The Long View

Our guest on the podcast today is Joseph Moore, a historian and author of the bestselling book, How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked & Didn’t, where he chronicles all of the various things Americans have tried to do to get ahead over three centuries. He’s also an investor who went from being an academic to funding a tech startup, buying land on the moon, founding a cryptocurrency, and owning dozens of investment properties. This was a really fun conversation where we covered a lot of ground about the history of financial advice in the US as well as Joseph’s own adventures in investing and money-making ventures. One of the really interesting things he said was that who you marry can be a strong indicator of financial success. We also enjoyed his discussion of the often overlooked role of women in household financial decision-making and found his take on what he calls the “despair industrial complex” especially thought-provoking.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:41 Financial History and America’s ‘Go-Ahead’ Culture

00:15:24 Wealth, Mobility, and the American Dream

00:18:14 Fast Time, Career Risk, and Building Wealth

00:24:38 The Rise of Financial Advising as a Profession

00:35:34 Startups, Shorting Stocks, and Beating the Market

00:41:15 When Bonds Historically Beat Stocks

00:43:40 Marriage, Money, and Financial Success

00:47:58 Failing Upward in Real Estate

More From The Long View

Robin Wigglesworth: Why Bonds Are Behind Every Financial Boom and Bust

Nick Maggiulli: Climbing the Wealth Ladder

Erin Moriarity: My Dad Lost About $1.5 Million on Bad Investments. Here’s How to Avoid His Mistakes

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our guest on the podcast today is Mike Piper. Mike is the author of several personal finance books, the latest of which is called Household Cybersecurity: A CPA’s Guide to Protecting Your Accounts and Personal Information. Mike also writes a wonderful blog called Oblivious Investor, and he’s developed a free tool exploring Social Security claiming decisions called Open Social Security. One thing we loved about the conversation with Mike and about Mike’s book is his attention to the interplay between cybercrimes and cognitive decline as we age. He has a lot of helpful tips for troubleshooting that issue. One of the really interesting points he made was that financial problems can actually be an early warning sign of cognitive decline for an older parent or other family member. Mike shared simple, helpful tips that are easy to implement, including why you should create a guest network that’s separate from your main network at home, and how that can improve your cybersecurity.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:41 Why Cybercrime Is Increasing

00:04:10 How AI Is Making Scams More Convincing

00:08:25 How to Spot Cyber Fraud

00:15:21 How to Create Stronger Passwords

00:19:25 Multifactor Authentication and Passkeys

00:33:27 How to Secure Devices and Home Networks

00:36:53 Are Bank or Investment Accounts Safer?

00:39:21 Can Financial Problems Signal Cognitive Decline?

00:45:24 When to Bring in a Financial Professional

More from The Long View

Dana Anspach: Don’t Let Fear Ruin Your Retirement

Erin Moriarity: My Dad Lost About $1.5 Million on Bad Investments. Here’s How to Avoid His Mistakes

Jean Chatzky: How to Create a Forever Paycheck for Retirement

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today, we’re happy to welcome two guests from the Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies. Spencer Look is the associate director of retirement studies and public policy for Morningstar, and Jack VanDerhei is the director of retirement studies and public policy. Jack previously worked as the research director at the Employee Benefit Research Institute from 1996 through 2022. Spencer and Jack both produce a lot of really helpful research on retirement outcomes, Social Security reform, and retirement policy. One of the highlights was their more balanced take on whether there’s really a retirement crisis in the US. We hear a lot of really dire warnings about that, so we appreciated their perspective on where there’s room for improvement, as well as data on things that aren’t quite as bad as some people might have us believe. You won’t be surprised to hear that we really enjoyed the discussion about long-term care. Spencer and Jack have both concluded that the retirement planning community has underrated long-term care as a risk factor for people’s retirement plans.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:52 Modeling US Retirement Outcomes

00:07:06 Is There a Retirement Crisis?

