The Long View

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 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 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 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 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 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 pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.