SwitchWize Research Desk · Wealth Lending
How the wealthiest borrowers actually borrow.
Independent, sourced, and dated research on securities-based lending, Lombard lending, and custom credit for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, written for advisors, family offices, and anyone curious enough to check the math themselves.
Who this library is built for
For advisors
Advisors and private bankers
The mechanics, tax-tracing rules, and comparison points to bring into a client conversation, sourced well enough to defend in one.
For family offices
Family office and multi-generational staff
Custom lending, NAV facilities, capital-call lines, and cross-jurisdiction practice, where the generic financial press stops covering the topic.
For the rest of us
Anyone researching the strategy
“Buy, borrow, die” explained honestly: the real math, the real risk, and exactly where the strategy breaks.
The library
Unsecured and High-Capacity Credit Lines for UHNW Borrowers
No pledged collateral doesn't mean no underwriting. It means the entire relationship with the bank becomes the collateral.
Securities-Based Lending, Explained: SBL, SBLOC, PAL and LAL
Every major brokerage sells the same product under a different name. Here is the cross-firm decoder, what actually prices it, and where it breaks.
SBL vs Margin: Same Collateral, Different Liquidation Rules
Both loans use your portfolio as collateral. Only one of them has a federally standardized floor on how much cushion you keep.
Regulation U: Purpose vs Non-Purpose Credit and Why It Decides What You Can Do With the Money
The 50% cap most people associate with margin lending only applies to one category of loan. The other category has no federal cap at all.
Hedge Fund Financing: How Prime Brokers Lend and What It Costs
A prime broker doesn't just lend a hedge fund money against its own portfolio. It can also re-lend that same collateral to someone else, on the same day, to fund its own balance sheet.
Jumbo, Interest-Only and Pledged-Asset Mortgages
A pledged-asset mortgage can eliminate both the down payment and mortgage insurance on a home purchase, using a security you already own instead of cash you'd rather leave invested.
NAV Lending: Size, Spreads, LTVs, and the Controversy
Loan-to-value on a NAV facility can range from 10% to 70%, and which end of that range you land on has almost nothing to do with the lender and almost everything to do with what the fund actually holds.
Margin Calls: ILV, MLV, Cure Periods, and What a 30% Drawdown Does to a Line
The math behind a margin call is not intuitive: a 33% drop in a single stock can trigger a call well before the loan itself has lost a third of its value.
Advance Rates and Haircuts by Collateral Type
The same dollar of stock can support a very different loan depending on one thing: how much of the company you actually own.
Is the Interest Deductible? Tracing Rules for SBL, Lombard and Custom Loans
The tax law does not care what secures your loan. It cares what you did with the money, dollar for dollar.
Custom Lending: Concentrated Stock, Pre-IPO, Art, Aircraft, Yachts
The same portfolio can support a 90% advance rate against Treasuries and a 0% advance rate against one concentrated position, at the same lender, on the same day.
Capital-Call and Subscription Lines: What LPs and GPs Actually Pay
A rule meant to force more disclosure about these facilities was adopted in 2023 and struck down entirely less than a year later. The facilities themselves didn't go anywhere.
Buy, Borrow, Die: The Mechanics, the Math, and Where It Breaks
The strategy has three moving parts, and a 2025 law change just made one of them permanent and dramatically larger.
Important information
This page is informational only and is not investment, tax, or legal advice, and is not a recommendation to borrow or a statement that any specific lender is best for you. Interest on a securities-based, Lombard, or similar loan may or may not be tax-deductible depending on how the proceeds are used; consult a qualified tax advisor about your own situation. Borrowing against a portfolio carries margin-call risk: if pledged collateral loses value, a lender can require additional collateral or repayment on short notice, potentially forcing a sale at a loss. Rates are typically variable and can rise. Figures labeled "published" come from a lender's own rate disclosures as of the date shown; figures labeled "estimated" are ranges derived from a limited sample and are not a quote. SwitchWize receives no compensation from any lender named on this page.