00:11:17 Evaluating Retirement Policy Reform

00:14:49 Planning for Social Security Changes

00:18:01 Access, Auto‑Enrollment, and Accumulation

00:21:14 How the Saver’s Match Works

00:30:52 Turning Savings Into Retirement Income

00:34:45 Planning for Long-Term-Care Costs and Longevity

More from The Long View

Jean Chatzky: How to Create a Forever Paycheck for Retirement

Dana Anspach: Don’t Let Fear Ruin Your Retirement

Jamie Hopkins and Bonnie Treichel: Why You Can’t Set and Forget a Retirement Plan

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

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Our guest on the podcast today is Erin Moriarity. Erin is the originator of the Erin Talks Money channel on YouTube, where she explains personal finance and retirement planning concepts with easy-to-understand videos. Erin received her bachelor’s degree in business at Northern Michigan University and completed the Certified Financial Planner program at The Ohio State University. We loved hearing about Erin’s thought process on providing financial information to people who weren’t being well-served by traditional financial advice models. Erin also explained why people shouldn’t worry too much about Social Security benefits going away due to lack of funding, and the value of working with an advisor later in life, even if you’re a do-it-yourself investor.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:21 Early Financial Education

00:04:14 Bringing Financial Advice to the Middle Class

00:14:16 Rethinking Conventional Retirement Wisdom

00:19:07 Psychology of Saving to Spending

00:20:59 Planning for Long-Term-Care Costs

00:26:53 Can You Count on Social Security?

00:32:20 Annuities and Protecting Your Finances as You Age

00:42:05 Lessons From Financial Mistakes

More from The Long View

Stefan Sharkansky: The Retirement Rule That Leaves Too Much Money Behind

Brett Arends: Worried About Outliving Your Money? There’s an Answer

Jean Chatzky: How to Create a Forever Paycheck for Retirement

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

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Today’s guest on The Long View is Robin Wigglesworth. Robin is the editor of the Financial Times finance blog, Alphaville. He’s also the author of Trillions, which is the definitive book on the past, present, and future of passive investing. Robin’s joining us today to discuss his latest book, A Fabulous Debt, which is a history of the bond market. The history of the bond market is marked by war, peace, market mania featuring a very colorful cast of characters, and so much more. Robin is such a brilliant writer that he really brings every aspect of a history to life. One of the highlights of the show was when he was talking about the huge amount of capital spending we’re seeing in artificial intelligence and how it parallels the railroad boom in the 19th century. He made the point that debt-fueled capital spending sprees tend to end quite badly, although the scale of capital investment in AI this time around is still quite a bit smaller. As Robin points out, history rarely repeats, but often rhymes, and we might be living through one of those rhyming moments today.

We’d love to hear what you think about The Long View podcast. Please take a moment to share your feedback—thanks for listening!

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Why the History of Bond Market Matters

00:09:38 Venice and the Birth of Bonds

00:16:34 How Britain Shaped America’s Financial System

00:24:48 The Poyais Bond Scam

00:30:13 Railroad Capex and AI Spending

00:37:08 Jay Cooke and The Father of Junk Bonds

00:41:55 The Rise of Credit Ratings

00:47:07 How Bond Markets Replaced Banks

00:57:11 How Much Debt Can the US Carry?

More From The Long View

Wade Pfau: Higher Bond Yields Are a Plus for Retirees

Ben Carlson: Exploring Risk and Reward

Jeremy Grantham: ‘Almost Everything Looks More Attractive Than the US Equity Market’

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our guest on the podcast today is Elliott Appel. He’s a financial planner and the founder of Kindness Financial Planning. He’s also an author. His latest book is called How to Help Your Parents As They Age: A Financial Planner’s Guide to Caregiving, which chronicles his father’s last years and the key lessons he learned along the way. He’s also co-host of his own podcast called the ME and Money Podcast. We really loved this conversation because Elliott provided so many tangible tips that people can use to help their parents, and his personal story really provides a lot of color.

We’d love to hear what you think about The Long View podcast. Please take a moment to share your feedback—thanks for listening!

