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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.
Greg Benner advises high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth business owners, individuals and families on advanced tax, risk management, retirement, estate planning, and wealth strategies.
As a co-founder of Vertex Planning Partners, he works closely with clients, families, and their professional advisors—CPAs, attorneys, and business stakeholders—to implement thoughtful, durable planning strategies. His approach prioritizes clarity, coordination, and disciplined execution.
For twenty-four years, Greg’s work has focused on designing and coordinating multi-factor, integrated plans involving:
Drawing from his own experience as a founder, business and real estate investor, and multi-generational family business member, he understands some of the challenges that can arise for business owners as they consider an exit. Multi-disciplinary, intentional planning with stakeholder communication creates structure, mitigates risk, addresses tax implications, and preempts issues that can arise.
Greg holds a Master of Science in Taxation, a graduate program that deepened his technical training in federal income taxation, partnership and corporate taxation, estate and gift tax, and tax procedure. This academic work enhances his ability to help families and business owners navigate complex tax environments and align their financial and estate-planning objectives across generations.
Designations:
Licenses:
Greg is deeply committed to lifelong learning and continuous professional development in the areas of tax, estate planning, and private-wealth strategy.
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.
First Quarter 2026 Market Summary
The first quarter of 2026 illustrates the importance of preparation when it comes to financial planning and investing. After strong gains in 2025, markets faced a combination of geopolitical shocks, higher oil prices, and renewed economic uncertainty. The conflict in Iran became the dominant market story, pushing oil prices sharply higher and sparking the first pullback of the year. For long-term investors, the quarter is a reminder that markets rarely move in a straight line, and that the principles of sound investing matter most when uncertainty is at its peak.
-4.3%
S&P 500
Q1 Total Return
+93%
Brent Crude
Q1 Price Change
+14 bps
10-Yr Treasury
Q1 Yield Change
Key Market and Economic Drivers
Category
Q1 2026
S&P 500 Total Return
-4.3%
Nasdaq Total Return
-7.0%
Dow Jones Industrial Average
-3.2%
Bloomberg US Agg Bond Index
Flat
10-Year Treasury Yield
+14 bps
MSCI EAFE (Developed Int’l)
-1.1%
MSCI EM (Emerging Markets)
-0.1%
Brent Crude Oil
+93% ($118/bbl)
WTI Crude Oil
$101/bbl
Gold
$4,668/oz
US Dollar Index (DXY)
99.96
CPI (YoY, February)
2.4%
Core CPI (YoY, February)
2.5%
Core PCE (YoY, January)
3.1%
Fed Funds Rate
3.50% – 3.75%
Markets Experienced the First Pullback of the Year
It is natural to draw parallels between the start of this year and the beginning of 2025, since both were driven by global concerns. Both first quarter periods experienced pullbacks for the S&P 500 of 4.3%. While last year’s volatility was the result of tariffs and this year’s is due to the conflict in the Middle East, the effect on investor sentiment has been similar. When uncertainty rises, it is natural for markets to experience short-term swings in response to headlines.
The past is no guarantee of the future, but zooming out can help us understand how markets have behaved historically. Despite the challenges in the first quarter of 2025, the stock market experienced strong gains through the remainder of the year, including dozens of record highs across major indices.
Perhaps the most helpful perspective is to remember that pullbacks are a normal and unavoidable part of investing. Since 1980, the S&P 500 has experienced an average intra-year drawdown of around 15%, even though markets tend to experience positive returns in more than two-thirds of years.
Portfolios aligned with long-term financial goals are designed exactly to navigate these periods.
Geopolitics and Oil Prices
The conflict in Iran and the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz became the dominant market story of the first quarter. Brent crude oil surged to $118 per barrel, an increase of approximately 94% year-to-date, while WTI crude rose above $100. These developments reverberated across global energy markets and contributed meaningfully to the quarter’s overall volatility.
Gasoline prices climbed to roughly $4 per gallon, raising concerns about the impact on consumer spending. However, economists broadly view the current supply shock as temporary. The 2022 precedent is instructive: gasoline prices reached $5 per gallon that summer before falling significantly within a matter of months as supply chains adjusted.
History shows that geopolitical events, while unsettling, do not typically derail markets over the long term. Investors who made dramatic portfolio changes in response to past geopolitical crises often did so at precisely the wrong moment, locking in losses rather than participating in the subsequent recovery.
