Austin Becomes PARTNER of Hixon Zuercher! (& Big Announcement)

This episode marks a major milestone at Hixon Zuercher Capital Management! Tony Hixon sits down with our Co-Host Austin Wilson to celebrate his new role as Partner and Chief Investment Officer and to share the journey that led him here. Austin reflects on his early career, the lessons that shaped his investment philosophy, and what partnership truly means to him. They discuss the responsibilities of leading investment strategy, balancing discipline with evolving markets, and what it looks like to consistently “do the next right thing” for clients. Plus, Austin shares an exciting announcement at the end of the episode with the launch of something new!

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Chapters

• 1:55 Getting to Know Austin Better
• 10:58 How Having a Special Needs Daughter Changed His Life
• 17:32 Personal Passions & Motorcycling In The Mountains
• 20:16 What Partnership Truly Means
• 24:29 Austin's Market Outlook for 2026
• 28:58 A Year From Now...
• 32:33 Another BIG Announcement for Austin!

Transcript

You're listening to The Wealth Mindset Show, where Hixon Zuercher Capital Management's team of finance professionals, portfolio managers, and a life coach come together to tackle complex topics in finance and retirement planning, so you don't have to. From investment strategies and wealth management to tax planning, retirement income, and aligning your money with your values and purpose, The Wealth Mindset Show offers the tools to thrive.

Austin Wilson:

All right. Hey, hey, hey, welcome back to The Wealth Mindset Show. Uh-oh.

Tony Hixon:

Oh, this is Tony Hixon, CEO, co-founder of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management, and I am taking over the show.

Austin Wilson:

Oh, Tony's taking over.

Tony Hixon:

Because we are turning the tables.

Austin Wilson:

Uh-oh.

Tony Hixon:

And Austin is actually our guest today.

Austin Wilson:

Wow. I don't even know what to do.

Tony Hixon:

I'll be interviewing him because we have some pretty cool news. So I guess by way of introduction, welcome to The Wealth Mindset Show where our Hixon Zuercher team helps you manage wealth, navigate retirement and make smart decisions for a secure, meaningful financial future. In today's episode, we get to celebrate an exciting milestone, because as of January 1st, so we're sitting here in the beginning part of January here. So Austin, congratulations made partner of the firm.

Austin Wilson:

Thank you.

Tony Hixon:

And along with that came a coveted title of Chief Investment Officer. So a lot of responsibility on that. We're going to be digging in to partnership and your Chief Investment Officer and some other good things along the way. So I'll be interviewing Austin to give you listeners an opportunity to learn more about him, and why this is so special for us at Hixon Zuercher. And stay tuned to the end.

Austin Wilson:

All the way to the end.

Tony Hixon:

All the way to the end. If we get there.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah, we'll get there.

Tony Hixon:

There's a lot to get to know about you.

Austin Wilson:

I know it could be a while.

Tony Hixon:

You're a pretty deep guy. So we'll see how it goes, but we have a surprise for you at the end of the episode. So stay tuned for that special announcement.

Austin Wilson:

Absolutely.

[1:55] - Getting to Know Austin Better

 Tony Hixon:

So all right, Austin, so let's kind of take a trip down memory lane.

Austin Wilson:

Bring it.

Tony Hixon:

All right. So the way I remember it is, your wife was our Client Service Administrator for our firm quite a few years ago, I think 2016-ish. She was with us for a bit before she got pregnant.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

Tony Hixon:

And you brought your first baby into the world.

Austin Wilson:

True.

Tony Hixon:

And Jenna, your wife chose to be a stay-at-home mom and we couldn't have been happier for her and your family. And about that time, I brought with me a... I'm pretty old, so actually I have a piece of paper here.

Austin Wilson:

This is a paper copy.

Tony Hixon:

It's a paper copy of an email, of an electronic mail because I'm old and like that. And this is actually dated December of 2017. So it's right after your wife had had your first baby. And this email was kind of like, "Hey, how are you doing?" So explain what was going through your mind when you wrote that.

Austin Wilson:

Okay, so this is super interesting. It's a very tangled web, it was a very windy road, I feel like to get there. There's a lot of funny parts to it actually. So we can actually even take a step before that.

Tony Hixon:

Oh, that's good.

Austin Wilson:

Oh boy. So yeah, went to the University of Finley.