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:23 Financial Planning Through Life Transitions

00:03:22 Appel’s Journey Planning for His Father

00:08:45 How an Eldercare Consultant Can Help

00:13:03 Estate Planning and Choosing the Right Power of Attorney

00:17:05 Guardrails for Aging Parents’ Finances

00:24:43 Put Parents on Your Cellphone Plan

00:27:17 Navigating Healthcare, Housing, and Care Transitions

00:33:59 Managing Caregiver Stress and Burnout

00:43:31 Rethinking Aging and Death in the US

More From The Long View

Beth Pinsker: Lessons From ‘My Mother’s Money’

Kathleen Rehl: Helping Widows and the Advisors Who Serve Them

Sally Balch Hurme: Getting Your Affairs in Order as You Get Older

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our guest on the podcast today is Jeff Ptak. He’s a longtime Morningstar employee and currently serves as managing director for Morningstar Research Services. He originally joined Morningstar back in 2002 as a senior mutual fund analyst. Jeff was one of the original two co-hosts of this podcast and regularly posts his thoughts on https://www.morningstar.com/, Substack, X, and LinkedIn. Ptak’s work really focuses on investor outcomes. One of the highlights from the podcast today was when Ptak talked about how such a small number of stocks tend to generate a disproportionate amount of the market returns and what that means for diversified actively managed funds. He also discusses what target-date funds get right for investors, as well as what some of them may be missing.

We’d love to hear what you think about The Long View podcast. Please take a moment to share your feedback—thanks for listening!

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Mind the Gap and Investor Behavior

00:08:15 Crypto ETFs and Timing Mistakes

00:11:44 Active Funds and Letting Winners Run

00:23:11 Improving Investor Outcomes Through Lower Costs

00:30:20 Private Markets, SpaceX, and 401(k) Risks

00:34:26 Thematic ETFs, Speculation, and Fun Money

00:38:51 Market Timing Myths and Portfolio Construction

00:42:27 Is Tech’s Dominance Sustainable?

More From Morningstar

Read: Mind the Gap 2026

Leyla Kunimoto: Why Investors in Private Markets Need a Louder Voice

Will Danoff: ‘Be Very Careful of Unprofitable Companies’

Don Phillips: Encouraging Better Outcomes for Investors

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on the podcast, we welcome back Jean Chatzky. Jean is the author of a new book about retirement planning called The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and Never Run Out of Money. In addition, she has written several other New York Times bestselling books about money and investing. She’s also CEO of https://hermoney.com/ and host of the podcast Her Money with Jean Chatzky. She served as the financial editor of NBC Today for 25 years and is the financial ambassador for AARP. She appeared frequently on CNN and MSNBC, and was a recurring guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

We’d love to hear what you think about The Long View podcast. Please take a moment to share your feedback—thanks for listening!

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:00 Why Retirees Struggle to Spend

00:05:18 Creating a Retirement Paycheck

00:09:25 Choosing Annuities and Financial Advice

00:20:40 Bridging the Social Security Gap

00:23:40 Managing Sequence-of-Returns Risk

00:28:42 Retirement Planning for Couples and Working Longer

00:37:17 Protecting Against Financial Fraud

00:40:39 How Jean Chatzky Reimagined Retirement

More from The Long View

Brett Arends: Worried About Outliving Your Money? There’s an Answer

Dana Anspach: Don’t Let Fear Ruin Your Retirement

Stefan Sharkansky: The Retirement Rule That Leaves Too Much Money Behind

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today’s guest on The Long View is David Booth. David is a repeat guest, the founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors, and has just released a new book titled Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life. One of the interesting through lines on the episode really centered on data. David explained that without data, people are just arguing beliefs. There was so much time within the industry where investors really were in a data desert. That foundational layer was critical to everything that David, his colleagues at Dimensional, and so many others around the broader investing industry have ultimately brought to bear for the benefit of so many investors over the years. Plus, David explained that having access to a more complete dataset can really help provide a sense of calmness and reassurance for investors, even in an uncertain environment.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:03:21 How Market Data Revolutionized Investing

00:09:22 Learning From Eugene Fama

00:16:16 Communicating Financial Science

00:20:40 What is the Efficient-Market Hypothesis?

