Our guest on the podcast today is Mike Piper. He is the author of several personal finance books, the latest of which is called More Than Enough: A Brief Guide to the Questions That Arise After Realizing You Have More Than You Need. Other books include, After the Death of Your Spouse; Can I Retire?; Social Security Made Simple; Taxes Made Simple; and Investing Made Simple. Mike also writes a wonderful blog called Oblivious Investor, and he has developed a free tool for exploring Social Security-claiming decisions. It’s called Open Social Security. Mike is a certified public accountant.Background & BooksBioOblivious InvestorOpen Social Security“Mike Piper: Delaying Social Security Not Always a Good Deal,” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, April 27, 2021.More Than Enough: A Brief Guide to Questions That Arise After Realizing You Have More Than You NeedAfter the Death of Your Spouse: Next Financial Steps for Surviving SpousesCan I Retire?Social Security Made SimpleTaxes Made SimpleInvesting Made SimpleTax Strategies“How Much Can I Give Per Year Without Having to Pay Tax?” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com.“401(k) Rollover: Where, Why, and How,” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com.“Tax Planning Begins When Building Your Portfolio. Here’s What to Know,” by Kate Dore, cnbc.com, June 7, 2022.“Roth Conversion Planning: A Step-by-Step Approach,” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, July 5, 2021.Social Security“Social Security Strategies for Married Couples,” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, Jan. 1, 2020.“The Three Biggest Social Security Misconceptions,” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, April 11, 2022.Charitable Giving“Deduction Bunching: Tax Planning Strategy for Charitable Giving,” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, Jan. 1, 2022.“What’s the Point of a Donor-Advised Funds?” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, Feb. 28, 2022.“Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs): How Do They Work, and Are They the Best Option for Charitable Giving?” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, Nov. 22, 2021.Asset Allocation“Calculator for Backtesting a Portfolio or Asset Allocation (Also Monte Carlo Simulations),” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, Sept. 12, 2022.“How Much Cash Should a Retirement Savings Portfolio Include?” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, Aug. 16, 2021.“Simplifying a Retirement Bucket Portfolio,” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, July 8, 2019.Other“Personal Representative vs. Trustee: What’s the Difference?” by Mike Piper, obliviousinvestor.com, May 22, 2023.

Hi, and welcome to The Long View. I’m Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar. Our guest on the podcast today is Aswath Damodaran. Damodaran is a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and he has been called the dean of valuation. He has written several books on equity valuation, investment management, and corporate finance. This interview was recorded at the Morningstar Investment Conference in April 2023.BackgroundBioBooks by Aswath DamodaranInterest Rates and Inflation“Inflation and Investing: Is the Genie Out of the Bottle?” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business.“In Search of a Steady State: Inflation, Interest Rates, and Value,” by Aswath Damodaran, Musings on Markets blog, May 6, 2022.“A Follow Up on Inflation: The Disparate Effects on Company Values!” by Aswath Damodaran, Musings on Markets blog, May 20, 2022.“Malaise in Market Will Last Longer if Investors Behave Like It’s the ‘70s: Aswath Damodaran,” by Nikhil Agarwal, The Economic Times, Sept. 27, 2022.Equity Risk Premium“Country Default Spreads and Risk Premiums,” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business, Jan. 5, 2023.“Equity Risk Premiums (ERP): Determinants, Estimation, and Implications—The 2022 Edition,” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business, March 23, 2022.“Equity Risk Premiums,” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business.Buybacks“Data Update 7 for 2023: Dividends, Buybacks, and Cash Flows,” by Aswath Damodaran, Musings on Markets blog, March 8, 2023.“Aswath Damodaran: The History of Buybacks,” GuruFocus.com, Aug. 29, 2019.ESG“The ESG Movement: The ‘Goodness’ Gravy Train Rolls On,” by Aswath Damodaran, Musings on Markets blog, Sept. 14, 2021.“Valuing ESG: Doing Good or Sounding Good?” by Bradford Cornell and Aswath Damodaran, Portfolio Management Research, Fall 2020.“Professor Damodaran’s Latest ESG Takedown Overlooks One Important Group of Investors,” by Adam Fleck, Morningstar.com, April 1, 2022.Valuation and Capital Allocation“Closure in Valuation: Estimating Terminal Value,” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business.“My Valuation Journey: Have Faith, You Must!” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business, June 2020.“3 Fund Portfolio: How to Save for Retirement With Just Three Investments,” by Carla Fried, Forbes, July 15, 2022.Other“Michael Mauboussin: Finding Easy Games,” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, Jan. 25, 2022.Expectations Investing: Reading Stock Prices for Better Returns, by Michael Mauboussin and Alfred Rappaport.