Tony Hixon:

Go Oilers.

Austin Wilson:

Go Oilers. I'm not from around here, as everyone knows. I'm from the deep south. I'm from an hour south of here, it's not that far south. But I came up here for college. I met Jenna at our... We were both serving at the worship team at our church. She was from Finley and everything went well. We fell in love. We got married. It was a great story, right? So we got married in 2015, so we just had our 10 year anniversary. Love you, babe, 10 years. Thanks for putting up with me.

Tony Hixon:

Awesome, congratulations.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah, thank you. So we got engaged, we got married. Well, at this, Jenna and her mom went to this wedding expo in Finley, Ohio. And yeah, so I was like, cool. You guys do that, I'm going to go... Whatever a young guy does, I want to hang out by myself. So they were all-

Tony Hixon:

Go to the mall.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah, they were doing something, lady day or whatever.

Tony Hixon:

Finley Village mall.

Austin Wilson:

So they met Stephanie Robb.

Tony Hixon:

There she is.

Austin Wilson:

At the wedding expo. And this would have been in 20... We had just gotten engaged, this was like early 2015.

Tony Hixon:

Okay, so Stephanie Robb.

Austin Wilson:

So she was our photographer for our engagement. It was a combo package, engagement pictures, wedding pictures. So she did our engagement pictures. She was a hoot. We had a blast.

Tony Hixon:

For sure.

Austin Wilson:

Then she was our wedding photographer as well. And she brought this guy along to the wedding and she said, "You're going to hit it off with my second shooter. He's my husband." And I was like, "I don't know. I don't get along with a lot of people. We'll see about that. "

Tony Hixon:

Pretty antisocial.

Austin Wilson:

Pretty antisocial. So she brought Josh Robb.

Tony Hixon:

Josh Robb.

Austin Wilson:

As the second shooter.

Tony Hixon:

I know that guy.

Austin Wilson:

And so Josh came along. We did hit it off, he's a great guy. He watched me fall down in the parking lot on my wedding day.

Tony Hixon:

Oh, cool.

Austin Wilson:

He did not get photo evidence of that, nor did he get photo evidence of this big gigantic smoky burnout I did in front of the church, which I'm still a little bitter about. But yeah, so that's how we met Josh. And then we were on our honeymoon, which was a week or so later. And Steph emailed Jenna that Josh working... He had already started working at Hixon Zuercher, that Hixon Zuercher was hiring a Client Service Administrator. And that Jenna would be wonderful for it because Steph just thought so.

Tony Hixon:

I remember that.

Austin Wilson:

So long story short, Jenna got the job-

Tony Hixon:

She did.

Austin Wilson:

And worked... Yeah, it was about a year and a half, almost two years, maybe year and a half or so before Juliana was born. And then I was working at Cooper for that time. I had been at Cooper for about four years doing corporate finance, global financial planning and analysis. And then I was a plant accountant for a while. And I went, we were still... We're clients, right? So we were invited to the Christmas party.

Tony Hixon:

Those are fun.

Austin Wilson:

Which was at the Jones Mansion, I believe that yeah.

Tony Hixon:

I remember that Christmas party, it was fun.

Austin Wilson:

It was fun. So we actually lived right down the street. So we brought little baby Juliana with us and we went to the Christmas party and just got to hang out with you guys and talk to you guys, you and Adam, Josh, all of us. And I got home and I was just like," I would work for those guys." That's a really cool group. It's a cool place-

Tony Hixon:

There's something going on that's good.

Austin Wilson:

There's something going on there and I kind of like it. Plus I had actually had some of this email you're looking at drafted for about a year.

Tony Hixon:

Oh, wow. Okay.

Austin Wilson:

Where I was semi-interested and just wanted to see what things look like. But yeah, I sent an email saying, "Hey..." I think maybe just to you, maybe to you and Adam, I don't remember. "I would love to talk about what it would look like if you guys are ever looking to hire." And guess what? I got an email back. "Hey, let's sit down and talk about this." Because little did I know you guys had just kicked off the process of thinking about, not even... There was no plan.

Tony Hixon:

Pre-process.

Austin Wilson:

It was a pre-process, but just thinking about hiring your first research analyst. Because as many of our listeners know, we are an active shop. We manage money in house. We're one of the very few investment advisors that do that. So it was very unique.

