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Peter Babilla brings 40 years of experience in investment management and fiduciary* financial consulting to Vertex Planning Partners, LLC.
Pete graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana with a Bachelor’s of Science in Finance.
He began his career in 1983 with a focus on institutional fixed-income portfolio management, primarily working with community banks. After a decade serving institutional clients, Pete shifted his focus to working with individuals, families and business owners, providing guidance and education in all areas of Wealth Management. Among his areas of focus are accumulation and retirement planning, investment management, risk management, and estate and wealth transfer.
Pete’s planning philosophy allows him to create a personalized program for clients, based on their own unique goals and circumstances. The extensive investment and planning platform offered by Vertex enables him to create a highly customized program, tailored to each individual client.
Pete and his wife Suzanne have two children, and have resided in Wheaton, Illinois for the past 30 years. He enjoys golf, reading, and traveling with his family. Pete gives back as a past Board Member of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago, where his focus is on improving the lives of those living with epilepsy.
Pete works as fiduciary for his clients and holds the CERTIFIED FIANANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) designation and the Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist (CRPS®) designation.
Justin D’Agostino joined Vertex Partners in 2019 and serves a select group of business owners and affluent families. He specializes in investments, financial planning, and succession planning. His interest and knowledge in providing comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services to clients was sparked when he worked at a boutique tax and wealth management firm in Michigan. He has nine years of experience in the financial services industry, and his mission is to provide every client with targeted, comprehensive financial advice and to help them implement customized strategies designed to move them closer to accomplishing their unique goals.
Justin attended Hillsdale College where he earned his BA in Accounting and Financial Management and was a member and captain of the football team. Justin is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional, and holds the Tax Planning Certified Professional®, Chartered Financial Consultant® and Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™ designations.
Justin and his wife, Alexandra, reside in Chicago, Illinois. He is an avid sports fan and enjoys golfing, playing soccer and spending summer weekends with his family.
Scott Sandee brings over 20 years of experience as Managing Partner. He is responsible for leading the firm’s efforts in assisting middle-market business owners and seven and eight-figure families to plan and realize financial goals based on their unique aspirations and situations.
With a privately held family business background, Scott has helped owners prepare for and execute a successful transition. In addition, he works with business owners and their advisors to develop financial strategies to maximize sales proceeds and minimize future taxes.
Before joining Vertex, Scott served in financial planning and investment strategy roles at Oxford Financial Group, Capital Group, and The Northern Trust Company, working with Chicago’s HNW/UHNW families clients.
Scott holds the Certified Financial Planner®, Certified Private Wealth Advisor®, Certified Investment Management Analyst®, and Certified Exit Planning Advisor designations. Scott earned his B.S. in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University, and his family resides in Wilmette, IL.
Julie Hupp, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, has worked in the accounting and corporate finance field since 1987. She began her career as a CPA with Deloitte & Touche, specializing in the financial needs of small businesses. Then spent the next 13 years in corporate financial planning and business development at Baxter and TAP Pharmaceuticals. Recognizing her passion for personal financial planning, Julie started her business in 2006 where she focuses on comprehensive financial planning strategies and implementation.
Julie graduated from University of Illinois with a BS in Accountancy. She received her Master’s in Management with a concentration in Finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 1994.
Outside the office, Julie is the co-founder of the 12 Oaks Foundation, which has merged with Cal’s Angels, and is a former Board member. Julie enjoys cooking, reading, running, triathlons and doing almost anything outdoors. A great weekend is spending time with her husband and two adult kids boating at their lake house in Wisconsin.
Steven P. Franzen, CPA, PFS, CGMA is a public accountant and consultant with more than 23 years of experience helping individuals and businesses reduce their tax liability. He began his career under the guidance of Patrick M. De Sio, CPA, CGMA and in 1996 became Mr. De Sio’s partner in De Sio, Franzen & Associates, Ltd. Steve’s expertise include entity design, complex tax strategies and multigenerational wealth transfer. As Managing Partner, Steve conducts his practice under the philosophy that the client’s investment in their CPA should yield a return on that investment – most of the time that return is realized when working with clients on planning for their future. In an effort to increase the planning capabilities of the firm, Steve formed Vertex Accounting Partners, LLC to ensure their guiding philosophy will continue well into the future.
Steve is a certified public accountant and has earned the professional designations of Personal Financial Specialist and Chartered Global Management Accountant. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society. Steve earned a B.S. degree in accounting from Millikin University. He and his wife Kristie live in Sugar Grove, IL with their three children.
Gregory P. Benner, CPWA®, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, AIF®, RMA® has over twenty-two years of experience as a financial advisor. Greg’s practice is based on developing holistic financial plans that help his clients integrate sophisticated retirement, tax, risk management and estate planning strategies into an actionable plan, then stay the course as their behavioral coach.
Prior to founding Vertex Planning Partners, LLC, Greg spent four years as a founding partner of a Registered Investment Advisory firm affiliated with LPL Financial. He also spent seven years with JPMorgan Chase as a Senior Financial Advisor and was a Financial Representative with Northwestern Mutual Life.
