EWS Updates - Winter 2026
The new year is upon us! At Eagle Wealth Strategies, that coincides with two exciting new adventures.
First, as mentioned in our October newsletter, our long-awaited move to Mullica Hill (or at least long awaited by us!) has finally happened as of January 20th. Our new home – 118
Bridgeton Pike – is next to the municipal building, across the street from the post office, McDonalds, and Shop Rite, and in front of Ella Harris Park. We have plenty of space to continue adding staff, and 2 acres of land in case we ever need to expand. Hopefully (fingers crossed), this is “home” for the next two decades or more. We even have a groundhog – aptly named Mullica Hill Phil – on the premises, and the staff (or perhaps just I) are thrilled to feed him each day!
The second adventure – which was announced through email in December – was the addition of a CPA (Certified Public Accountant), Matt Persichetti, to the team. We created a second company under common ownership for legal reasons: Aerie Tax & Advisory (ATA). This expansion of services has been in the works – or at least on our minds – for a long time, and was driven by several things we’ve taken note of in recent years:
Several accountants our clients work with have retired or are in the process of retiring;
There is a nationwide shortage of accountants (with AI likely making this worse in the coming years; more on this topic later)
and many that remain are aiming more for businesses, or are demanding higher dollar amounts to complete simple 1040 returns for individuals;
And we have increasingly begun to realize that strategy and planning are lacking, with things between accountants and financial advisors slipping through the cracks.
Our addition of Matt aims to solve all three. In terms of tax prep and filing, Matt will work exclusively with our clients (or our clients’ children) at a cost at or lower than many clients we’ve surveyed have stated they’re currently paying. This is a voluntary service, of course, as many of our clients have expressed interest in continuing to work with their long-time accountants. This is perfectly fine! We just hope they’ll work with us in terms of collaborating on strategy. Matt is young, entrepreneurial, and has the temperament and personality to be a great fit for our clients, hopefully for many years to come. And in terms of strategy, while tax is a component of financial planning, we feel having a CPA on staff will take our recommendations to another level. If interested, ping us for more information!
Aerie Tax & Advisory is the first – but not the last – step in the process of becoming the premier wealth management firm in our area (with capabilities beyond the immediate geography). Over the coming decade, we’ll strive to have the resources of a larger firm but never lose the one-on-one feel of a boutique.
In 2026 we’ll be focused on several other areas of improvement within our firm. One will be our technology.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), mentioned earlier, is a hot topic in our industry. Thus far, we’ve adopted a note-taking tool to be used in client meetings. This efficiency will allow Advisors to remain more engaged and allow Relationship Managers to attend fewer meetings, so they can work on more valuable tasks behind the scenes.
We’ll embark on a heavy-duty due diligence process beginning in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of this year to see what other automations and efficiencies would work well with our business model. Ultimately, we don’t believe AI should replace humans, but firms that harness the power in the background to become more efficient (ability to do more for clients) will likely come out ahead.
We also recognize that “too much” AI is not a great thing. Recently, while trying to solicit bids for a client’s borrowing needs, I discovered that the website’s chat feature was only using AI, and the phone number, too, would not allow me to reach a person. The website wasn’t working for us, and there was no way to rectify this. I had to reach out through LinkedIn and cross my fingers a human would see it. Bad product and bad service!
We don’t want robots answering our phones, and we don’t want robots telling our clients what to do. But we do want to continue adding services and value, and AI here and there can help us achieve this. More to come!
Economy, Markets, and Investments
Looking ahead at the economy, per Ned Davis Research, “After a volatile year marked by major policy shifts in tariffs, taxes, and immigration, the U.S. economy continued to adjust heading into year end. Our base case for 2026 remains for real GDP growth of 1.75% to 2.25%, below potential but consistent with continued expansion.
Despite data disruptions from the government shutdown, private indicators suggest recession risks remain low. December data reinforce a mixed but resilient late Q4 picture.”
Tariffs, immigration, and geopolitics will continue to influence the direction.
Another nice year in the stock markets, and a solid – and much needed – year for bonds. The recent uptrend in stocks, which began with the launch of ChatGPT in October 2022, has produced three consecutive years of double-digit stock returns. However, the future may bring about a different story.
Global measures of the stock (MSCI ACWI All Cap Index) and bond (Barclays Global Aggregate Index) markets may look very different in the next 5-10 years than the past 5. The 5-year average in stocks was an impressive 10.7%, while bonds were a negative 2.1% (driven mostly by a horrific 2022). Going forward, looking at “capital
market assumptions” (return predictions for various asset classes, and in our case, from Ned Davis Research) we could be in line for much less in stocks, but much more in bonds relative to the past few years.
As such, we think 2026 is a good year for individuals to re-visit their long-term target allocation, with potential adjustments based on tolerance, age, and/or goals. Prior to annual review meetings (or over the summer) expect to receive a “Risk Tolerance Questionnaire” via email. We’d like to re-boot and gather more intel from clients on their cur-
rent thoughts on risk.
At our January Investment Committee Meeting we approved a series of changes in various investment models. On the stock side, we’re continuing to invest slightly more defensive (more “value” stocks, less “growth”; more dividend payers; managers with good track records during down years). Several active mutual fund managers significantly outperformed last year, while several underperformed. We’re looking to cut exposure per manager to protect against the severe underperformance possibility. On the bond side, we reduced our allocation to short-term bonds, as the likely path forward for interest rates is a continuation of where they are currently, or lower.
As always, any questions pertaining to our current views or current positioning, please feel free to reach out and ask!
For more stories from our Winter 2026 newsletter, please click here.
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