YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – When it comes to managing wealth through market shifts, economic changes and geopolitical unrest, Mahoning Valley wealth advisers and financial planners urge investors to stick to their plan.
Tom Taranto, principal and senior financial adviser at HBKS Wealth Advisors with offices in Canfield, Ohio, says the way he addresses clients anxious about market fluctuations has changed since the earlier days of his career.
“It happens a lot less because I do a better job communicating the messages along,” he says.
But when he hears from a client who is in a panic, he advises them to hold steady.
“And I always lean back on the plans we’ve created, the projections that we’ve created, to say, ‘See, we talked about this. We knew this was going to happen,’” Taranto says.
It’s not a question of if the market falls but when, he adds.
“Having that data to back up the decisions we’ve made helps us in those moments to not make a decision that we’ll regret,” Taranto continues.
The rules and parameters established in the plan will help to rebalance a portfolio when required. “So, I think creating the data in the vision up front really lessens the reactive, emotional decisions that investors are notorious for doing and [are] almost always wrong as we know,” he says.
Elizabeth Wellman-Hartwig, vice president/investments at Stifel in Canfield, offers a similar view.
“I feel my role as a financial adviser in periods of inflation, market volatility and economic uncertainty is less about prediction and more about preparation, structure and behavior management,” she writes in a submitted response. “Historically, I think the biggest risk to long-term outcomes has not been inflation spikes or recessions but reactive decision making at the wrong time.”
John D. Stewart, senior vice president/chief investment officer at Farmers Trust Co. in Boardman and Howland, Ohio, says no one has a crystal ball and there’s much uncertainty and unpredictability in the world both geopolitically and politically.
“So investors’ best defense against that is really just good broad diversification across a lot of different asset classes,” Stewart says. “Obviously, it has to be tailored to an individual’s risk preferences, to their investment objectives and goals and to whatever time horizon they’re working with, but within that context, always being sure to never put too many eggs in one basket, so to speak.”
Jonathan Lapine is the co-founder and CEO of Tolmiros Financial Designs, which has offices in Howland, Youngstown and Beachwood.
He encourages clients to navigate uncertainties and market gyrations by sticking to a strong long-term financial plan. This is a midterm election year, which typically leads to an uptick in market volatility.
Lapine talks with clients to ensure they’re prepared for that. “A lot of our conversation ends up reiterating the allocation of the investment and why things are allocated the way they are so, they have confidence to navigate,” he says.
But Tolmiros advisers also talk with clients about ensuring they have ample cash and emergency funds to be ready for that volatility and that they maintain the broader context of their overall financial plan.
“I think clients that understand their financial plan and believe in it tend to be more calm and make less emotionally-driven decisions during periods of heightened volatility,” Lapine says.
Know Your Why
And for new investors, he advises them to know their why – why they’re saving money, what they want. A financial planner can help new investors figure out those answers, he says.
“That’s going to be the thing that’s really important to you, that excites you and that’s going to be a thing you keep going to when temptation strikes,” Lapine continues. “That’s going to keep you more disciplined to your plan, because you kind of know what it’s all for.”
Investors’ “why” can change as circumstances fluctuate.
Stewart says emotions may get the better of people who worry about what’s happening or what could happen regarding their finances during economic changes.
“But I think it’s important to try to stick to a disciplined plan and not let the day-to-day fluctuations or the noise or the headlines dictate investment decision making,” he explains.
Trends
HBKS Wealth Advisors handles all areas of wealth management from investing and cash flow planning to insurance, estate planning and tax planning, Taranto explains.
“It might partially be due to our close relationship with the CPA side, but it feels like tax planning is becoming a bigger part of what clients care about…,” he adds. “I think it’s an area [where] we can make a bigger impact.”
Ethan D. Berkebile, director of investment research at HBKS’s Pittsburgh office, agrees. He spends much of his time meeting with investment managers and networking with peers in similar roles from across the country.
“I certainly think that the tax planning or incorporating tax management into a client’s investment strategy is an emerging trend over the last few years,” he says. “Whenever I’m at industry conferences around, say private markets, there’s dedicated sessions about tax strategies unrelated to private markets. We’re doing a handful of different things on this front, and it’s really driven client by client based on their unique circumstances.”