Greg holds the Certified Private Wealth Advisor® designation and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Certificant. He also holds the Chartered Financial Consultant®, Chartered Life Underwriter®, Accredited Investment Fiduciary™, and Retirement Management AdvisorSM designations. He earned a B.S. in Finance from Miami University.
He and his wife Lindsey reside in Naperville, IL with their daughter and twin sons.
Michael D. Bellis, CFP®, CLU® began his career as a financial planning professional in 1994. His practice is centered on holistic financial planning, astute risk management strategies and empirical, research-driven portfolio construction. He began his career in partnership with his father under the name Bellis & Associates. Together, their practice and reputation for excellence dates back more than 40 years and includes multiple generations of the same families. After his father’s retirement several years ago, Mike continued to build a client-centric, consultative practice before forming Vertex.
Mike holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification and is also a Chartered Life Underwriter. He has been an active member of both the Society of Financial Services Professionals and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. He earned a B.S. in Business & Marketing from Illinois State University. Mike is a lifelong resident of Naperville, Illinois. He and his wife Tanja have three children.
Risk Management Amid Credit Concerns and Cockroaches
There’s an old saying that criminals rob banks because that’s where the money is. However, in today’s financial system, money isn’t just in banks anymore, but across different types of financial institutions. While the hope among policymakers was to reduce the risk to banks after the global financial crisis, this has created new challenges. With recent bankruptcies leading to investor concerns of cracks in the credit market, it’s important for long-term investors to maintain perspective on what this truly means.
Since 2008, significant lending activity has shifted to “non-depository financial institutions” (NDFIs) such as private credit funds, mortgage companies, insurance companies, online lenders, and more. The key is that these lenders are not banks since they do not accept customer deposits, so are not subject to traditional banking regulations. However, banks are still connected to these issues – in fact, loans by banks to NDFIs have grown to $1.2 trillion.1 This structure adds a layer of opacity to the financial system and is thus sometimes referred to as “shadow banking.”
Why is this coming up in the news today? The past few months have witnessed a few cases of alleged fraud among specific borrowers. In September, subprime auto lender Tricolor collapsed after allegedly using the same cars as collateral for multiple loans. Auto parts supplier First Brands filed for bankruptcy around the same time amid concerns about off-balance-sheet debt.2 More recently, fraud allegations have been raised against affiliated companies Broadband Telecom and Bridgevoice, based on fake invoices used in asset-based finance deals.3
The comment that reflects investor concerns the most is JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s recent statement that “when you see one cockroach, there are probably more.” While these individual cases are concerning and have led to brief market swings, the question is whether they represent broader problems in credit markets and warrant comparisons to the 2008 financial crisis or the 2023 banking crisis. For long-term investors, understanding this distinction is crucial since managing risks is not about reacting to each headline, but about holding a portfolio that can perform well through periods of uncertainty.
Comparing today’s concerns to past crises provides important context
A more relevant comparison might be to the 2023 banking crisis, when several regional banks failed within days of each other. That revealed a different kind of vulnerability: the mismatch between bank assets and liabilities when interest rates rose rapidly. These banks had concentrated customer bases including tech startups for Silicon Valley Bank and cryptocurrencies for Signature Bank and Silvergate. This made these banks vulnerable to sector-specific problems.
While there were concerns at the time, this did not translate into a broader economic downturn. That said, the 2023 crisis demonstrates how quickly confidence can evaporate in modern financial markets before rebounding again. As is always the case, these examples emphasize the importance of not overreacting to headlines. The chart above highlights both historical credit shocks and the fact that bond yields and spreads are still stable today.
Credit cycles are a major component of economic turning points
However, it’s important to distinguish the perspective of a large bank from that of long-term investors. For large financial institutions, each loan matters and can result in write-offs that affect quarterly earnings. For investors, what matters is whether these issues are “systemic,” affecting the broader economy and portfolios across a variety of investments.
The situation is still evolving and there could be more cases of fraud and bad loans. However, markets have already calmed after the initial bankruptcy reports, and there are a few key facts to keep in mind.
First, the dollar amounts involved, while significant for individual institutions, represent a small fraction of the overall financial system. Second, larger banks are generally well-capitalized and diversified across many lending categories, reducing their vulnerability to problems in any single area. Third, unlike past crises, there’s no evidence yet of a broader economic challenge that would cause widespread credit problems. The chart above shows that the banking system has been more stable over the past two years.
Stock and bond markets have remained relatively calm
For long-term investors, the key lesson is that recent headlines around financial fraud and bankruptcies are a natural part of credit cycles and the functioning of financial markets. While individual cases may be concerning, this is separate from whether it affects the broader financial system. Either way, it’s clear that adjustment will be needed among lenders, especially non-bank ones.
The bottom line?
Recent credit problems by private lenders have raised concerns, but markets have also calmed in recent weeks. For long-term investors, these challenges highlight the importance of risk management that aligns portfolios with long-term goals.
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