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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, holds the Chartered Financial Consultant®, Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™, and Accredited Investment Fiduciary™ 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.
Monthly Market Update for July: Market All-Time Highs Amid a Noisy Period
The S&P 500 notched ten new all-time highs in July, fueled by strong corporate earnings, resilient economic data, and new trade deals ahead of the tariff deadline. This included six consecutive record closes in the second half of the month, all of which contributed to year-to-date gains of 7.8% for the S&P 500.
However, market and economic uncertainty resurfaced at the end of the month. The July 31 announcement of new tariff rates has raised concerns over rising prices for consumers. Additionally, the July jobs report revealed that the labor market has been much weaker over the past three months than previously believed.
In this environment, it’s important for investors to stay even-keeled as markets adjust to new trade announcements and economic data. The last several months are a reminder that a lot can change in just a few weeks, so maintaining a long-term perspective is still the best way to achieve financial goals.
Key Market and Economic Drivers
Markets reached new all-time highs
Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence supported several Magnificent 7 stocks. Both Microsoft and Meta reported better-than- expected earnings amid major investments in AI infrastructure. In response, Microsoft joined NVIDIA as the second company in history with a market capitalization of over $4 trillion. Meanwhile, Tesla reported disappointing results for the second quarter, dragging its stock price down.
While tech stocks have had an uneven ride so far in 2025, the Information Technology sector is up over 13% on the year, second only to Industrials which has returned over 15% so far in 2025. Meanwhile, Health Care and Consumer Discretionary stocks have lagged and are in the red.
In fixed income, it was a relatively muted month, with bonds falling slightly in aggregate. The Fed held rates steady within a range of 4.25% to 4.50% for the fifth meeting in a row as it balanced inflation concerns due to tariffs with economic growth. However, for the first time since 1993, two Fed governors voted against the action, preferring a quarter point cut. This follows ongoing public tension between President Trump and Fed Chair Powell as the White House continues to urge the Fed to lower interest rates.
New data after the meeting showed that hiring weakened in July, with 73,000 jobs added during the month. Previous reports were revised downward, meaning there were 258,000 fewer jobs added in May and June than originally reported. The three-month average is now only 35,000 new jobs per month, far below the historic average. This suggests that the Fed may have to shift some of its focus to the employment side of its mandate, increasing the possibility of rate cuts, possibly beginning in September.
Investors await new trade deal and tariff announcement
scenario that many investors feared in April, but many other countries are still facing potentially higher rates as the deadline to negotiate expires. On July 31, President Trump issued an executive order with new tariff rates for many trading partners set to go into effect on August 7 (the previous tariff deadline was August 1), as shown in the chart above.
As of July 23, the Yale Budget Lab estimates that consumers face an overall, effective tariff rate of 20.2%, the highest since 1911. So far, it appears that companies have managed to absorb much of this extra cost rather than pass it on to consumers. Whether this remains the case depends on where tariffs ultimately land and how companies manage to adapt.
The government passed major legislation on tax and cryptocurrencies
On July 4, President Trump signed a comprehensive tax and spending bill that made many provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, including current tax rates and brackets. The bill provides more certainty to investors by maintaining the current low-tax environment, but also raises concerns about the sustainability of the growing national debt.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will add over $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. While there were spending cuts to major programs in the bill, they were more than offset by reductions to tax revenue.
The permanent nature of many of these tax changes removes uncertainty that has affected long term financial planning, since many provisions from the TCJA were scheduled to expire this year. This could help support business investment and consumer spending in the near term.
The bottom line?
The market reached many new highs amid a noisy month of tariff whiplash, a new tax bill, and earnings. As we head into August, trade deals and earnings will likely remain a focus for investors.
1.https://advantage.factset.com/hubfs/Website/Resources%20Section/Research%20Desk/Earnings%20Insight/EarningsInsight_072525.pdf
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