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The Long View

The Long View

Written by: Morningstar Christine Benz - Director of Personal Finance and Retirement Planning Ben Johnson - Head of Client Solutions Amy Arnott - Portfolio Strategist
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Empowering long-term investors with actionable insights on retirement, personal finance, and portfolio strategy. Hosts Christine Benz, Amy Arnott, and Ben Johnson talk with influential leaders in finance and investing every Wednesday.2025 Morningstar, Inc. Careers Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Finance Personal Success
Episodes
  • Spencer Look and Jack VanDerhei: The Assumptions That Can Put Your Retirement at Risk

    Spencer Look and Jack VanDerhei: The Assumptions That Can Put Your Retirement at Risk
    Oct 13 2026
    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 Highlights00:00:00 Introduction00:02:52 Modeling US Retirement Outcomes00:07:06 Is There a Retirement Crisis?00:11:17 Evaluating Retirement Policy Reform00:14:49 Planning for Social Security Changes00:18:01 Access, Auto‑Enrollment, and Accumulation00:21:14 How the Saver’s Match Works00:30:52 Turning Savings Into Retirement Income00:34:45 Planning for Long-Term-Care Costs and LongevityMore from The Long ViewJean 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 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.
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    53 mins
  • Erin Moriarity: My Dad Lost About $1.5 Million on Bad Investments. Here’s How to Avoid His Mistakes

    Erin Moriarity: My Dad Lost About $1.5 Million on Bad Investments. Here’s How to Avoid His Mistakes
    Oct 6 2026
    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 Highlights00:00:00 Introduction00:01:21 Early Financial Education00:04:14 Bringing Financial Advice to the Middle Class00:14:16 Rethinking Conventional Retirement Wisdom00:19:07 Psychology of Saving to Spending00:20:59 Planning for Long-Term-Care Costs00:26:53 Can You Count on Social Security?00:32:20 Annuities and Protecting Your Finances as You Age00:42:05 Lessons From Financial MistakesMore from The Long ViewStefan 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 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.
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    49 mins
  • Robin Wigglesworth: Why Bonds Are Behind Every Financial Boom and Bust

    Robin Wigglesworth: Why Bonds Are Behind Every Financial Boom and Bust
    Sep 29 2026
    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 Highlights00:00:00 Why the History of Bond Market Matters00:09:38 Venice and the Birth of Bonds00:16:34 How Britain Shaped America’s Financial System00:24:48 The Poyais Bond Scam00:30:13 Railroad Capex and AI Spending00:37:08 Jay Cooke and The Father of Junk Bonds00:41:55 The Rise of Credit Ratings00:47:07 How Bond Markets Replaced Banks00:57:11 How Much Debt Can the US Carry?More From The Long ViewWade 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 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.
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    1 hr and 8 mins
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