Current market environment performance of dynamic, risk-managed investment solutions.
By Jerry Wagner
February 1, 2026, marked the 45th anniversary of Flexible Plan Investments (FPI).
When Flexible Plan Investments was founded, most investors navigated markets much the way sailors once crossed the oceans—with fixed charts, fixed assumptions, and the expectation that conditions would behave roughly as anticipated.
Those charts were carefully drawn. They reflected the best information available at the time. And for long stretches, they worked.
Until they didn’t.
Storms formed where none were expected. Currents shifted. Previously reliable routes became hazardous. Yet the prevailing response was often to redraw the charts—more detailed, more precise—while still assuming the seas themselves would eventually cooperate.
At FPI, we came to a different conclusion.
The issue was not the map. It was the assumption that the environment would remain stable long enough for any static map to remain accurate.
Today, the analogy is even closer to home.
Modern travelers rely on GPS navigation—digital maps that can be remarkably precise, provided they are continuously updated. When that update stream works, it reflects road closures, construction, accidents, and changing conditions. When it doesn’t, the guidance can become dangerously outdated.
Drivers have followed obsolete GPS instructions into dead ends, onto closed roads, and even directly off a dock. The technology did not fail because maps are useless. It failed because the map was no longer current.
Markets behave much the same way.
Financial plans and long-term portfolio designs remain important reference points. But when they are not paired with dynamic, risk-managed asset management that includes ongoing monitoring and adjustment, they can quietly drift out of alignment with reality.
From the beginning, FPI was built around a simple, practical belief:
Effective asset management requires more than a map; it takes a disciplined process for keeping that map updated as conditions change.
Static plans in a moving world
Much of today’s financial planning and portfolio construction remains rooted in frameworks developed under earlier market assumptions—when relationships among asset classes were considered more stable and diversification more predictable.
Static financial plans. Static allocations. Portfolio designs built on the premise that risk can be optimized at a point in time and revisited periodically, with the expectation that markets will revert toward long-term averages.
These approaches offer structure and clarity. They also reflect the conditions under which they were developed.
The challenge is not that such plans are poorly constructed. It is that they were not designed for a world that moves as quickly, shifts as abruptly, and surprises as often as the one investors experience today.
A different design philosophy
From the beginning, FPI was built around a different idea:
• If markets are dynamic, portfolios must be managed dynamically.
• If risk characteristics change, portfolio management must account for that change.
That belief shaped both the firm’s investment strategies and how it supports advisers and their clients.
Rather than relying solely on static allocations and periodic reviews, FPI focused on building systems and processes designed to monitor conditions and respond as markets evolve—much like a navigation system that updates routes as conditions change, rather than relying on a single printed map.
Instruments, not just instructions
A modern aircraft does not rely exclusively on a flight plan created at takeoff and reviewed once a year. It relies on instruments—monitoring conditions continuously, adjusting course as needed, and responding to turbulence in real time.
That same distinction informs FPI’s approach. FPI does not provide financial planning or investment advice; it provides asset management.
That distinction is important for both advisers and their clients.
FPI’s responsibility is to manage portfolios according to clearly defined disciplines, using systematic processes intended to monitor risk, adjust exposures, and maintain diversification as market conditions change.
This approach emphasizes:
• Ongoing risk monitoring
• Portfolio adjustments based on observable market behavior
• Diversification across strategies and decision frameworks
• Liquidity and transparency across investment structures
The objective is not prediction; it’s structured responsiveness.
From fragile optimization to adaptive design
Many traditional portfolios are optimized based on a specific set of assumptions about market behavior. They may function as expected—until conditions change.
FPI took a different approach.
Rather than focusing on a single optimal outcome, the firm emphasized adaptive design, including:
• Strategies intended to respond to changing conditions rather than rely on forecasts
• Diversification across different decision frameworks and time horizons
• Risk-management processes designed to adapt as conditions evolve
The goal was to build portfolios capable of navigating a wide range of market environments, rather than relying on a single permanent solution.
Liquid alternatives as a core component
This philosophy naturally led to the inclusion of liquid alternatives as a core component of the asset management process—not as niche allocations but as tools for diversification and risk management.
These include actively managed strategies across trend-following, countertrend, managed-futures, tactical fixed-income, principled-investing, and All-Weather frameworks—implemented with an emphasis on liquidity, transparency, and ongoing management.
Today, this same asset management discipline is available across multiple structures:
• Flexible separately managed accounts (SMAs)
• Mutual funds and ETF strategies
• Defined allocation frameworks
• Self-directed brokerage accounts (SDBAs) and retirement platforms
• Model marketplaces across custodians
Different structures. The same underlying process.
What this means for advisers: Supporting differentiation
Advisers operate in an environment where many offerings appear similar, particularly when portfolios are static and reviewed infrequently.
FPI’s asset management approach is intended to support advisers by offering:
• Actively managed portfolios designed to adapt to changing market conditions
• Monitoring and reporting tools—including OnTarget Investing, crash testing, and My Business Analyzer—that support portfolio oversight and communication
• Operational and service support structured to accommodate a wide range of strategies, platforms, and account types
This framework is designed to complement the adviser–client relationship by providing a consistent asset management process that can be explained, monitored, and reviewed over time.
What this means for clients
For clients, the experience is centered on process and transparency.
Rather than relying solely on static assumptions, portfolios are managed with attention to:
• Ongoing changes in market risk
• Diversification across multiple investment approaches, including liquid alternatives
• Liquidity and accessibility across different account types
• Consistent management of assets held for different purposes, including taxable accounts, retirement accounts, and charitable assets
One philosophy, many ways to access it
Over time, FPI has expanded how its asset management process can be accessed, including through:
• Flexible SMAs
• Principled investment choices, including socially responsible and faith-focused approaches
• Donor-advised funds (DAFs)
• SDBAs for 401(k)s and 403(b)s
• Model marketplaces and custodial platforms
The investment structures differ, but the underlying asset management discipline is consistent.
Recent additions to the toolkit
That consistency continues with the firm’s most recent initiatives:
• FlexPlan Strategic extends FPI’s asset management process into the SDBA environment using adviser share–class funds, providing another way for advisers and clients to access systematically managed portfolios within brokerage platforms.
• FlexDirex is an actively managed SMA that provides leveraged and inverse exposure to single-stock ETFs. It was developed to provide an additional, specialized tool within the firm’s broader asset management framework and is managed according to defined risk and process guidelines.
Both reflect the same long-standing design principle: portfolios and processes should be able to adjust as conditions change.
Forty-five years of updating the maps
Markets will continue to evolve.
Assumptions will continue to be tested.
Conditions will continue to change.
FPI was not founded on the belief that a single portfolio design would remain appropriate indefinitely. It was founded on the belief that asset management is an ongoing process, not a one-time decision.
As FPI celebrates its 45th anniversary, the firm remains different by design—not because change is unusual, but because it is expected.
That difference continues to matter for advisers managing their practices and for clients whose assets need to be managed through changing markets.