But what that entails is there's a lot of research and a lot of... I mean, we manage stock portfolios, there's stock research and mutual fund ETFs, all kinds of stuff we need to do here. Well, we were growing. We needed some help. You guys needed some help. And little did I know you guys were starting to look for that. So you pretty much had the idea of a position, but no position.

Tony Hixon:

But no position.

Austin Wilson:

So we sat down at Logan's and I'll remember the table and the conversation for the rest of my life. But what does a potential career look like at Hixon Zuercher? We sat down and had a beer and talked about it and it was a great conversation and we decided to continue from there. And within the next couple of weeks, there was an offer in my email and I started January 17th or 18th, 2018.

Tony Hixon:

Amazing.

Austin Wilson:

So eight years.

Tony Hixon:

Yeah. That's awesome. That's a great story. It's a good trip down memory.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

Tony Hixon:

Super excited for that moment at Logan's. I remember it well too.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

Tony Hixon:

Kicking back, understanding, getting to know a great person at a good restaurant for a little while, was a super fun time. And here we are eight years later, if I'm doing my math right.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

Tony Hixon:

And-

Austin Wilson:

Been a wild ride.

Tony Hixon:

It's been a wild ride, but it's been a good ride. So over the years you've been our research analyst and then upon Adam's retirement, we promoted you to Director of Investments and now Chief Investment Officer. So along the way, you earned a designation to help you manage, to help steward wealth that you didn't earn.

Austin Wilson:

Correct.

Tony Hixon:

It's a high calling. Tell us a little bit about your designation and why that matters for your role.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. So this would've been 2024. I probably wrapped it up right in the fall of 2024. This was something I had wanted to do for a while is get some accreditation to solidify my knowledge and our credibility as managers of assets. It's a big thing. We want to make sure that we're putting in the work to know how to do things well, how to do it with excellence, to manage risk and reward for client portfolios, to make sure they're well diversified, to put clients first and steward their assets well. So this was something I'd wanted to do for years. And I decided, at very interesting timing if you remember this also, I think I sat you down and said, "Tony, we're having another baby." About a week-

Tony Hixon:

Well you've had so many, I love that.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. About a week after I had said, oh yeah, I'm going to do this SEMA thing and I'm going to study and I'm going to take this exam. So this would have been early 2024. I said, hey, I want to get this exam. This is the certified investment management analyst designation. There's online coursework, lots of online hours of coursework to go through this. I did it through Yale, Yale online to go through, and there's quizzes and all kinds of stuff to make sure you know the content. And then there's exam prep and then you sit down for a very long five hour exam. And it's very hard and very broad and you don't know what's going to be tested. But the timeline, because of us having a baby in October or being, we didn't know when she was going to come, was I had to take this... I wanted to get it done before the baby came.

Tony Hixon:

Yeah, makes sense.

Austin Wilson:

And because who knows what study time's going to look like with a newborn in the house and all this. So I took the exam I think on September 30th and I passed on the first try.

Tony Hixon:

Congratulations.

Austin Wilson:

So thank you. And then our daughter was born like two weeks later. So just in the nick of time, made it. But yeah, certified investment management analyst, not a super common designation. It's actually, it's growing, but you have it as well. And you took that a handful of years ago. So this, we feel, is a great addition to our asset managers to be able to, like I talked about earlier, look at our portfolios with an extra lens of education, an extra lens of clarity to know, hey, let's talk about the opportunities and the risks that we see out there. Let's build portfolios that can meet a variety of client goals and ultimately give them the best outcomes.

Tony Hixon:

Well, in the meantime, you had mentioned being pregnant with family, being pregnant with your other daughter.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

[10:58] - How Having a Special Needs Daughter Changed His Life

Tony Hixon:

Tell us about your family. So I know that your firstborn was basically when Jenna, your wife had left the firm. Her name is Juliana.

Austin Wilson:

Correct.

Tony Hixon:

She's a special needs daughter. You've been blessed with that.

Austin Wilson:

Absolutely.

Tony Hixon:

We have a lot of listeners. How would you encourage them or how would you bless them with some thoughts of being a parent of a special needs kid?