00:24:11 Diversification and the Limits of Indexing

00:32:37 Is Dimensional Active or Passive?

00:34:24 The Science Behind Factor Investing

00:40:29 Trusting Markets and Embracing Uncertainty

More From Morningstar

David Booth: ‘Usually the Great Ideas Start Out as Small Ideas and Then You Build on Them’

Don Phillips: Encouraging Better Outcomes for Investors

Charley Ellis: Indexing Is a Marvelous Gift

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our guests on the podcast today are Andy Clarke and Nelson Wicas, co-authors—along with Ganesh Suntharam—of the new book, The Architecture of Wealth: The Art and Science of Portfolio Construction. Andy has spent more than three decades as an investment researcher and writer. He has worked at Morningstar and Vanguard, where he served as assistant to Vanguard Founder and indexing pioneer, John C. Bogle. Andy has published research in practitioner journals such as the Journal of Index Investing. He is the author of Wealth of Experience and a CFA Charterholder. Nelson has developed and managed quantitative equity strategies for more than 30 years. Most recently, he worked at Redpoint Investment Management, where he was a founder and research analyst. After completing his PhD in economics at the University of Pennsylvania, Nelson joined Vanguard to help establish its quantitative equity management function. Nelson later helped found Vanguard’s investment counseling and research team to produce portfolio construction insights for clients and internal teams. Nelson has been a visiting professor of economics at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 The Architecture of Wealth

00:06:42 Why Portfolio Construction is an Art and Science

00:10:03 Bogle’s Approach to Active Management

00:15:38 Why Index Investing Isn’t Passive

00:22:09 The Birth of Modern Portfolio Theory

00:26:58 Behavioral Finance, Investor Biases, and Impact of Education

00:36:13 Why Index Funds Finally Took Off

00:39:25 Evaluating Active Managers

00:43:27 The Small-Cap Effect

More From The Long View

Charley Ellis: Indexing Is a Marvelous Gift

Jeff Ptak: The Simple Secret to Becoming a Better Investor

Andy Reed: Inertia Is the Most Powerful Force in Behavioral Finance

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, andBen Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy.Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filterand Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our guest on the podcast today is Jeff Ptak. He’s a longtime Morningstar employee and currently serves as managing director for Morningstar Research Services. He originally joined Morningstar back in 2002 as a senior mutual fund analyst. Jeff was one of the original two co-hosts of this podcast and regularly posts his thoughts on https://www.morningstar.com/, Substack, X, and LinkedIn. Ptak’s work really focuses on investor outcomes. One of the highlights from the podcast today was when Ptak talked about how such a small number of stocks tend to generate a disproportionate amount of the market returns and what that means for diversified actively managed funds. He also discusses what target-date funds get right for investors, as well as what some of them may be missing.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Mind the Gap and Investor Behavior

00:08:04 Crypto ETFs and Timing Mistakes

00:11:33 Active Funds and Letting Winners Run

00:23:00 Improving Investor Outcomes Through Lower Costs

00:30:09 Private Markets, SpaceX, and 401(k) Risks

00:34:15 Thematic ETFs, Speculation, and Fun Money

00:38:40 Market Timing Myths and Portfolio Construction

00:42:16 Is Tech’s Dominance Sustainable?

More From Morningstar

Read: Mind the Gap 2026

Leyla Kunimoto: Why Investors in Private Markets Need a Louder Voice

Will Danoff: ‘Be Very Careful of Unprofitable Companies’

Don Phillips: Encouraging Better Outcomes for Investors

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnsonon LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy.Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filterand Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on the podcast we welcome back Nick Maggiulli. He’s the author of a new book called The Wealth Ladder: Proven Strategies for Every Step of Your Financial Life. His first book was called Just Keep Buying. In addition, Nick writes a wonderful blog called Of Dollars and Data, which is focused on the intersection between data and personal finance. In his day job, Nick is the Chief Operating Officer and Data Scientist at Ritholtz Wealth Management. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Writing The Wealth Ladder

