Philosophy & research
Ron Piccinini, Ph.D., risk scientist
Everything we build starts from a few convictions. The presentations below explain each one in plain English, with sources on every slide.
01
Averages hide the handful of days that decide most outcomes. We start with the worst case we are trying to avoid, then build from there.
02
Protection, income, and growth are different jobs. Asking one portfolio to do all three is how families end up selling at the bottom.
03
More risk is not the only path to more return. How a portfolio is built matters as much as what goes into it.
04
Investment, tax, insurance, and legal decisions affect each other. They should be made together, not in four separate offices.
Powers the Growth Engine
When the rare day matters most
Why averages lie, how to measure a bad day, and how testing hundreds of thousands of portfolio mixes finds the ones built to hold up. Adapted from research by Ron Piccinini, Ph.D., and Straxen.
The Income Engine
Full income when markets are calm. T-bills when the storm spreads.
How eight exchange-traded ingredients produce income, and how a cross-market fear gauge decides when to step back into Treasury bills.
All three engines
A 140-year-old idea from America’s first billionaire
How the Rockefeller family office protected wealth for generations, and how the Waterfall Strategy brings the same core idea to everyday families.
Coming soon
How the Growth Engine uses Heavy Tail Optimization, and when the Safety and Income Engines add horsepower to it.
Would it be unreasonable to find out how much tail risk is hiding in your portfolio right now?
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Watch the session
Ron Piccinini, Ph.D., our Model Architect, walks through heavy tails, tail risk, and the TIX Index, the ideas behind how we build portfolios. About 31 minutes, in 10 chapters.
Educational presentation recorded 10/28/2026. Not investment, tax, or legal advice, and not an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security or strategy. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Examples are hypothetical illustrations; past performance is not indicative of future results. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Full disclosures appear at the end of the video. Zoop Alpha Advisors is an SEC-registered investment adviser; registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.
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