Austin Wilson:

Well, it's super unique. Obviously has challenges, but also has a lot of joy involved with it. But yeah, so Juliana was born in August of 2017 she was born, so she's eight years old now. And just from an early age, there was a lot of challenges. She didn't really like to eat well, which a baby who doesn't like to eat can be a hard thing to understand. We didn't know why. It turns out, oh, well, she has some genetic heart defects. So by the time she was nine weeks old or so, she had had open heart surgery already. So we were in Nationwide Columbus, which for will forever have a soft spot in our heart for saving her life. But we were down there for a few weeks and getting her really situated for the next year where then she'd have a follow-up open heart surgery to really fix more.

So she had two open heart surgeries by the time she was a little over two, or no, a little over one, sorry. And then we were like, well, after this, she's just going to developmentally take off and things are going to be great. And she really didn't. So we were kind of curious what was going on with that. And then we decided, hey, let's have some genetic testing done. She was probably almost two at the time. And we got the results back and the doctor was like, hey, here's what's going on, she has a deletion syndrome, a genetic deletion syndrome. It's really rare called 1P36 genetic deletion syndrome, which means she's missing a key piece of DNA.

And that piece of DNA is a very key developmental piece. And while she's not missing a ton of it, she's missing the key piece. So she learns at her own pace. She does her own thing. She's eight years old and still she's not verbal and doesn't walk, but she's also the sweetest thing in the world. And when she gives you a hug and a kiss, it is like your whole world melts, right? So it's been a challenge. It's been a joy. We still have those days as well, but we actually, when we found out and we're trying to navigate that early on in her life, we didn't think we were going to have any more kids. Not because we necessarily had fear that we'd have another one with a situation like that, but just because we thought she needs us. She needs 100% of mom and dad all the time and we wouldn't be able to give that to her.

So we were like, meh, we're good. One kid's cool. And then we went to a wedding in... It was in Toledo for a dear friend of ours church and Jenna sat down with an old friend that we had had. And she had a daughter who had a daughter with special needs. And they went on to have more kids after that. And she was just able to encourage her how much of a joy and how much healing that brought to their family. And a couple of days later, my wife sits me down and she's like, "Hey, honey, I need to talk to you." And I'm like, "Oh my goodness, what's going on?" It is never a good conversation-

Tony Hixon:

Yeah, I've been there.

Austin Wilson:

Sounding, to be like, I have to talk to you. Let's sit down and talk. But actually she's like, "I think I want to have another baby." And I'm like, "Oh, that's it?" That's not a bad conversation to have. So it was actually really cool.

So yeah, there's a large gap between the first two, five years between the first two. We had our second in... She's just turning three here in January, so that would've been 2023.

Tony Hixon:

Three, yeah.

Austin Wilson:

And Whitley is now, she'll be three by the time this comes out. And she was so fun and she was so easy and a very different experience than we had. Literally brought some healing to our souls because we had a lot of hurt and just uncertainty from the first go round. And we never wanted to have a kid for the sole purpose of Juliana having someone on her team and on her side as they got older, but that is definitely an added bonus.

Tony Hixon:

It's what happens, yeah.

Austin Wilson:

So Juliana's going to always have someone to be there for her. And then Whitley was only like one year old and we're like, "Yeah, we'd do that again." So we now have another, 21 months later we had another one. So Aubrey, she just turned one in October. So three daughters.

Tony Hixon:

Awesome.

Austin Wilson:

Three daughters.

Tony Hixon:

DODO, Dads of Daughters Only.

Austin Wilson:

Oh, is that a thing?

Tony Hixon:

DODO Club.

Austin Wilson:

I might be a member. I could sign any paper you need.

Tony Hixon:

So far.

Austin Wilson:

But yeah, three daughters. And so there's a lot of tea going on in my house. There's a lot of doll babies going on in my house and there's not a lot of dad's things-

Tony Hixon:

A lot of drama?

Austin Wilson:

Oh, there it's already started. It's already-

Tony Hixon:

The drama in the house.

Austin Wilson:

It's fun.

Tony Hixon:

Yeah. Well, I can't help but just say I can't think of two better parents for Juliana than you and Jenna.

Austin Wilson:

Well, that's very kind.

Tony Hixon:

She is so blessed to have you guys parent her, raise her, to be the best person she can be. So I've seen Juliana quite a few times throughout your career and she's just a beautiful ray of sunshine and yeah, your family's a beautiful family.