Berkebile points to a client who owns and manages real estate, such as an apartment building, that they want to sell. But that sale would involve a large tax burden. Cue tax planning.
“There are ways now where we’re working with clients to drastically mitigate that tax bill or even eliminate it entirely,” he says. “And we’ve seen clients move off the sidelines, get money into their portfolio and feel comfortable about it because of these types of solutions.”
Taranto refers to what’s called a Delaware statutory trust, a legal structure with specific requirements for setup.
“You can sell real estate, do what’s called a 1031 exchange into an investment vehicle which defers any taxable gains,” he explains.
Wellman-Hartwig of Stifel writes that 2026 investment trends currently point toward the potential for continued stock market gains driven by AI, anticipated interest rate cuts, strong corporate earnings and a broadening of a market rally from large cap technology stocks to small-cap and value-oriented stocks as undervalued opportunities are making their way to the forefront.
There is the potential though for increased volatility due to risks from inflation and geo-political tensions which emphasize the need for a diversified portfolio, she adds.
“While diversification does not ensure a profit and may not protect against loss, it can play a key role in establishing a sound investment strategy and reducing risk,” Wellman-Hartwig writes. “I am seeing investors looking for selective opportunities outside of tech to spaces in emerging markets, dividend stocks and real assets and believe capitalizing on market pullbacks is an opportunity for long-term growth.”
Stewart, of Farmers Trust, has seen a trend from the market focusing on a narrow set of stocks – primarily the largest of the large technology companies – to a broadening into many areas.
“Some of these trends are kind of happening under the surface, but certainly we’ve seen strength in financials and industrials,” Stewart explains. “We’ve seen a lot of strength in international markets. A lot of people are surprised to learn that as good of a year as the US stock market had last year, the international stock markets did significantly better.”
He’s seen movement away from the select few mega cap growth and tech stocks into many other areas of the market that people overlooked the last few years.
AI Bubble
With artificial intelligence stretching into virtually every aspect of business and many investors moving heavily into that technology, some speculators worry we’re heading for an AI bubble burst.
“Investors should be aware of the risk of an AI bubble, but they should not be preoccupied with it, especially if they are investing with a long-term, quality-focused mindset in a diversified portfolio,” writes Stifel’s Wellman-Hartwig. “An important lesson we have learned through past bubbles is that technology often survives and thrives even when valuations fall. Investors who stayed invested, rebalanced and avoided chasing the hottest names were far better off than those who exited entirely.”
Others point out that the companies investing heavily in AI are well established and on firm financial footing.
“We’re looking at companies like Microsoft and Alphabet and Amazon and Nvidia and many of these stocks have very positive earnings,” Lapine says. “They have billions of dollars of cash on their balance sheets.”
Berkebile of HBKS agrees.
“There are running jokes out there about hedge fund managers who have called 10 of the last three recessions,” he says.
The businesses at the front of the AI curve like Microsoft, Google and Nvidia are profitable. It’s not like the late ’90s when companies that weren’t profitable were investing in something, he adds.
“So, there’s a clear distinction there,” Berkebile says. “Could there be some speculative hype? Sure, but we certainly are not ready to say AI’s in a bubble, and it would take a lot for us to get there…”
Taranto contrasts AI with the 2008 housing bubble. Looking back, it’s obvious it was a problem as millions of dollars in loans was given to people who couldn’t afford them. At the time though, nobody saw it.
“That’s the characteristic of a true bubble,” Taranto say. “It’s the problem you don’t know you should be looking for…Just the fact that it’s a point of conversation probably says that it’s not. It’s always what you don’t see. And it’s always the blind spot that causes these true catastrophic economic events.”
Stewart says people only know something is a bubble after it pops. AI has generated a lot of excitement, investment and growth in that part of the market.
“I think answering the question of, is it a bubble, or should I be scared it’s a bubble, is probably a little premature,” he says. “I would go back to my original point on diversification, which is sort of everything in moderation.”
