The Long View

Our guest on the podcast today is Mike Piper. Mike is the author of several personal finance books, the latest of which is called Household Cybersecurity: A CPA’s Guide to Protecting Your Accounts and Personal Information. Mike also writes a wonderful blog called Oblivious Investor, and he’s developed a free tool exploring Social Security claiming decisions called Open Social Security. One thing we loved about the conversation with Mike and about Mike’s book is his attention to the interplay between cybercrimes and cognitive decline as we age. He has a lot of helpful tips for troubleshooting that issue. One of the really interesting points he made was that financial problems can actually be an early warning sign of cognitive decline for an older parent or other family member. Mike shared simple, helpful tips that are easy to implement, including why you should create a guest network that’s separate from your main network at home, and how that can improve your cybersecurity.
Episode Highlights
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:41 Why Cybercrime Is Increasing
00:04:10 How AI Is Making Scams More Convincing
00:08:25 How to Spot Cyber Fraud
00:15:21 How to Create Stronger Passwords
00:19:25 Multifactor Authentication and Passkeys
00:33:27 How to Secure Devices and Home Networks
00:36:53 Are Bank or Investment Accounts Safer?
00:39:21 Can Financial Problems Signal Cognitive Decline?
00:45:24 When to Bring in a Financial Professional
More from The Long View
Dana Anspach: Don’t Let Fear Ruin Your Retirement
Erin Moriarity: My Dad Lost About $1.5 Million on Bad Investments. Here’s How to Avoid His Mistakes
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.

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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 Highlights
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:52 Modeling US Retirement Outcomes
00:07:06 Is There a Retirement Crisis?
00:11:17 Evaluating Retirement Policy Reform
00:14:49 Planning for Social Security Changes
00:18:01 Access, Auto‑Enrollment, and Accumulation
00:21:14 How the Saver’s Match Works
00:30:52 Turning Savings Into Retirement Income
00:34:45 Planning for Long-Term-Care Costs and Longevity
More from The Long View
Jean 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.

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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 Highlights
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:21 Early Financial Education
00:04:14 Bringing Financial Advice to the Middle Class
00:14:16 Rethinking Conventional Retirement Wisdom
00:19:07 Psychology of Saving to Spending
00:20:59 Planning for Long-Term-Care Costs
00:26:53 Can You Count on Social Security?
00:32:20 Annuities and Protecting Your Finances as You Age
00:42:05 Lessons From Financial Mistakes
More from The Long View
Stefan 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.

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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 Highlights
00:00:00 Why the History of Bond Market Matters
00:09:38 Venice and the Birth of Bonds
00:16:34 How Britain Shaped America’s Financial System
00:24:48 The Poyais Bond Scam
00:30:13 Railroad Capex and AI Spending
00:37:08 Jay Cooke and The Father of Junk Bonds
00:41:55 The Rise of Credit Ratings
00:47:07 How Bond Markets Replaced Banks
00:57:11 How Much Debt Can the US Carry?
More From The Long View
Wade 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.


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Our guest on the podcast today is Elliott Appel. He’s a financial planner and the founder of Kindness Financial Planning. He’s also an author. His latest book is called How to Help Your Parents As They Age: A Financial Planner’s Guide to Caregiving, which chronicles his father’s last years and the key lessons he learned along the way. He’s also co-host of his own podcast called the ME and Money Podcast. We really loved this conversation because Elliott provided so many tangible tips that people can use to help their parents, and his personal story really provides a lot of color.
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 Highlights
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:23 Financial Planning Through Life Transitions
00:03:22 Appel’s Journey Planning for His Father
00:08:45 How an Eldercare Consultant Can Help
00:13:03 Estate Planning and Choosing the Right Power of Attorney
00:17:05 Guardrails for Aging Parents’ Finances
00:24:43 Put Parents on Your Cellphone Plan
00:27:17 Navigating Healthcare, Housing, and Care Transitions
00:33:59 Managing Caregiver Stress and Burnout
00:43:31 Rethinking Aging and Death in the US
More From The Long View
Beth Pinsker: Lessons From ‘My Mother’s Money’
Kathleen Rehl: Helping Widows and the Advisors Who Serve Them
Sally Balch Hurme: Getting Your Affairs in Order as You Get Older
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.