2025 Morningstar Investment Conference: How to Invest Today

Investors and advisors converged on Chicago’s Navy Pier for the annual Morningstar Investment Conference on June 25 and 26. The draw: Morningstar’s signature research and analysis, as well as insights from thought leaders across the industry.

The agenda was packed with sessions to choose from. Scroll below for highlights on topics relevant to most investors today, and check out our video interviews with some of the in-house and outside experts who spoke this year. Meanwhile, Morningstar’s editorial director for financial advice Sheryl Rowling shared her panel picks for financial advisors here.

In his keynote address on June 25, Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor offered insights into investing in private markets—his talk was livestreamed on LinkedIn and is available here. To kick off the day on June 26, Kapoor and Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan discussed the challenges and opportunities ahead as public and private markets converge. Watch the recording here.

As Kapoor noted in his keynote speech, due diligence is a must. After all, as Morningstar manager research’s Jack Shannon recently wrote, “there is no guarantee that a private equity fund will outperform a basic public equity ETF.” While asset managers are eagerly developing private asset products for everyday investors, gatekeepers are analyzing the use cases and assessing the risks. On Tuesday, Morningstar manager research’s Jack Shannon spoke with the heads of investment selection at Bank of America, UBS, and Wells Fargo.

Morningstar director of passive strategies research Bryan Armour led a discussion on the logistics of private assets in exchange-traded funds. As private investments make their way into publicly traded exchange-traded funds, everyday investors should learn more before leaping in. In a recent episode of Investing Insights, Armour gave an overview of what investors should know.

Video: Demystifying Private Equity and Private Credit ETFs: What Every Investor Should Know

Cutting Through the Noise

In a year when uncertainty is the watchword, it can be overwhelming to try to sort through all the commentary to make sense of it all. Rick Rieder, BlackRock CIO for global fixed income and the 2023 winner of Morningstar’s Outstanding Portfolio Manager award, is a voice worth listening to. Among other strategies, Rieder runs BlackRock Total Return MAHQX and its ETF counterpart, iShares Total Return Active ETF BRTR, both of which earn a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Gold.

Opening the conference Tuesday morning, Rieder painted a vision of a bright future: Artificial intelligence and robotics will lower inflation and increase productivity—he foresees the average work week going down to 15 hours someday, creating more time for enjoyment and leisure. “In almost four decades,” he said, “I’ve never seen the world shift so quickly.”

Near-term, there are bumps ahead—notably, tariffs. But, Rieder said, “the US economy is going to be fine.”

Philip Straehl, Morningstar’s chief investment officer, Americas, and Dominic Pappalardo, Morningstar’s chief multi-asset strategist, offered up their global midyear outlook. In equity markets, Pappalardo and Straehl see value in international stocks, small caps, global consumer discretionary stocks, and healthcare names. In the fixed-income markets, they recommend a large overweight position in US Treasuries and a slight overweight position in emerging markets. Catch the June 27 Investing Insights podcast for an interview with Pappalardo and Straehl.

Morningstar director Eric Compton, chief US market strategist Dave Sekera, and senior analyst Brian Colello explored the outlook for AI stocks after a yearslong tear. And director Karen Andersen and senior analyst Debbie Wang explained how revolutionary changes in healthcare are poised to drive growth for the sector, from the GLP-1 market in biopharma to new procedures for high blood pressure in medical devices.

Andersen recently published her 2025 Biopharma Industry Outlook, which delves into some of these themes, and gave a preview of the MIC session for Morningstar.com.

Video: The Future of Healthcare

Morningstar equity research director Damien Conover and a slate of sector analysts discussed today’s top trends and strategic opportunities. Dan Romanoff, Travis Miller, and Nicolas Owens explored trends in the technology, utility, and defense industries—and which stocks are best-positioned to benefit from these trends.

Asset Manager Insights

The conference always brings together some of the best portfolio managers for discussions moderated by Morningstar’s manager research analysts. The topics this year ran the gamut from cryptocurrency to municipal bonds, growth stocks to fixed-income alternatives.

The tech giants known as the Magnificent Seven have enjoyed massive returns over the past few years but have seen their stock prices ride a roller coaster over the last few months. What’s the outlook for these mega-sized stocks? Tony Thomas, associate director of equity strategies for Morningstar Research Services, led a discussion with three top large-growth fund managers.

Multi-asset and alternatives analyst Nour Al Twal spoke with managers from BlackRock, Calamos, and Fidelity about finding income and diversification beyond the bond market. Dividend strategies, individual stock selection, and liquid alternatives come with risks, but they can also play a powerful role within a larger portfolio.

Morningstar analyst Stephen Margaria led a panel with experts from T. Rowe Price, Bitwise, and BlackRock on the role of crypto in a diversified portfolio. As ETFs broaden the reach of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, investors have more to consider when it comes to portfolio allocations around this growing asset class.

Margaria recently sat down with BlackRock head of digital assets Robert Mitchnick, who says bitcoin has emerged as a global monetary alternative that can serve as a unique diversifier. (Be careful trying this at home, though: Morningstar portfolio strategist Amy Arnott’s research shows that volatility and equities correlation can make cryptocurrencies tricky to incorporate in a portfolio.)

Video: Bitcoin and Beyond: What Investors Should Know

While cryptocurrencies have surged this year, municipal bonds have lagged. This year’s underperformance notwithstanding, Morningstar strategist Dan Lefkovitz’s research shows that muni bonds are worthy core holdings.

Associate director Beth Foos talked with muni-bond managers from Capital Group, J.P. Morgan, and Pimco about finding opportunities in this volatile market. In a recent interview, Foos spoke with Capital Group’s Courtney Wolf, portfolio manager of Gold-rated American Funds Tax-Exempt Bond TFEBX, about finding compelling muni-bond yields today.

Video: Navigating a Choppy Municipal-Bond Market

Putting It in Perspective

The main stage of the MIC featured interviews with the CEOs of two investment icons. A half century after the launch of Vanguard 500 Index VFINX brought low-cost indexing to the masses, Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji reflected on the firm’s first 50 years and how it is preparing for the future. (Ramji also recorded a live episode of The Long View podcast with Morningstar’s Christine Benz and Dan Lefkovitz.)

Dodge & Cox exemplifies active—as well as low-cost—investing. Gold-rated funds Dodge & Cox Stock DODGX and Dodge & Cox Income DODIX have delivered enviable performance for decades. CEO and chair Dana Emery explained why the Dodge & Cox model has worked and how that success informs the firm’s deliberative approach to industry trends such as active ETFs. (For more from Ramji and Emery, watch for the Q3 issue of Morningstar magazine.)

These firms have helped many investors reach their goals over the years—which is the end game of this whole endeavor. That’s why Christine Benz’s session on retirement planning for women is on Rowling’s must-attend list. “Given the longer life expectancies for women and their distinct financial journeys,” Rowling notes, this session is vital.

Panelist Jean Chatzky, founder of HerMoney.com, explained how caregiving and longevity affect women’s investing needs in a recent episode of The Long View. Before the conference, Benz interviewed Carolyn McClanahan, founder of Life Planning Partners. Both a financial planner and a medical doctor, McClanahan dove into the long-term-care aspect of retirement planning.

Video: Plan Carefully for Long-Term Care

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