There are three ways to give a client's investment account a target portfolio: assign one directly to the account, set an Assignment Rule that covers a group of accounts, or let the system blend targets when more than one rule applies.
All of it lives in Planning > Investments > Target Portfolios on the client file.
Where to do this
Open the client, go to Planning, and click the Investments sub-tab. You'll see three tabs across the top of the page: Portfolio, Target Portfolios, and Compare.
Target Portfolios is where you build the models and set the rules. It has two sections:
Client Portfolios — models built just for this client. Fully editable here.
Advisor Portfolios — firm-wide models pulled in from Settings. Read-only on the client page. Edit them under Settings > Target Portfolios.
Below those sits the Assignment Rules panel. That's where the second and third paths live.
Path 1: Direct per-account assignment
This is the most specific option. You pick a target portfolio for one specific account.
Direct assignment happens in a few places:
The Assign Targets drawer on the Investments page (the All Accounts / By Goal / By Time Horizon shortcuts each write a target straight to every account they touch)
The Checklist action for assigning target portfolios
The per-account row in the Assign Targets drawer
Under the hood, this sets the target on the account itself. It's the cleanest path if you want one account pinned to one model.
Path 2: Assignment Rules
Rules let you assign targets across a group without touching each account. You set them in the Assignment Rules panel on the Target Portfolios tab.
Five scopes are available:
Default — applies to every investment account
By Goal — applies to accounts assigned to a specific goal
By Time Horizon — applies to accounts with a matching horizon (1-3 years, 3-5 years, 5-10 years, 10+ years)
By Tax Status — applies to accounts in that tax bucket (Taxable, Tax Deferred, Tax Free)
Account override — pins one specific account to a specific model, overriding everything else
Each scope header has a help icon next to it with a tooltip spelling out exactly which rules it overrides. Hover it whenever you need a reminder — you don't have to memorize the precedence order.
Precedence
More specific rules beat broader ones. When the system figures out a target for an account, it checks in this order:
Account override
Goal (for accounts assigned to goals)
Time Horizon
Tax Status
Default
The first match wins.
Seeing which rule applied to each account
On the per-account list inside the Assignment Rules panel, each account shows whether its target came from a direct override or was inherited from a broader rule. The inherited target is still displayed even when you have an override set, so you can see at a glance what the account would be using if you cleared the override. Useful for answering "why does this account have a different target than the rest of its goal bucket?" in one look.
Path 3: Blended targets
When a single account is assigned to more than one goal, and those goals point at different target portfolios, the system blends them. It weights each target by the share of the account balance assigned to that goal.
Example: a brokerage account splits 60% to a retirement goal (Growth model) and 40% to a liquidity goal (Conservative model). The resolved target is 60% Growth + 40% Conservative, blended at the asset class level.
Blended targets show up automatically. You don't set them manually. If you don't want a blend, either split the account into two, or add an account override to pin it to one model.
Client Portfolios vs. Advisor Portfolios
Advisor Portfolios are firm-wide. Built once under Settings > Target Portfolios, then available on every client. Good for your standard models (Conservative, Moderate, Growth, Aggressive Growth, plus whatever you've added).
Client Portfolios are one-offs built right on the client file. Use these when a client needs something the firm models don't cover: a concentrated stock position, a legacy allocation you're unwinding, a custom tilt for this household only.
Both types are selectable in Assignment Rules and in direct assignments. They behave the same way in Compare and in drift calculations.
One caveat: Observations only see direct assignments
Worth knowing if you rely on Observations to surface rebalancing work.
The Asset Allocation Drift observation rule reads the target directly off the account. If an account gets its target through an Assignment Rule (goal, horizon, tax status, or Default) and not through a direct assignment, the rule can't see it, and no drift observation will fire. The DriftBadge on the Investments tab and the Compare tab will still show drift correctly, because those paths resolve rules properly.
If you want drift to appear in Observations, assign the target directly to the account, not just via a rule. We're working on closing this gap; the caveat stays here until it's fixed.
Quick decision guide
One account, one model, and you want it to stick: direct assignment
Same model across a bunch of accounts grouped by goal, horizon, or tax status: Assignment Rule
Account split across goals with different target models: let it blend, or split the account if you want a single target
You want drift on the Observations/Changes list today: direct assignment