The harvesting alpha is real early — then it decays.

Direct indexing is most often pitched as a flat half-to-one percent of after-tax alpha, every year, for as long as the sleeve runs. The harvesting that produces it is front-loaded: as successful harvests retire underwater lots, the sleeve's loss-generation capacity thins toward zero over a five-to-eight-year window. Answer a few questions and see the illustrative shape of that decay — and where the early alpha sits against the fee.