Austin Wilson:

Thank you. It goes both ways too. She has made us better people. We are certainly different than we were in 2017, before she was born. Certainly it was the first kid too, but she has made us more patient, more kind, more understanding and more compassionate towards other people. And one thing that my wife has is now a really soft spot for people like us. A soft spot to connect with moms who have daughters or sons or kids with special needs. Even not the same, but everyone has a hard situation. And in our world, we know people with really hard situations and she just has a really soft spot to help others. So it's something that we've been able to use, which is good.

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Plus our on staff retirement life coach offers guidance to empower you toward a fulfilling retirement that goes beyond just financial security. Ready to transform your relationship with money? Join us at hzcapital.com and let's embark on this journey together. Now, back to the show.

[17:32] - Personal Passions & Motorcycling in the Mountains

Tony Hixon:

Well, I know that you're not just a dad of daughters only. There are personal interests that you have. So I thought I would bring in, I went on an office treasure hunt, and I found, if you're watching on YouTube, here's a picture I'm holding for our listeners. I'll describe it. There are four guys, Austin being one of them, standing beside their motorcycles. And in the background is a beautiful lake and some trees. And I see that you're at the national, the land between the lakes, wherever that is, you'll describe it. So what's going on in this picture? And tell us more about your passions outside of raising a family.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. So that picture is from 2023. That would be the fifth annual, by the way. We're now on year... I think, eight.

Tony Hixon:

Okay.

Austin Wilson:

We do, my dad and myself and my uncle and my cousin who live in Florida go on a motorcycle ride every summer. And we've done it now, this'll be eight years. And they live in Florida, so we live in Ohio. We don't see each other that often. But once a year, the four of us make an attempt to meet in the middle and do something we really enjoy, which is go for motorcycle ride.

Tony Hixon:

Motorcycle ride.

Austin Wilson:

And so we go for motorcycle ride, typically in a place that's geographically in the middle, is nice, but also kind of windy and hilly and beautiful. Stuff we don't necessarily have around here in Northwest Ohio, it's pretty flat. So yeah, we've done this for a lot of years. One of my passions is riding motorcycles, watching motorcycle racing, watching... Riding dirt bikes and things like that. My dad does that. My little brother does that. We just have a blast doing it and have done it for years. And it's my least favorite hobby Tony has of mine.

Tony Hixon:

It is, it scares me. Motorcycles scare me, but at the same time, I support your passions and I'm glad you're able to get away and have some guy time with family on those trips. And you've got one booked this year, right?

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. So this year we are going to... The Blue Ridge Parkway is essentially the Blue Ridge Mountains, the top of them. And it goes from all the way from north end of Virginia down to the south end of South Carolina, North Carolina. I don't know, somewhere down there. It's 500 miles of windy, whatever.

Tony Hixon:

Cool.

Austin Wilson:

It's beautiful. So we're ,just usually we'll go in an area and ride an area, but we're just going to be on that road. So we're going to stay in the middle and one day we're going to go south end and have lunch and come back. And the next day we're going to do the north end and have lunch and come back. And on those trips, it's guy time like you said, I don't get a lot of guy time, so it's really special. And my family's really important to me. So seeing my cousin and my uncle's great and my dad's like my best friend. So that's fun, but we play a lot of cards. We have a lot of good food. My cousin has a knack for finding good food, and that's another passion of mine is food.

Tony Hixon:

That's right.

Austin Wilson:

So we have a lot of fun finding unique restaurants in the area. And yeah, it's definitely a joy.

[20:16] - What Partnership Truly Means

Tony Hixon:

That's so cool. Well, I'm so glad that you were able to explain some of those outside interests as well. But back inside the firm, for the last eight years prior to becoming a partner, our mission here is to steward generational wealth. And so we obviously have a focus on stewarding our clients' wealth. And that's been your goal and continues to be. And now you've got an added bonus to that, where you're now stewarding the firm.

Austin Wilson:

Right.

Tony Hixon:

So partnership is a stewardship, and what does that mean to you? What mindset do you have as you think through stewarding the business, the team, the direction, the vision, the future path of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management?

Austin Wilson:

Yeah, I think it's like we say in our mission, steward generational wealth, well, we're building a generational firm. So you, co-founder, you've been here 24 years this year?

