Morningstar to Hold Free Online Conference for Individual Investors on March 21

CHICAGO, Feb. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Individual investors will learn strategies for building better portfolios from Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN) analysts and other investing specialists on Saturday, March 21, 2015, during the company's annual online conference. The Individual Investor Conference is a free webcast and features a variety of analysts regularly seen on Morningstar.com®, the company's investor website.

"We invite individual investors to join us for a live, interactive conference that's centered on portfolio-building strategies. Our agenda features knowledgeable voices who will discuss today's market, how to make an in-retirement portfolio last, model portfolios for pre-retirees, topnotch mutual funds for a variety of needs, and how to invest in dividend-paying stocks," Jason Stipp, editor of Morningstar.com, said. "We enjoyed engaging with last year's conference attendees, and we look forward again this year to providing ideas so individuals can develop a plan and select the best investments to meet their financial goals."  

The conference will kick off at 9 a.m. Central Time with an overview of the current economic and market environment, "Today's Market". The session will feature Bob Johnson, CFA, director of economic analysis, Morningstar; Susan J. Schmidt, CFA, managing director for U.S. equities, Mesirow Financial; and Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist, Northern Trust. With equity valuations looking full, the market coming off a five-plus-year rally, and the Federal Reserve expected to begin raising rates, this session will offer ideas so investors can set realistic expectations for their portfolios.

Other sessions will follow:

• 10 a.m., "Making Money Last in Retirement": Mark Miller, author, columnist for Reuters and Morningstar, and blogger for RetirementRevised.com; and Christine Benz, Morningstar's director of personal finance, will delve into one of the most vexing issues for retirees—selecting a withdrawal rate that will not deplete assets too quickly. This panel will cover how investors can customize the 4 percent rule to fit their needs, optimize for tax savings, and monitor their situation over time.  
• 11 a.m., "Model Portfolios for Retirement Savers": Benz will walk through the model portfolios she designed to help retirement savers benefit from the extra diversification and potentially higher returns that allocations to foreign holdings and small-cap stocks can bring.
• 12 p.m., "Morningstar Medalists: What Makes the Best Funds Shine": Learn about the Morningstar Analyst Rating™ and the five-pillar process Morningstar uses to identify funds poised to outperform their peers. This 30-minute video will also cover how Morningstar manager research analysts monitor the ratings over time and how investors can use Gold, Silver, and Bronze—or Medalist—funds to build stronger portfolios.
• 12:30 p.m., "Cream of the Crop: Favorite Funds in All Flavors": Morningstar's Russ Kinnel, director of manager research; Sarah Bush, senior manager research analyst; and Shannon Zimmerman, senior investment consultant for Morningstar's Investment Management group, will discuss Morningstar's favorite funds across the investment universe.
• 1:30 p.m., "Morningstar's Dividend Playbook": With bond yields remaining at all-time lows, the search for income remains a hot topic for investors. In this in-depth session, Josh Peters, CFA, editor of Morningstar® DividendInvestor ^SM and director of equity-income strategy, will walk investors through his approach for uncovering sustainable and growing dividends.

Register for the free Morningstar Individual Investor Conference at http://www.morningstar.com/conference. Follow the conference conversation on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MorningstarInc or with the hashtag #MIIC2015. Speakers will answer questions from participants live during the conference. To submit questions in advance, email [email protected].  

About Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on approximately 479,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 13 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries and had approximately $169 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2014. The company has operations in 27 countries.

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.

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