Most advisors wake up every morning and face the same impossible-feeling choice: stay invested and ride out whatever storm is brewing or pull back and explain to clients why their portfolios are sitting on the sidelines. Caleb Sevian, Chief Investment Officer at Focus Point Capital, thinks there’s a better way—and he built a strategy from inside a family office mandate, refined it through real-world portfolio decisions, and has spent the past several years bringing it to the broader advisory market.
The strategy is called FPC Macro, and at its core, it’s a globally diversified, multi-asset allocation with a built-in risk management process designed to reduce exposure when market conditions deteriorate. Simple enough in concept. The execution, though, is where things get interesting.
A World That Runs on Macro
Before getting into the mechanics of how Focus Point operates, it’s worth understanding the investment philosophy underpinning the firm’s approach—because that shapes everything from portfolio construction to how Sevian communicates with clients.
Markets, he argues, don’t work the way they used to. Pre-pandemic, company earnings and economic fundamentals were the primary drivers of equity performance. Since then, the playbook has been rewritten almost entirely. Think about what has moved markets over the past six years: a global pandemic, unprecedented fiscal stimulus, inflation shocks, interest rate regime shifts, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, trade policy upheaval, and fiscal deficits approaching a tipping point.
“These are all macro themes,” notes Sevian. “And if they’re not represented in your portfolio, you’re missing out and you’re likely to be sailing into things just with a portfolio that is designed for a world that isn’t the world we live in today.”
It’s a pointed observation—and an honest one. Advisors who built portfolios around pre-pandemic assumptions are, in many cases, still operating within a framework that no longer maps cleanly to reality. Sevian sees the macro shift not as a temporary disruption but as a permanent recalibration of what drives returns—and the entire Focus Point approach is built around that conviction.
The Three Paths That Aren’t Enough
When advisors talk about protecting clients in uncertain markets, the conversation usually converges on three familiar options: hold a traditional 60/40 allocation, lean into alternatives, or move to cash. Sevian respects all three approaches—and he has specific, substantive critiques of each.
The classic strategic allocation worked beautifully during a long era of falling interest rates, when fixed income served as a reliable buffer during equities sell-offs. Alternatives, particularly private credit, had a strong moment in 2022, when floating-rate debt held its value while stocks and bonds both declined. But that success attracted enormous capital inflows, and now the repricing risk is real. As Sevian points out, some portfolios have gone from par to zero within three months. And cash, while comforting in the short run, is ultimately an unproductive holding that leaves clients on the wrong side of long-term compounding.
“None of those are the most compelling options,” he says. “We try to provide a fourth option—we’re going to try to participate in the markets when the markets are moving up and then systematically reduce risk when conditions deteriorate. We’re going to try to do it in a liquid, transparent, low-fee form that fits within the traditional advisory network framework.”
From there, the flexibility becomes a genuine selling point. FPC Macro is designed to occupy multiple roles depending on what a client’s portfolio needs—and Sevian is deliberate about that.
“We try to provide a solution that is not any of those solutions but satisfies different buckets within those,” he says. “So, if someone wants to use this as a liquid alternative, they can use it as a liquid alternative. If you want to use this as a risk-managed solution to complement a traditional portfolio, they can do that.”
The breadth of use cases isn’t a marketing talking point—it’s a reflection of how varied the problems advisors are trying to solve are.
Risk as a Dial, Not a Switch
One of the more underappreciated ideas in Sevian’s approach is how he thinks about risk management itself. Conventional models often treat risk as an option you either have on or off—fully invested, or pulling back. FPC Macro treats risk as a dial.
The strategy runs on a quantitative model of 28 factors, which Sevian calls “alpha indicators,” spread across five categories: liquidity, valuations, economic momentum, technicals, and volatility. Some of these signals move quickly—volatility readings, for instance, can shift within days. Others are slower moving, tied to fundamentals such as lending conditions or earnings revisions. The model is designed to track both, allowing the portfolio to respond to deteriorating conditions without getting whipsawed by short-term noise.
He describes the current environment as providing a good example of why patience matters. Conditions at the end of February triggered the volatility indicator—which, in Sevian’s experience, is almost always the first domino to fall. Credit spreads have begun to widen. Some indicators are rolling over. But the picture isn’t definitive, and acting on incomplete confirmation would be a mistake.
“When our volatility trigger alpha indicator triggers, the hair on the back of my neck stands up because that’s almost always the first one to trigger,” he says. “But it has false readings, which is why we wouldn’t want to just have that be our entire portfolio.”
So, the strategy deploys a sequenced confirmation process after that first trigger. As Sevian explains it, a volatility signal puts him on high alert, but what follows determines action.
“When volatility triggers, we have to pay close attention because usually the next thing that happens is we start to see credit spreads deteriorate, and if they deteriorate enough, then that usually starts to lead into negative things,” he says.
The portfolio was neutral in early March—balanced, watchful, and not making dramatic moves. Disciplined restraint, rather than reactive repositioning, is central to what separates the FPC Macro process from more trigger-happy tactical approaches.
Where Quant Meets Judgment
The quantitative model sets the risk posture, but it doesn’t build the portfolio on its own. Focus Point’s discretionary overlay is where some of the most compelling positioning decisions have emerged—and where the strategy’s thematic character comes through most clearly.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Focus Point moved into global defense stocks. Gold has been a long-running satellite position. Small-cap value was added last year and has performed well. Healthcare was introduced in Q4. Each of these options reflects a thematic view about where macro forces are pointing—and each represents the kind of judgment call that a purely systematic model could miss.
“These satellite positions that are thematic in nature make us quite a bit different,” says Sevian. “So, it’s this combination of the quantitative and the qualitative that combine into a portfolio that is also risk managed. But from an even bigger picture, what we do is becoming more interesting because the last several years have turned into a market that has been increasingly macro thematically driven.”
