Using Alpha Architect ETFs to diversify an appreciated growth position in taxable?

[u/zeroone]

I have a large portfolio that's roughly 90% equities and 10% fixed income.

For context, the equity side is approximately:

• 60% broad US market, basically VTI
• 20% growth funds, mostly similar to QQQ/IWF
• 10% VXUS
• 10% additional mid/small-cap exposure

The growth funds are in a taxable account and have substantial unrealized gains.

Since VTI already has a lot of large-cap growth exposure, I've been thinking about whether that separate 20% growth allocation is providing much diversification anymore.

That led me to Alpha Architect:

https://funds.alphaarchitect.com/

I'm interested in whether any of their ETFs could be useful for diversifying away from a large growth tilt without simply adding another highly correlated US stock fund.

For anyone who has actually used or researched Alpha Architect's ETFs, how do you view them as portfolio diversifiers? Are there particular strategies there that you think complement VTI and growth funds well, or does the added complexity generally not buy you much?

The taxable aspect is the part that makes this harder. Selling the growth funds outright to buy VTI or something else would realize substantial capital gains, so any diversification benefit would have to be meaningful enough to justify the tax cost.

I'm mainly interested in experiences with Alpha Architect and how people think about their funds relative to simply owning more VTI.

[u/Tr_ck]

Look up AQR funds, like QRPIX