Investing Insights

There's just something about dividends. The popular investing strategy attracts retirees and other investors who need regular cash payouts, as well as those who like the tangible return dividends represent, even if they are reinvesting those distributions back into their portfolio. But what are the tradeoffs, and are they worth it? It depends on who you ask.

From the pages of the Q2 2026 issue of Morningstar Magazine, several specialists argue against chasing higher yield. Instead, they encourage investors to balance dividends and total return. Jerry Kerns, who's the editor in chief, joins Investing Insights to discuss the magazine’s spotlight. 

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On this episode: 

00:00:00 Welcome 

00:01:35 What dividend investing is and its appeal 

00:03:55 Yield chasing trade-offs and dividend cut signals 

00:07:47 Why consider buyback yield alongside dividend yield 

00:09:44 Dividend stocks Morningstar analysts find attractive 

00:10:45 Gold-rated funds and insights into the strategies 

00:12:00 How income investors can strike the right balance

 

Watch more from Morningstar: 

Are Mutual Funds Becoming Obsolete? 

https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/investing-insights/are-mutual-funds-becoming-obsolete-2

 

Brace Your Portfolio for Mega-IPOs

https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/investing-insights/brace-your-portfolio-mega-ipos-2

 

The Portfolio That Has Been Beating the Classic 60/40, and Why It Matters for You https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/investing-insights/portfolio-that-has-been-beating-classic-6040-why-it-matters-you-2

 

Follow Morningstar on social: 

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Bryan Armour, Morningstar’s director of ETF and passive strategies research for North America, and Dan Sotiroff, Morningstar’s associate director of US passive strategies research, explain why ETFs and collective investment trusts or CITs are challenging mutual funds.

How Active ETFs Are Reshaping Fund Fees

 

On this episode:

00:00:00 Welcome 

00:01:30 How ETFs and mutual funds are alike and different

00:03:34 What investors prefer now 

00:06:10 Cases when owning a mutual fund instead of an ETF could be beneficial 

00:09:58 Are ETFs still synonymous with passive investing?

00:12:33 Notable names behind the active ETF launches

00:14:58 Are mutual funds an endangered species?

 

Watch more from Morningstar:

Brace Your Portfolio for Mega-IPOs

The Portfolio That Has Been Beating the Classic 60/40, and Why It Matters for You

The Best Opportunities for Fund Investors Today

 

Follow Morningstar on social: 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MorningstarInc/ 

X https://x.com/MorningstarInc 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/morningstarinc/?hl=en 

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/morningstar/posts/?feedView=all 

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2026 is the year of the mega-IPO. SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI are working their way through the pipeline as anticipation builds for their blockbuster debuts. Elon Musk’s conglomerate is leading the shift from private to public markets. Demand is appearing to skyrocket to buy the companies the moment their stocks are publicly available. But is that the right move if you’re investing for the long term? Or are there better opportunities among stocks that are down on fears of AI competition, such as software as a service, or SaaS, stocks? These big private firms’ public arrivals will also affect index funds and 401(k)s. 

 

So what should you make of all this? Paul Condra is the global head of private markets research for PitchBook, a Morningstar company. He and his colleagues are presenting this topic at the upcoming Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago.

 

Why We Think the SpaceX IPO Is Overvalued

 

On this episode:

00:00:00 Welcome

00:01:46 Why SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI Are Going Public Now

00:03:10 Why Morningstar Values SpaceX at Half the IPO Price

00:04:34 How Retail Investors Should Approach Buying SpaceX Stock

00:05:56Anthropic's IPO and Its Trillion-Dollar Valuation

00:07:12 OpenAI's Broken Economics and IPO Prospects

00:08:47 New Index Rules and What They Mean for Your 401(k)

 

Watch more from Morningstar:

The Portfolio That Has Been Beating the Classic 60/40, and Why It Matters for You

https://www.morningstar.com/portfolios/portfolio-that-has-been-beating-classic-6040-why-it-matters-you

The Best Opportunities for Fund Investors Today

https://www.morningstar.com/funds/best-opportunities-fund-investors-today

Will Vacation Inflation Affect Your Summer Travel? Here’s What to Know

https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/will-vacation-inflation-affect-your-summer-travel-heres-what-know

 

Follow Morningstar on social:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MorningstarInc/

X https://x.com/MorningstarInc

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/morningstarinc/?hl=en

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/morningstar/posts/?feedView=all

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Don't underestimate the benefits of portfolio diversification. A well-diversified portfolio can ride waves of market volatility, and new Morningstar research found that's what happened in 2025. When uncertainty emerged at times during the generally bullish market, the report identifies which asset classes performed well, which didn't, and how the classic 60/40 portfolio fared. So, what are the biggest challenges for portfolio diversification today? Amy Arnott is one of the co-authors of the 2026 Diversification Landscape Report.

Why Portfolio Diversification Has Paid Off—but More Isn’t Always Better

 

On this episode:

00:00:00 Welcome 

00:01:19 Market trends shaping investor sentiment in 2026 

00:02:27 Leading and lagging asset classes year to date 

00:03:15 Inside Morningstar's 2026 Diversification Landscape Report 

00:04:11 60/40 vs. diversified test portfolio and how each performed 

00:07:38 Rising inflation and what it means for bonds 

00:10:48 How retirees and risk-averse investors can manage volatility

 

Watch more from Morningstar:

The Best Opportunities for Fund Investors Today

Will Vacation Inflation Affect Your Summer Travel? Here’s What to Know

Bond ETF Flows Just Flipped. Here’s What It Means for You

 

Follow Morningstar on social:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MorningstarInc/

X https://x.com/MorningstarInc

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/morningstarinc/?hl=en

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/morningstar/posts/?feedView=all

 

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Morningstar stamps what it thinks about a fund’s future with this Medalist Rating. You’ve probably seen a star with the word Gold, Silver, or Bronze next to a fund you were researching on Morningstar.com. This represents the fund’s Morningstar Medalist Rating. The manager research team recently reworked and simplified how they judge funds to create a simpler process for investors to understand. The new methodology also brings more transparency and stability. Some funds’ ratings rose, while others fell or held steady. What were the key factors that led to the upgrades and downgrades, and which funds gained or lost status?

Morningstar Senior Principal of Ratings Russ Kinnel was in a room where it happened. Russ, who is also the editor of Morningstar FundInvestor, is here to talk about it.

How Morningstar’s New Medalist Rating Methodology Affects 11 of America’s Largest Funds

On this episode:

00:00:00 Welcome

00:01:33 Why Morningstar refreshed its Medalist Rating methodology

00:02:43 How the new criteria evaluate active and passive funds

00:03:07 Rating changes across fund categories and equity style boxes

00:04:09 Fidelity Contrafund, Pimco Income, and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index reviewed

00:06:25 Upgrades for target date, bank loan, and allocation funds

00:08:44 High fees trigger downgrades for some funds

 

Watch more from Morningstar:

Will Vacation Inflation Affect Your Summer Travel? Here’s What to Know

https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/will-vacation-inflation-affect-your-summer-travel-heres-what-know

Bond ETF Flows Just Flipped. Here’s What It Means for You

https://www.morningstar.com/bonds/bond-etf-flows-just-flipped-heres-what-it-means-you

How Big Tech’s Bond Spree and Rising US Debt Are Creating Risks and Opportunities

https://www.morningstar.com/bonds/how-big-techs-bond-spree-rising-us-debt-are-creating-risks-opportunities

 

Follow Morningstar on social:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MorningstarInc/

X https://x.com/MorningstarInc

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/morningstarinc/?hl=en

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/morningstar/posts/?feedView=all

 

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