00:05:30 The Six Levels of the Wealth Ladder

00:09:52 How Wealth Changes Across Net-Worth Levels

00:16:16 Why People Rarely Fall Down the Wealth Ladder

00:21:00 Spending Rules and the 0.01% Rule

00:29:25 Career Choices, Income, and Opportunity Costs

00:37:42 Investment Risks and Ascending the Wealth Ladder

00:44:29 Money, Happiness, and Life Beyond Wealth

More From Morningstar

Jim O’Shaughnessy: Investing Lessons From a Lifelong Learner

Dan Haylett: ‘The Retirement You Didn’t See Coming’

David Bach: ‘Start Enjoying Your Life Sooner’

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our guest on the podcast today is Stefan Sharkansky. Stefan is a Ph.D. statistician who specializes in finance. He wrote a provocatively titled paper, “The Only Other Spending Rule Article You Will Ever Need,” which was published in the Financial Analyst Journal. Stefan has also developed a related website called, The Best Third, designed to help people with their retirement spending plans and portfolio structures. In addition, he developed and operates the website https://personalfund.com/, which provides proprietary cost analysis of mutual funds to financial advisors. Stefan has a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.S. in computer science from Stanford University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Washington.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:43 Why the 4% Rule Can Lead to Underspending

00:07:23 TIPS Ladders vs. Retirement Annuities

00:08:48 Reducing Fixed Spending and Stock Allocation

00:12:09 Why Individual TIPS Beat TIPS Funds

00:18:53 A Formula for Stock Portfolio Withdrawals

00:23:54 Historical Returns vs. Monte Carlo Simulations

00:29:30 Should Retirees Diversify Globally?

00:32:23 Leaving a Bequest Without Underspending

More From The Long View

Brett Arends: Worried About Outliving Your Money? There’s an Answer

Dana Anspach: Don’t Let Fear Ruin Your Retirement

Bill Bengen: ‘Inflation Is the Greatest Enemy of Retirees’

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our guest on the podcast today is Ryan Frederick, an author, speaker, and entrepreneur focused on the intersection of place and healthy longevity. As founder and CEO of HERE, he provides content courses and coaching in place planning, a holistic, research-based approach to help people find the right place for every stage of life. He’s also the author of Right Place, Right Time, a book that helps individuals think through housing decisions for the second half of life. In addition, Ryan provides strategy consulting to organizations looking to create better places, including Fortune 500 companies, institutional investors, health systems, and housing developers and operators. He’s also a member of the Advisory Council for the Stanford Center on Longevity. He previously served on the National Advisory Board of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and was a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center Task Force on Health and Housing. He’s a graduate of Princeton University and Stanford Business School.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Senior Living, Longevity, and 100-Year Life Planning

00:08:39 How Place Influences Health as You Age

00:10:37 The Four Pillars of Place Planning

00:16:19 Income’s Impact on Housing, Home Equity, and Limitations of Aging in Place

00:30:01 Place Planning Tools and Building Community

00:41:43 New Housing Models, Cohousing, and Age Diversity

00:49:13 Continuing Care Retirement Communities and Healthy Aging Dashboards

More From Morningstar

Your Retirement Countdown, With Christine Benz

Harry Margolis: How to Confront Aging Challenges Head-On

Joy Loverde: Planning Ahead for Care Needs as You Get Older

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our guest on the podcast today is Brett Arends. Brett has been a columnist for MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal, and other Dow Jones publications since 2007. His regular column for MarketWatch is called ROI, and he has also written for SmartMoney, TheStreet.com, and the Boston Herald. In addition, Brett has written several books including Storm-Proof Your Money: Weather Any Economy, Rebuild Your Portfolio, Protect Your Future. Brett took a double first in history at Cambridge University and did postgraduate research at Oxford University. He’s also a chartered financial consultant.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Financial Journalism Origins and Early Stock-Picking Lessons