The current geopolitical environment is a live example of how that process works in practice. With the U.S. engaged in military conflict and oil prices spiking, the research and the portfolio are moving together.
“A lot of this is going to depend upon the duration of this whole thing and the outcome of whether or not this is a controlled and contained conflict in terms of time or whether it stretches out to something much more meaningful,” he emphasizes. “But these are the things that we’re exploring, and these are the things that then are also reflected in our portfolio.”
The loop between macro research and investment decisions closes every single week—and that consistency gives the process its edge.
Communication as a Competitive Advantage
When asked what differentiates Focus Point beyond the strategy itself, Sevian doesn’t hesitate—he points to the firm’s research operation, which he treats as a business unto itself rather than a marketing add-on.
“We’re big believers in communication,” he says. “We have an entire side of our business which is dedicated to just communicating with our clients about what we’re thinking, what our views are.”
Every week, the firm publishes a detailed macro report that covers current positioning, bull and bear cases, scenario analysis, and thematic deep dives. It’s built explicitly with advisors in mind—the front page delivers enough to guide any client conversation, while the deeper pages are there for those who want to go further.
Recent issues have included rigorous analysis of how oil shocks typically evolve across three phases—from inflation scare to supply shock to growth scare—and a framework for tracking the political and market thresholds that would pressure the administration to wind down military conflict. The kind of research that turns advisor-client conversations from reactive to genuinely informed.
“We try to give them a tool that’s institutional quality that they can also understand,” Sevian points out. “Within one page, there’s obviously a lot of research behind it—but if all they do is look at the first page, they’d have enough to guide any client conversation.”
Critically, none of the research lives behind a paywall. Focus Point started sharing its content publicly during the COVID-19 pandemic and has kept distributing it freely, partly because the quality speaks for itself. Advisors who discover the research sometimes don’t immediately realize it comes with an investment strategy behind it—and that’s been one of the firm’s most organic growth paths.
Eating Your Own Cooking
One aspect of the Focus Point model doesn’t come up often enough in conversations about boutique managers: alignment. Every view Sevian publishes, every scenario he analyzes, every position he advocates for—he owns the outcome personally.
“I have to eat my own cooking because I’m the portfolio manager,” notes Sevian. “In addition to being the macro strategist, I have to make decisions based on this information. I have to own the mess.”
That accountability structure doesn’t change the nature of the strategy, but it does inform the nature of the process. There’s no gap between the research team and the investment team because they’re the same person. When Sevian says the volatility trigger is flashing, he’s not delivering a briefing—he’s managing his own book.
A Strategy Built for Real-World Problems
FPC Macro is available as a separately managed account with daily liquidity, full transparency, and fees that compare favorably to the hedge fund and private credit strategies it often displaces in client portfolios. It’s available on the Schwab Marketplace, SMArtX, Adhesion, Axos, Investmark, and GeoWealth platforms. Advisors can deploy the strategy as an alternative sleeve, as a tactical complement to an existing model portfolio, or as a stand-alone core allocation for clients who want broad market exposure with active risk oversight.
The flexibility is intentional. Focus Point was originally built inside a family office, and the mandate that shaped it from day one has never really changed.
“The original ultimatum from the family who asked us to create it was, ‘Hey, we want to be in the markets when the markets go up but not when the markets go down,’” Sevian recalls. “Isn’t that what everybody wants? So, that’s what we tried to create. Now, that’s not to say that we can promise that we can do that and we’re perfect, but that’s our goals, that’s our intention, that’s our objectives, that’s what we seek to do.”
That clarity of purpose—knowing exactly which problem the strategy was built to solve and staying honest about both the ambition and the limits—is among Focus Point’s most compelling features. Advisors searching for a way to keep clients engaged with markets without leaving them fully exposed to every macro shock may find that the fourth option is the one they’ve been looking for all along.
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Additional Resources
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Disclosures
Any views, opinions, or information presented in this interview are those of Focus Point Capital LLC (“Focus Point Capital”), a Colorado-registered investment adviser, and are provided solely for informational purposes. This material is intended for use by financial professionals only and is not intended for distribution to retail investors or the general public. Redistribution or reproduction of this material without prior written consent is prohibited.
This interview contains general market commentary and a description of Focus Point Capital’s discretionary investment strategy, which may be offered through separately managed accounts (SMAs), including on Unified Managed Account (UMA) or dual contract platforms. The information provided does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security, or a solicitation to offer advisory services in any jurisdiction where such offer or solicitation would be unlawful.
Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. The strategy described may involve a high degree of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. There can be no assurance that any investment objective will be achieved. Actual results may differ materially due to, among other factors, market conditions, client-specific constraints, timing of investments, and portfolio construction differences.
Any performance information presented is intended to comply with the SEC Marketing Rule (Rule 206(4)-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940). Unless otherwise indicated, performance results are presented net of fees and include the reinvestment of dividends and other earnings. Any references to composite, model, hypothetical, or representative performance are provided for illustrative purposes only, have inherent limitations, and do not reflect the performance of any specific client account. Such results may differ significantly from actual client experience.
Statements regarding market trends, economic conditions, or portfolio positioning reflect Focus Point Capital’s views as of the date of the interview and are subject to change without notice. Certain information has been obtained from third-party sources believed to be reliable; however, Focus Point Capital does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Nothing contained herein should be construed as personalized investment, legal, or tax advice. Financial professionals should conduct their own due diligence and consult their firm’s compliance and legal departments before implementing or recommending any strategy discussed. Focus Point Capital makes no representation regarding the suitability of any strategy for any particular investor.