Tony Hixon:

24.

Austin Wilson:

So 24 years, you've been here since the beginning, but you don't want this... And Josh now and me, we don't want this firm to end with us. So we're building the next generation of owners and leaders to be able to take that mission to steward generational wealth beyond ourselves. So that's something I get to join alongside you guys and building a firm that does that, a firm that values our clients, of course, because we would not be anywhere without our clients. We need our clients. We have a lot of purpose to be able to provide such a great service to them, and we think we do it in a really unique and special way. And I would not have joined something that I didn't feel was unique and special like that. But it's all about, right now as the management side of things, we have to build a culture and an environment where our employees are also treated that way.

We're building an environment where they want to be here, where they're treated well, and where they can build fulfilling careers for a long time. So that's a unique new aspect of what I do, aside from what I do on the asset management side of things, because we really want to build a great company. We want to build a culture, we want to build a people, we want to build great processes and things that are repeatable to make us grow, but we're also building a culture that people just truly want to be here.

Tony Hixon:

They want to come to work.

Austin Wilson:

Absolutely.

Tony Hixon:

Spend a lot of hours here, you might as well enjoy it.

Austin Wilson:

Absolutely.

Tony Hixon:

You work with what you love, with people that you love. So one of our core values... Well, what are our core values, Austin? You'd better know these.

Austin Wilson:

Oh, I do. I do. Integrity, professionalism, excellence, teamwork, and abundance.

Tony Hixon:

And those are in a particular order.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

Tony Hixon:

So integrity is first.

Austin Wilson:

Correct.

Tony Hixon:

So how do we define integrity? We say-

Austin Wilson:

Doing the right thing even when people aren't looking.

Tony Hixon:

Yep. Doing the next right thing. And so as you think about doing the next right thing in your role as Chief Investment Officer, that's a complicated financial, chaotic system out there. There's no shortage of bad news to focus on. How do you live out that core value of integrity, doing the next right thing and stewarding our client's wealth as Chief Investment Officer of our firm?

Austin Wilson:

Well, it's something that Tony and I fortunately get to do together because we manage all of the portfolios together. We steward almost half a billion dollars worth of assets, which is such an honor and a joy and a privilege. But yeah, how do we put integrity into that? Well, we have to choose to do the right next thing with each news story that comes out. Well, does that impact what we're going to do or not? A lot of it's no, by the way, because we keep very long-term mindsets on the way we look at things. But a lot of it is, we know we have the education, we have the training, we have experience, we know what we should be doing with portfolios and we have to be able to do that. So do the next right thing means make a change or don't make a change for a portfolio, be able to analyze risk because obviously look where we are right now.

The markets are a super unique environment right now. We've had a couple of really great years, valuations are stretched. We have opportunities outside the US. We have to take all of this information and put it into a handful of portfolios for our clients. So what we're doing is taking a lot of information, making a few decisions to make great outcomes. And those outcomes are going to be one of two things, hopefully both at the same time, less risk, more return.

Tony Hixon:

More return.

Austin Wilson:

Those are the two things. So integrity for us is going to be doing the next right thing with our portfolios.

[24:29] - Austin's Market Outlook for 2026

Tony Hixon:

I love that. So we're sitting here at the beginning of 2026. And as our CIO, I know you've developed some macro views. Our listeners would probably be pretty interested in what Austin's thinking about their portfolios from a macro level. What are you excited about? What are some opportunities that lie ahead in the economic world?

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. I mean, economically speaking, particularly in the US, but really around the world, I do not see a recession in 2026. I think that's a good thing. We just got some recent good inflation data. Unemployment has lifted a little bit, but it's still relatively low. The way I kind of see unemployment, if unemployment's under 5%, that's actually pretty healthy because if you think of a hundred people that you know, there's probably five of them that probably aren't employable anyway, right? So unemployment's relatively low. We've got inflation data coming down. And while there is some noise in that from the shutdown, there's a lot of good data in there as well. We've got a lot of... There could be stimulus coming here in the first quarter with some tax changes giving people great refunds. So that could keep the economy chugging along. There is somewhat of a bifurcated or K-shaped economy out there.