00:11:12 Comparing the AI Boom to Dot-Com Bubble

00:21:53 Diversification, Index Funds, and AI Bubble Risk

00:26:25 Why Private Securities Are a Bad Deal

00:33:09 Why TIPS Are Attractive Under Rising Inflation

00:38:10 Generating Retirement Income and Immediate Annuities

00:45:35 Social Security and Policy Risks

More From Morningstar

GQG: Why We Are Still in an AI Stock Market Bubble

Jeremy Grantham: ‘Almost Everything Looks More Attractive Than the US Equity Market’

How to Use TIPS in Your Portfolio

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

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Today on the podcast, we welcome back Dana Anspach. Dana’s the author of a new book about retirement called Living Off Your Acorns: Your Guide to the Four Phases of Retirement. This is her third book. Earlier books are Control Your Retirement Destiny and Social Security Sense. Dana is also founder and CEO of the financial planning firm Sensible Money, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, and she has been practicing as a financial planner since 1995. In addition, Dana’s the author of the lecture series, How to Plan for the Perfect Retirement, available on The Great Courses, and she has been blogging about her own retirement journey on The Retirement Manifesto website.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 The “Pre-Go” Phase, Unplanned Early Retirement, and Working Longer

00:10:19 “Retirement Red Zone” Risks, Two-Bucket Strategy, and Building a Bond Ladder

00:17:34 Balancing Guaranteed Income and Annuities

00:21:54 TIPS, Cash Flow Projections, and Getting Comfortable Spending

00:31:33 Strategies for Long-Term Care

00:36:19 Planning the Transition to Retirement

00:40:34 Estimating Longevity, Lost Decade Potential, and Inflation Risk

00:46:11 Minimizing Taxes and Mitigating Financial Fraud Risk

More From Morningstar

Dana Anspach and Fritz Gilbert: ‘This Is What a Joyful Retirement Could Feel Like’

Adam Grossman: Asset Allocation Is an Investor’s Best Defense

Bill Bengen: ‘Inflation Is the Greatest Enemy of Retirees’

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

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Our guests on the podcast today are Cody Garrett and Sean Mullaney. They’re both advice-only financial planners, and they’re the co-authors of a new book called Tax Planning To and Through Early Retirement. Cody is a certified financial planner and the founder of Measure Twice Money, where he helps DIY investors make informed decisions aligned with their values. He also leads Measure Twice Planners, which is an educational community for financial planners. Sean Mullaney is a certified public accountant and head of Mullaney Financial & Tax. He also writes the blog, TheFITaxGuy.com, which is focused on the intersection between financial independence and taxes.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:27 Defining Early Retirement, the 4% Rule, and Withdrawal Strategies

00:11:03 Fear-Based Tax Narratives and Retirement Calculators

00:15:10 Rethinking Future Tax Rate Assumptions

00:23:14 Retirement Savings Tax Trade-Offs

00:30:08 Taxable Accounts in Early Retirement

00:32:29 Backdoor Roth IRAs, Asset Allocation, and Sequence Risk

00:44:03 RMDs, Roth Conversions, and Retirement Planning Tools

More From Morningstar

Bill Bengen: ‘Inflation Is the Greatest Enemy of Retirees’

A Tax-Smart Plan for In-Retirement Withdrawals in 3 Steps

Morningstar’s Tax-Planning and IRA Resources for 2026

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

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Today on the podcast, we’re delighted to welcome back Jeremy Grantham to discuss his book, The Making of a Permabear: The Perils of Long-term Investing in a Short-term World, which he co-authored with Edward Chancellor. Jeremy is the long-term investment strategist at his namesake firm, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Company, or GMO, which he co-founded in 1977. He serves on GMO’s asset-allocation committee and board of directors. Prior to GMO, Jeremy was co-founder of Batterymarch Financial Management and, before that, was an economist at Royal Dutch Shell. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Sheffield and his MBA from Harvard University. Jeremy is a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, holds a CBE from the UK, and is a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. In 1997, he and his family started the Grantham Foundation for the protection of the environment, which supports research and action to address climate change.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Writing Permabear With Edward Chancellor

