Team Updates

Noah Lewis
Financial Advising Analyst

Noah graduated Summa Cum Laude from UNC Charlotte with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and we are pleased to congratulate him on recently passing the Series 65 licensing exam. He brings hands-on experience in investment planning, retirement strategies, and client relationship management, along with a strong analytical foundation and a passion for helping individuals navigate their financial futures. Noah is especially aligned with the firm’s commitment to conflict-free, transparent advising and takes pride in turning complex financial topics into clear, actionable strategies tailored to each client’s goals.

Erin Eaton
Marketing Associate

As Marketing Associate at Scholar Financial Advising, Erin helps shape brand strategy and digital communications to reflect the firm’s values and commitment to personalized service. With a background in graphic design and a keen eye for detail, she brings creativity and clarity to each campaign, fostering meaningful client connections and strengthening the firm’s presence across all platforms. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, trying new restaurants, and exploring North Carolina’s beautiful landscapes.

Honoring Client Trust: Stephan’s Recent Recognition

Earning trust at the highest level is no small achievement — and that is exactly what Stephan has done! We are proud to share that our founder, Stephan Shipe, PhD, CFA, CFP®, has received the 2025 Wealthtender Voice of the Client Highly Rated Advisor Award. The Wealthtender Voice of the Client Awards were established as the industry’s first program to recognize financial advisors who consistently receive exceptional client reviews published online.

At Scholar Financial Advising, client commitment is our first core value; we put clients at the center of everything we do. With honesty, transparency, and care, our dedicated team delivers professional guidance. We act in our clients’ best interests, build authentic relationships, and grow responsibly by staying true to our values. We are honored to see Stephan’s dedication to this commitment recognized.

Disclosures: Wealthtender awarded Stephan Shipe, PhD, CFA, CFP® with its 2025 Voice of the Client Highly Rated Advisor Award on 06/01/2025. Rating criteria based on eligible client reviews published on Wealthtender between 1/1/24 and 06/01/2025. Although Scholar Financial Advising compensates Wealthtender for marketing services (including eligibility to be considered for this award), Wealthtender’s award criteria is objective and not influenced by compensation. This award is not a guarantee of future performance or success and client reviews may not be representative of the experience of all past or future clients. View additional award details and FAQs here.

Things We Are Watching

• The Fed has continued to hold rates steady and kept the door open for two additional rate cuts later in the year as uncertainty around the economic outlook has diminished, although it remains at elevated levels. We will keep a close eye on any Fed pronouncements and look to the outcome of their next meeting at the end of July.
• The S&P 500 has rebounded since reaching its 2025 low point on April 8th, up approximately 20% since that point, once again flirting with all-time highs. We are watching how new global developments, such as conflict with Iran, will impact the recent rebound.
• Consumer staples continue to outperform consumer discretionary stocks in 2025, although consumer discretionary has been a top performer over the last three months, up 8%. Will consumer confidence continue to rise, and will the shift back to growth continue?
• The rotation away from US stocks and bonds to global markets continued in Q2 as flows to international markets, particularly European markets, continued to outpace flows to US markets. After years of underperformance in European and other global markets, will this continue to drive long term performance and warrant increasing allocations to international stocks?
• Congress continues to negotiate the provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill. The bill could include significant changes such as making the current tax rates permanent, increasing the standard deduction, and extending and increasing the estate exemption. We will closely monitor this bill if and when it is ratified to determine its potential impact.

Derek Cheshire, CFP®, EA
is an Associate Financial Advisor at Scholar Financial Advising.

Ask An Advisor

In this month’s edition, Deon Strickland, Ph.D. discusses the topic:
Making the Most of Market Volatility:
Tax Loss Harvesting Before and After Retirement

2025 is turning out to be quite the year for market volatility. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) fell from $561.30 on 02/24/2025 to $456.74 on April 8, 2025, only to recover to $547.72 by June 20, 2025. Down 19 percent and then up 20 percent for a broad-based index within four months is not your grandparent’s market (okay, okay, I am excluding 1929). Market fluctuations can be unsettling, but they also create opportunities. One such opportunity is tax loss harvesting.

Tax loss harvesting is a tax strategy where an investor pairs selling investments that have declined in value (capital losses) with selling investments that have increased in value (capital gains). The losses offset gains and, in some cases, can also reduce ordinary income. When carefully implemented, tax loss harvesting can add meaningful after-tax value to your portfolio before and after retirement.
 

Benefits Before and After Retirement

When clients’ marginal tax rates are high, tax loss harvesting can be particularly beneficial. Offsetting capital gains and/or reducing ordinary income helps minimize tax bills during high-income periods, freeing up more funds for savings or reinvestment.

If a client is in the accumulation phase and wants to maintain their equity exposure, the proceeds from the loss harvesting should be reinvested in a similar but not identical ETF. You should not simply reinvest in the same ETF to avoid triggering the “wash sale” rule. The “wash sale” rule disallows a loss if a substantially identical security is purchased within 30 days before or after the sale. For example, if a client holds a large-cap U.S. ETF with a loss, they can sell the ETF and reinvest the proceeds into a different large-cap ETF tracking a similar but not identical index, such as switching from the Schwab Large Cap Value ETF to the Vanguard Large Cap Value ETF.

Tax loss harvesting is of course not limited to ETFs. You could also sell individual names that have losses and gains and use the proceeds from the sale to invest in low-cost broad-based portfolios.

Post-retirement, tax loss harvesting can help retirees reduce exposure to Medicare IRMAA surcharges, taxation of Social Security benefits, and Roth conversions. If the retiree employs tax loss harvesting to reduce capital gains, then their MAGI is lower and consequently bracket creep is reduced. In some sense, tax loss harvesting delays when taxes are paid and that is itself a gain.
 

Final Thoughts

Tax loss harvesting is more than a year-end cleanup tactic. It is a proactive, year-round planning opportunity. Whether you are building wealth or drawing it down in retirement, the right tax strategy can enhance after-tax returns.

Deon Strickland, Ph.D.
is an Advisor at Scholar Financial Advising.