So the top end of things are looking pretty strong from a consumer basis. There is a little bit more weakness under the surface from the lower end of things, but the stronger end of things is certainly propping things up. And these income tax refunds are certainly going to help some of the lower income families in America. So that's all relatively favorable. There's a lot of uncertainty. So that is true, right? Venezuela has happened recently. That's something we have to consider. It hasn't necessarily materially changed what we're thinking about in terms of our views on asset allocation and all this, but that means that geopolitics are firmly in the mirror right now. We're looking at those every single day. That has spiked up tensions with China. So those are some risks. But AI really is changing things. It's driving corporate earnings. By the way, if you looked at last year, last year we think, oh my goodness, things got really expensive.

No, things were probably, they were expensive to start the year. They were expensive to end the year, but the lift you got was from earnings. Earnings drove the markets, and that is actually a healthy rally. What will happen in 2026, most analysts say that we're going to actually have accelerated earnings from 2025, which I would say show me. I'm going to be a St. Louis or Missouri, show me state.

Tony Hixon:

Show me state.

Austin Wilson:

I think let's see positive earnings growth, yes. To the level we saw in 2025, we'll see. So we will and have taken a little bit of a cautious approach when we're positioning portfolios because of valuations being so elevated. And some of those huge winners have just gotten certainly stretched. So we're looking for like tier two, tier three plays of the AI theme to really focus on for our portfolios. But we see some opportunities in other areas of the market that kind of got left behind. One of those areas is banks have certainly had a great run, but they have a lot going for them right now.

Tony Hixon:

Certainly.

Austin Wilson:

We talked to our clients about a steepening yield curve being great for banks. That front end coming down means banks can borrow cheaply and still lend at elevator rates. Great profit. We think about things like real estate. When they get as depressed in valuation compared to the rest of the market as they are now, typically great for returns. So that's an area that we have some exposure to. And then small and mid-cap stocks in the US certainly haven't been as favored as large cap stocks. There is more risk there, of course, but we think there could be some catch up as the rally broadens, as would be my base case here in 2026. Outside the US, international developed, I would say is favored in my opinion over EM or emerging markets. The US dollar is certainly weaker than it was a little over a year ago, by about 10% and could weaken further as the Fed's cutting rates and other central banks are maintaining or even hiking rates. So that's something that we're optimistic about and valuations continue to be better outside the US.

So we would just encourage people to have a globally diversified portfolio this year, and that's certainly what we're doing with our clients. On the fixed income side of things, the term that I would say sticks out the most is clip the coupon. While the front end of the curve is coming down because the Fed might cut once or twice more, the rest of the curve probably isn't going to move that much. So you're pretty much going to look at the yield and the 10-year, for example, and say, that's my return. So four and change percent, four and a quarter, you're going to get four or so percent probably in fixed income, which isn't bad. It's positive.

Tony Hixon:

Right, yeah. Stay calm, stay invested.

Austin Wilson:

Stay calm, stay invested.

[28:58] - 10 Years From Now...

Tony Hixon:

All right. So two last questions as we wrap up. Really appreciate an opportunity to get to know you better, as does our audience, I'm sure. So it's January 2026, picture ourselves sitting at the same table a year from now, January of 2027. What would have to have happened for you to feel satisfied with your progress here at the firm?

Austin Wilson:

Yeah, that's a great question. So number one, we would love our clients to be satisfied with the services that we provide. Of course, we have great advisors and client service people, helping them with everything that they could need, helping them have a great plan. But where you and I come in is we need to be able to provide great returns with less risk than some people do for their retirement plans. So you and I need to come to work each day to build those portfolios to do that. We are going to deliver the outcome that they need, but it takes hard work to do it. So that's what we're going to do each day. As far as the firm goes, we need to build and maintain this amazing culture that we have. We have a super unique culture here and I come from not here. I come from a corporate background and it is special.

Tony Hixon:

It is.

Austin Wilson:

And I hope that everyone feels that it's special. I hope our clients feel it's special. I hope our teammates feel it's special as well. But we need to build upon what we already have because it's so good. So that means treating our people well. That means giving them a lot of fun, opportunities to grow themselves, fun in the office. We need to support people with their families. But we need to come to work with a great passion for what we do to be able to grow this firm because we got big goals and we're not stopping until we get there. And then we're still not stopping.

Tony Hixon:

That's right. To a billion and beyond, right?

Austin Wilson:

That's right.