Today on the podcast, we welcome back financial planning guru and Michael Kitces. I recently had the chance to catch up with Michael to get his take on asset allocation, specifically whether higher yields should have an impact on where investors hold their money. Today’s podcast is a recording of that conversation. Michael is the head of planning strategy for Buckingham Strategic Wealth, co-founder of XY Planning Network and AdvicePay and is the chief financial planning nerd—and yes, that’s his real title—for the advisor education platform Kitces.com and the Nerd’s Eye View blog. You can follow him via Twitter @MichaelKitces or on LinkedIn.BackgroundBioXY Planning NetworkAdvicePayBuckingham Strategic [email protected] Safe Assets“Where Should Investors Stash Their Safe Money Today?” Video interview with Michael Kitces and Christine Benz, Morningstar.com, April 19, 2023.“Kitces: Where to Park 3 Types of Client Cash,” by Dinah Wisenberg Brin, thinkadvisor.com, April 20, 2023.“Client Cash Management: Why It’s Important, and the Next Generation of Technology to Make It Better,” by Ben Henry-Moreland, kitces.com, Aug. 22, 2022.MaxMyInterestRising Yields, Asset Allocation, Retirement Withdrawals“How Rising Yields Should Affect Asset Allocation for Retirees, Preretirees,” Video interview with Michael Kitces and Christine Benz, Morningstar.com, May 3, 2023.“The ‘Yield-Split’ Method of Asset Allocation to Improve Tax Efficiency of Index Funds,” by Chris Murray, kitces.com, March 30, 2022.“Increasing Retirement Withdrawal Rates Through Asset Allocation,” by Michael Kitces and Wade Pfau, aaii.com.“8 Inflation Conversations for Financial Advisors to Have With Clients,” by Ben Henry-Moreland, kitces.com, April 27, 2022.“Is Private Debt Worth Considering as an (Alternative) Asset Class in Client Portfolios?” by Larry Swedroe, kitces.com, Jan. 18, 2023.“The Extraordinary Upside Potential of Sequence of Return Risk in Retirement,” by Michael Kitces, kitces.com, Feb. 20, 2019.Other“Kitces: ‘The Model Has to Change Again,’” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, June 5, 2019.“Michael Kitces: Does Portfolio Customization Pay Off?” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, Aug. 23, 2022.

Our guest this week is Liz Ann Sonders. Liz Ann is managing director and chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. In her role, Liz Ann is responsible for conducting market and economic analysis, which she and her team publish in a variety of forms. She also regularly appears in the financial media and was recently named to Barron’s Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Women in Finance” list. Liz Ann joined Schwab in 2000 when the firm acquired her prior employer, U.S. Trust. Before that, she was a managing director and senior portfolio manager at Avatar Associates. Liz Ann received her bachelor’s from the University of Delaware and her MBA from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business.We recorded this interview live from the main stage of the annual Morningstar Investment Conference, which was recently held in Chicago, Illinois.BackgroundBio“Liz Ann Sonders: ‘We Could See Some Inflation Scares,’” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, Jan. 6, 2021.Secular and Cyclical Looks“What the End of the ‘Great Moderation Era’ Means for Investors: Morning Brief,” by Jared Blikre, news.yahoo.com, March 2, 2023.“Market Snapshot With Liz Ann Sonders,” video commentary, schwab.com, April 2023.“Helpless? Recession Risks Abound,” by Liz Ann Sonders and Kevin Gordon, schwab.com, Jan. 23, 2023.“Expect Volatility, Rolling Recession, but Watch for Contagion, Schwab’s Sonders Says,” by Tracey Longo, fa-mag.com, March 15, 2023.“Hurts So Good: Jobs Picture Stays Mixed,” by Liz Ann Sonders and Kevin Gordon, schwab.com, Jan. 9, 2023.“Schwab’s Sonders Says Bear Market Hasn’t Yet Hit Bottom,” by Tracey Longo, fa-mag.com, Feb. 7, 2023.Inflation and the Fed“U.S. Stock Market ‘Pretty Expensive’ as Investors Parse Inflation Report in Choppy Trade,” by Christine Idzelis, marketwatch.com, April 12, 2023.“Mixed (Inflation) Signals,” by Liz Ann Sonders and Kevin Gordon, schwab.com, April 17, 2023.“Market Perspective: Searching for Spring,” by Liz Ann Sonders, Kathy Jones, and Jeffrey Kleintop, advisorperspectives.com, Feb. 19, 2023.