target Market: Their mission is to ensure long-term wealth preservation and growth for future generations through strategic investments.
• Financial Background: The office managed a diversified nine-figure portfolio but was operating on a legacy investment thesis built on traditional asset allocation and qualitative advice, which had not adapted to modern market complexities.

✅ 4. The Challenge / The Problem

The Harrison Family Office faced a critical inflection point. Their portfolio, once a reliable engine for growth, was now defined by underperformance and excessive risk. Their pain points were specific and quantifiable:

• Consistent Underperformance: For three consecutive years, the portfolio’s returns lagged its S&P 500 benchmark by an average of 4% annually, representing millions in missed growth opportunities.
• High Volatility & Concentration: Over 40% of their equity allocation was concentrated in the technology sector, making the portfolio highly vulnerable to market swings. This resulted in a poor risk-adjusted return, measured by a Sharpe ratio of just 0.5.
• Lack of a Forward-Looking Strategy: The investment committee felt their decisions were reactive rather than proactive, lacking a clear, data-backed framework to navigate economic uncertainty, inflation, and shifting global markets. This created significant anxiety about the long-term preservation of their capital.

✅ 5. The Solution

Sterling Advisors was chosen for its proven expertise in quantitative analysis and data-driven portfolio management. The solution was not merely to pick different stocks but to fundamentally overhaul the investment framework using Sterling’s proprietary Sentinel AI™ analytics platform.

• Description of the Solution: Sentinel AI™ is an advanced analytics engine that ingests and processes thousands of data points daily—from macroeconomic indicators and corporate earnings reports to market sentiment and geopolitical risk factors. It uses machine learning models to identify mispriced assets, model future risk scenarios, and construct portfolios optimized for maximum risk-adjusted returns.
• Why This Solution Was Chosen: The Harrison Family Office needed to move beyond intuition and embrace a scientific approach. Sentinel AI™ provided a transparent, disciplined, and evidence-based methodology that could dynamically adapt to changing market conditions, directly addressing their core challenges of underperformance and volatility.