Tony Hixon:

That's awesome. Yeah, that's good. Last question. We'll have an excessively grateful moment. If I were to ask you, what are you most grateful for? How would you respond to that?

Austin Wilson:

Yeah, I mean, this is where I'm going to get spiritual on you, Tony.

Tony Hixon:

Please.

Austin Wilson:

I love my Lord, Jesus Christ. And he has blessed our family in so many ways. And Jenna and I talk about this, it seems like every day when we're together. It's just he has given us amazing purpose at home. We have three little girls to come together and raise, and it's an honor and a joy and challenging sometimes, but oh my goodness, the joys and the blessings. But he has given my role here to our family as well as such a blessing and a gift as well. That blows us away every single day. So it is so rare for someone to have a job, and I say job, it has a negative connotation in our world, but it's not for me. We have a joyful place to come in. I don't go to work on Monday morning dreading Monday morning. In fact, I look forward to it. And I look forward to the people I work with. I look forward to the job I get to do each and every day. And I'm just blessed by the blessings he's given me. And I hope to be able to bless others with that.

Tony Hixon:

Well, he certainly serves as an anchor in the storm. And as I hear you say that your firstborn went through two open heart surgeries before she was one year old. I couldn't imagine. And so it's really neat to hear you say how he's helped guide and direct you through your journey, through your spiritual journey.

So Austin, you were made on purpose, for a purpose. Thank you for living that out.

Austin Wilson:

Thank you.

Tony Hixon:

Here at the firm. Thank you for what you do on behalf of our clients. Thank you for what you do on behalf of our team. You make Hixon Zuercher better. And it's a joy to serve alongside you. Welcome to partnership.

Austin Wilson:

Thank you.

[32:33] - Another BIG Announcement for Austin!

Tony Hixon:

Welcome to stewarding generational wealth, not only for our clients, but for our team.

So as we promised at the beginning of the episode, there was a big surprise.

Austin Wilson:

Big surprise.

Tony Hixon:

So Austin, please share what that surprise is.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. So coming out this week, we are going to be launching a new blog.

Tony Hixon:

Yeah.

Austin Wilson:

A new blog called The Inspired Investing Blog, which I'll be writing. It's going to come out once a month on the third Friday of every month. And we're going to be doing it a little bit different than we do with some of our other content. This is going to be focusing on the investment side of things, largely. It's going to be things like, hey, here's a company I like and why. This is what the Fed's doing and why I do or don't like it and what it means for you. This is going to be innovation. We could have some culture discussion. We can have macroeconomics. It's going to be pretty cool.

Tony Hixon:

Can't wait.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

Tony Hixon:

Friday, I'll be your first read.

Austin Wilson:

I appreciate that.

Tony Hixon:

That'd be awesome. So we have Jess who talks about financial planning topics. You'll be investing topics.

Austin Wilson:

You got life.

Tony Hixon:

We've got life topics. We've got our podcast that covers pretty much everything in between.

Austin Wilson:

People should not be bored. More than enough content.

Tony Hixon:

We've got a lot of though leadership, great content.

Austin Wilson:

Absolutely.

Tony Hixon:

I appreciate you taking the time to start that blog.

Austin Wilson:

Of course.

Tony Hixon:

Our clients and those that choose to read will certainly be blessed by that. So thank you for doing that. In the meantime, don't forget to subscribe to The Wealth Mindset Show on whatever platform you're on so you never miss an episode. Visit us at thewealthmindsetshow.com for more resources, or if you're ready to invest with us, head on over to hzcapital.com. Don't forget to check out Austin's new blog, Inspired Investing. Also invite you to follow us on social media to stay connected. So in the meantime, thank you for listening.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

Tony Hixon:

We'll see you all next episode.

Austin Wilson:

Bye.

Thank you for joining us at The Wealth Mindset Show, where we tackle the complexities of finance and life planning to help you align your wealth with your values. We hope today's conversation provided value and clarity as you navigate your financial journey.

Your hosts work for Hixon Zuercher Capital Management, and all opinions expressed by them or any podcast guest are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions. Clients of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. There is no guarantee that statements, opinions, or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Indices are not available for direct investment, and any investor attempting to mimic index performance would incur fees and expenses that could reduce returns.

Securities investing involves risks, including the potential loss of principle, and there is no assurance that any investment plan or strategy will be successful.