00:06:44 Value Investing and Identifying Market Bubbles

00:15:07 Current Market Outlook and Valuation Risks

00:20:28 Value Discipline, SpaceX’s IPO, and Past Market Bubbles

00:27:26 Speculative Trading, Indexing, and Zero‑Sum Markets

00:34:24 Market Inefficiencies, Small-Cap Stocks, and the Greater Fool Theory

00:43:27 Artificial Intelligence Hype, Attractive Assets, and Market Pessimism

00:47:02 Climate Risks, Resource Constraints, and Shrinking Populations

More From Morningstar

3 Warnings for Investors From the Ultimate Contrarian

Ben Carlson: Exploring Risk and Reward

What Today’s Index ETFs Get Right, and Wrong, for Investors

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

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We’re taping this podcast live at the Morningstar Investment Conference, where we’re delighted to be joined by Fidelity’s Will Danoff. Will runs a number of Fidelity equity strategies, the best known of which is Fidelity Contrafund FCNTX, a mutual fund he’s been managing since September 1990. Morningstar named Will its Domestic-Stock Manager of the Year in 2007. Prior to becoming a portfolio manager, Will served as a retail analyst at Fidelity and assistant portfolio manager at Fidelity Magellan FMAGX. He graduated from Harvard University and earned his MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Will, welcome back to The Long View.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:56 Investing Origins and Early Influences

00:00:53 Retail Analysis and Unit Economics

00:10:29 Reg FD Changes and Adapting Research Processes

00:15:00 Identifying Durable Competitive Advantages

00:19:24 SpaceX and Buying Private Companies

00:22:40 Investing Mistakes and Avoiding Unprofitable Companies

More From Morningstar

2026 Morningstar Investment Conference: From SpaceX to Safeguarding Retirement

Here’s Fidelity Contrafund’s Will Danoff’s Secret Sauce

As Legendary Manager Will Danoff Leaves Fidelity, Should Investors Follow Him Out the Door?

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

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Today’s guests are Morningstar’s Brian Moriarty and Jack Shannon. Brian is a principal, fixed-income strategies, for Morningstar. Before assuming his current role in 2015, Brian was a client solutions consultant for Morningstar Office, a practice and portfolio management system for independent financial advisors. Before joining Morningstar in 2013, he was a research assistant for DePaul University’s religious studies department. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree in Islamic world studies from DePaul University.

Jack Shannon is a principal, equity strategies, for Morningstar. He focuses on actively managed equity strategies and is the lead analyst for MFS and Artisan Partners, among other firms. Before joining Morningstar in 2020, Jack worked in commercial banking and was a consultant providing subject-matter expertise on complex financial litigation. Jack holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from James Madison University. He also holds a master’s of business administration in investments and corporate finance from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:06 What are Private Markets, and What Investment Opportunities Do They Provide?

00:03:13 Do Semiliquid Funds Provide Easier Access to Private Markets?

00:05:57 Applying Morningstar Processes to Evaluate Private Markets

00:09:50 Managing Liquidity in Private Market Investments

00:18:48 Valuation and Transparency: Putting Private Assets Under the Microscope

00:24:07 Payment in Kind as a Valuation Concern

00:28:02 Public vs. Private Markets: Understanding Risk, Language, and Infrastructure Differences

00:39:28 Building Methodology to Explain Private Asset Fees and Incentive Structures

00:44:22 What Morningstar Medalist Ratings Signal for Semiliquid Funds

More From Morningstar

Morningstar’s Guide to Public/Private Investing

Private Equity Funds Step Into the Spotlight

Private Credit Pricing: Are Prosecutors Opening Up Pandora’s Box?

If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.

Follow Christine Benz (@christine_benz) and Ben Johnson (@MstarBenJohnson) on X, and Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson on LinkedIn. Visit https://www.morningstar.com/ for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy. Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

If you want more Morningstar podcasts, check out The Morning Filter and Investing Insights.

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