06/18/2026
That's a wrap on 2026! ๐ก ๐ ๐
A packed second day at the Morningstar Investment Conference US. covered everything from portfolio construction to client psychology.
Key takeaways included:
๐๏ธ ๐ฃ๐๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ + ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด Blackstone's Jon Gray and Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor urged advisors to treat private markets as a strategic allocation, not a product pick. "Think of yourself more as an institution," Gray said. He's bullish on AI-driven productivity gains but now looks for investment committee memos to answer one question: "What is the AI risk to this business?"
๐ก๏ธ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ Dana Anspach, Christine Benz, and Michael Finke broke down the biggest threats to retirement securityโearly inflation, market timing, and long-term care. Their advice: build an income ladder to cover the first 5โ10 years of spending, stress-test for early/involuntary retirement, and start the "pre-go" planning phase a full decade out.
๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐๐ต Dimensional Fund Advisors founder & chairman, David Booth joined Morningstar's Bridget Hughes to reflect on evidence-based investing since his University of Chicago days. His core message: stay calm, stay invested, and let public markets' transparency and liquidity do the work. "People need to be more optimistic and confident. You need to stay invested."
Three sessions, one common thread: discipline and clear thinking beat prediction and noiseโwhether you're allocating across asset classes, building a retirement plan, or weathering market cycles.
Special thanks to all our speakers, guests, and attendees from the conference that made this year's one for the books!