Economic Growth Is Slowing but Remains Positive
February payrolls fell by 92,000, and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.4%. The number of job seekers now exceeds the number of job openings, a shift from the historically tight labor markets of recent years. While these data points signal a cooling economy, they should be interpreted in the proper context.
Lower immigration levels and an aging population are cooling both the supply of and demand for labor. At the same time, consumer spending, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of GDP, has remained stronger than expected. The economy is slowing, but the fundamentals that support continued growth remain intact.
Sector Performance Has Diverged
One of the defining characteristics of the first quarter was the wide dispersion in sector performance. Six of the eleven S&P 500 sectors posted positive returns, and the spread between the best- and worst-performing sectors was approximately 50 percentage points.
Energy was the clear leader, gaining roughly 40% as oil prices surged. Consumer Staples, Utilities, Materials, and Industrials also finished in positive territory, reflecting a rotation into more defensive and commodity-linked areas of the market.
Technology declined approximately 9%, and the so-called Magnificent 7 stocks underperformed the broader market — a notable shift from recent years in which these names drove the majority of index returns. This type of leadership change is a reminder that a balanced, diversified portfolio is positioned to weather different market environments.
The Tariff Story Is Evolving
In a significant legal development, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unlawful. In response, the administration imposed temporary duties under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, while Section 301 and Section 232 investigations remain ongoing.
The key takeaway for investors is that trade policy continues to evolve, and markets are adjusting accordingly. While headline risk remains, history suggests that markets adapt over time to shifts in trade policy. The most productive course of action for long-term investors is to remain invested and maintain a diversified portfolio.
Looking Ahead
The coming months bring a number of additional questions for markets to consider, including a change in Federal Reserve leadership, upcoming midterm elections, and ongoing fiscal policy debates. Each of these developments has the potential to introduce new sources of volatility, but none of them change the fundamental principles of long-term investing.
Markets have demonstrated resilience over time. Well-balanced portfolios and comprehensive financial plans can help provide stability and keep long-term goals in focus, even during periods of uncertainty.
We encourage all of our clients to continue focusing on their long-term financial objectives. Your Vertex team remains focused on your plan, your goals, and the disciplined approach that has helped guide your financial strategy through many different market environments.
As always, we remain committed to monitoring markets, managing risk, and keeping your financial plan on track. If you have questions about your portfolio or financial plan, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Vertex advisor.
Christopher Huston
Chief Investment Officer
Vertex Planning Partners
Sean Baloun
Portfolio Manager
Vertex Planning Partners
This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, or tax advice for any specific individual or situation. Statements regarding market trends, asset classes, sector leadership, interest rates, inflation, and geopolitical developments are based on publicly available information as of March 31, 2026, and are subject to change without notice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Diversification, asset allocation, and rebalancing do not ensure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets. Third-party market data and commentary were drawn from sources including Reuters and BlackRock Investment Institute. These sources are believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed.
Index Definitions
S&P 500 Index
A market-capitalization-weighted index of 500 leading publicly traded companies in the United States, widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities. Maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Nasdaq Composite Index
A market-capitalization-weighted index comprising virtually all stocks listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, with a significant weighting toward information technology companies. Maintained by Nasdaq, Inc.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
A price-weighted index of 30 large, blue-chip U.S. companies selected by the editors of The Wall Street Journal to represent the broad
U.S. economy. Maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index
A broad-based, market-capitalization-weighted benchmark measuring the performance of the U.S. investment-grade, fixed-rate, taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, and mortgage-backed securities.
MSCI EAFE Index
A stock market index measuring the equity performance of large- and mid-cap companies across 21 developed markets in Europe, Australasia, and the Far East, excluding the U.S. and Canada. Maintained by MSCI Inc.
MSCI Emerging Markets Index
A market-capitalization-weighted index measuring large- and mid-cap equity performance across 24 emerging market countries. Maintained by MSCI Inc.
US Dollar Index (DXY)
An index measuring the value of the U.S. dollar relative to a basket of six major foreign currencies: the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona, and Swiss franc. Originally developed by the Federal Reserve in 1973.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
A measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Published monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (Core PCE)
A measure of consumer inflation that excludes food and energy prices, published by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation.
Data Sources
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