Sailing in Uncharted
Investment Waters in 2026:
Trumponomics, the Age of Disruption
plus Geopolitical Wildcards
Announcements:
- The Income Special Interest Group will meet on January 17th. See the SIGs webpage for details on all SIG meetings.
- Following the meeting, please join Dennis for lunch at the Cape Fear Seafood Company (Village District).
- Please complete our chapter survey to help guide the chapter’s leadership. It should take only a few minutes.
- We are seeking a new Program Chair. If you would like to help this chapter remain strong and grow, please consider joining the chapter’s board in this position. See the Leadership Openings webpage for details.
- Due to another church commitment, we will need to vacate the venue by 12 p.m. sharp.
Presentation Summary:
We find ourselves again in uncharted investment waters. The U.S. stock market has stretched valuations but robust earnings are forecast in 2026. Future artificial intelligence productivity gains are hotly debated and are a key to future stock performance. AI is in a bubble but is it a rational or irrational bubble? Interest on the U.S. National Debt has climbed above the yellow warning line. Dennis Stearns joins us again to discuss how all these trends interplay with Trumponomics 2.0 and still bubbling geopolitical wildcards.
What you will learn:
- Which asset classes can maintain good returns over inflation in the next 5 years
- Balancing core and explore in your portfolio to avoid missteps
- How to hedge low probability/high impact wildcard possibilities while maintaining your desired returns
Meeting Details:
Date: Saturday, January 10th, 2026
Time: 10:00 a.m. ET (mix and mingle starts at 9:30)
Location: Fairmont United Methodist Church: 2501 Clark Avenue Raleigh, NC 27607. See map of Fairmont for parking, building entrances, and the number of stairs entrances require.
Virtual access: To register to attend the Zoom webinar, please purchase a ticket on our chapter’s Square account. Then, please register with Zoom so you can receive reminders one and 24 hours before the meeting.
Cost: $10 cash (in-person) or electronic payment (webinar)
Before attending in person, please read: the AAII Protocol for In-Person Meetings
If you feel sick, please join us virtually.
About Our Speaker
Dennis is a senior partner in Stearns Financial Group (SFG), a financial planning, investment management and business consulting firm based in Chapel Hill and Greensboro, NC. SFG is a fee-only fiduciary that manages over $2.5 Billion. Dennis has been invited to numerous think tanks on future trends including a 2025 “AI and the National Debt” simulation of select thought leaders from around the country. SFG is one of Citywire RIA’s “Most Innovative firms” and has been called “One of the leading scenario planning firms in the U.S.” by the Financial Planning Association. Dennis is regularly quoted in many leading financial publications and speaks to local, regional and national groups on economic and investment trends.