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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 and a Master of Science in Taxation (MST) from the University of Cincinnati.
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.
How Equity Compensation Fits into Your Financial Plan
For many professionals today, equity compensation is not just a nice perk, but a significant source of wealth accumulation over their careers. Whether through restricted stock units (RSUs), stock options, or other forms of company equity, these awards have become increasingly common across industries and job levels.
However, with this type of compensation comes complexity. Understanding the role that equity compensation plays in a broader financial plan while managing risk is essential for building wealth. These challenges exist whether you work for a small startup or a large public company, so it isn’t just about whether your company will perform well. For those who receive a meaningful portion of their compensation in company stock, getting these decisions right can make a difference in financial outcomes.
Equity compensation has grown in importance
Equity compensation can take several forms, each with distinct characteristics that affect taxes, vesting, liquidity, and financial planning. The three most common types are RSUs, stock options, and restricted stock awards (RSAs).
While not all professionals receive equity, its role in compensation plans in addition to salary and cash bonuses has grown over time. For companies, equity helps preserve cash while incentivizing long-term employee commitment and aligning performance. For employees, equity can be valuable as it provides potential for financial gain tied to company success, creating a path for long-term wealth creation.
In the mid-20th century, equity was primarily reserved for top executives as a tax-advantaged way to align their interests with shareholders. The 1950 Revenue Act introduced the concept of restricted stock options, allowing employees to benefit from favorable capital gains treatment if they met certain holding requirements. This made equity compensation an attractive tool for companies.
The landscape changed again during the dot-com era in the 1990s. Stock options became a recruiting and employee retention tool for startups that had limited cash but fast-growing valuations. At the time, companies were not required to treat stock options as an expense on their income statements, unlike other types of compensation. When the bubble burst in the early 2000s, many of these options were worth very little. This also led to changes in accounting rules to treat stock options just like any other compensation.
This experience prompted a shift in how companies structure equity compensation. Tech giants, for instance, began favoring RSUs because they retain value even when stock prices decline. Unlike options, which only have value if the stock price rises above the strike price, RSUs represent actual shares that vest over time. A recent survey by the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) and Deloitte showed that technology and life science companies grant RSUs to nearly 60% of their workforce.1
Valuing equity compensation in your portfolio
One of the most challenging aspects of incorporating equity compensation within a financial plan is determining how to value it. This valuation matters because it affects how you think about the rest of your portfolio and decisions around asset allocation. This is complicated by the concept of liquidity, or how easily an investor can sell their equity. There are many rules around vesting, trading windows, and secondary markets to consider.
Without a proper financial planning framework, some investors view equity compensation as “worth nothing” when it’s unvested or if there is not a public market for those shares. While this is understandable, the reality is that the equity likely has value that should be reflected in financial plans.
On the other hand, some employees at high-growth private companies might be tempted to value their equity based on the most recent funding round. This can be equally problematic since private company valuations can be uncertain and may not translate into realized market values if and when a liquidity event occurs, such as via an IPO or acquisition.
A more balanced approach is to recognize that equity compensation represents real value, but with important caveats. For public company RSUs, use the current market price but recognize that this value will fluctuate. For options, consider both the intrinsic value and the time value that comes from the possibility of future appreciation. For private company equity, the most recent valuation is instructive but may require a discount due to illiquidity and uncertainty.
Concentration risk and how to manage it
For a holistic financial plan, several strategies are available to help. The key is to plan ahead carefully, balancing the upside of equity compensation while managing the risks associated with concentration, taxes, illiquidity, and uncertain valuations.
Here are several strategies that can be considered:
Equity compensation is one part of your overall financial plan
Successful management of equity compensation requires looking at how it fits into your broader financial picture. The goal is to create a comprehensive financial plan that takes the best of equity compensation while ensuring your overall portfolio is aligned with your long-term financial goals.
The bottom line?
Equity compensation can be powerful for building wealth but requires careful management. By understanding the risks and planning ahead, you can integrate it into a comprehensive financial plan focused on long-term success.
References
1. https://www.naspp.com/blog/5-trends-in-full-value-awards
Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested in directly.
All investing involves risk, including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss. The economic forecasts set forth in this material may not develop as predicted, and there can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful.
There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.
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