“Schwab Market Perspective: Top of the Rate Cycle,” by Liz Ann Sonder, Kathy Jones, and Jeffrey Kleintop, schwab.com, April 14, 2023.“Under Pressure: Fed Hikes in Face of Bank Turmoil,” by Liz Ann Sonders, schwab.com, March 22, 2023.Credit Risk and Real EstateSenior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices“A Recession Seems ‘Somewhat Unavoidable’ as Tighter Credit Conditions Reveal More Zombies of the Easy-Money Era, Schwab Strategist Liz Ann Sonders Says,” by Phil Rosen, businessinsider.in, April 7, 2023.“The US Housing Market Is in Recession—and the Pandemic Has Created a Unique Economic Headache, Elite Strategist Liz Ann Sonders Says,” by Theron Mohamed, markets.businessinsider.com, March 8, 2023.Stocks and Earnings“The Price You Pay: A Look at Equity Valuations,” by Liz Ann Sonders and Kevin Gordon, schwab.com, Feb. 21, 2023.“This Indicator Clearly Shows Where Wall Street’s Top Money Managers Expect Stocks to Head Next,” by Sean Williams, Nasdaq.com, April 14, 2023.Growth vs. Value and Asset Allocation“Mysterious Ways: Growth vs. Value Debate,” by Liz Ann Sonders, schwab.com, May 1, 2023.“Elevation: Largest Stocks to Market’s Rescue?” by Liz Ann Sonders and Kevin Gordon, schwab.com, April 3, 2023.

On the podcast today, we welcome back Jonathan Clements, who was among our first guests when we launched this podcast back in 2019. Jonathan is the founder and editor of HumbleDollar, and he is also the editor of a new book called My Money Journey, which is a compilation of essays from 30 individuals about how they found financial freedom. Jonathan also sits on the advisory board of Creative Planning, one of the country’s largest independent financial advisors and is the author of nine personal finance books. Earlier in his career, Jonathan spent almost 20 years at The Wall Street Journal, where he was the newspaper’s personal finance columnist and six years at Citigroup, where he was director of financial education for the bank’s U.S. Wealth Management arm.BackgroundBioHumbleDollarMy Money Journey, edited by Jonathan ClementsCurrent Conditions“What I Don’t Own,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, March 4, 2023.“Happy Talk,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Nov. 19, 2022.“Behaving Badly,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Sept. 18, 2021.“Nine Roads to Ruin,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, March 6, 2021.“New Rules for Success,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Nov. 26, 2022.“Pay It Down,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Aug. 17, 2019.Indexing, Retirement, and Real Estate“Four Questions,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Feb. 22, 2020.“Jonathan’s Portfolio,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com.“Mix and Match,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Dec. 4, 2021.“Risking My Life,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Aug. 8, 2020.“Jonathan’s Retirement,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com.“How to Overhaul Your Retirement Portfolio in Just 7 Days,” by Jonathan Clements, money.com, Jan. 3, 2019.“The Long Game,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Feb. 4, 2023.“Jonathan’s Homes,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com.Theory and Thrift“Helpful in Theory,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Feb. 11, 2023.“Don’t Overdo It,” by Jonathan Clements, humbledollar.com, Jan. 23, 2021.Other“Jonathan Clements: ‘It’s in Wall Street’s Interest to Make Everyday Investors Think That They Are Stupid,’” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, July 31, 2019.“Credit Scores and Committed Relationships,” by Jane Dokko, Geng Li, and Jessica Hayes, federalreserve.gov, August 2015.Morningstar Investment Conference 2023If you’re looking for even more investing insights, data, and analysis, join us at this year’s Morningstar Investment Conference, April 25 through 27 in Chicago. We have a great agenda this year, featuring top financial minds from market gurus like Liz Ann Sonders to great investors like Steve Romick to retirement planning experts like Mary Beth Franklin and Dr. Laura Carstensen. There’s something for everyone looking to tackle the challenges and opportunities for investors in the current market. We’re in-person only this year. So, check out the link in our show notes to register. We’re looking forward to seeing you in Chicago.