Morningstar’s personal finance guru Christine Benz shares her 2026 financial to-do list with WealthTrack. What’s different this year? What needs adjusting? She has the must-do actions to take and the ones to consider.
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Christine Benz
Director of Personal Finance and Retirement Planning, Morningstar
GUEST RECOMMENDATION
CONSUELO MACK: And Christine, there’s an organization that you recommend that we go to [in order] to find a financial planner that will work on an hourly basis?
CHRISTINE BENZ: That’s called NAPFA.org. And that is a group of financial planners who are all fiduciaries. They’re all fee-only. They’re nearly all CFP. And you can screen on ones in your geography. And also you can look at specialties that they might have, as well as how they charge. And so I think that the hourly model can be really attractive for smaller investors or people who have been good DIY-type investors who are comfortable managing their portfolios but maybe just need a little bit of help around the margins.
ACTION POINT
BENZ: INVEST EARLY
BOOKSHELF
ONE INVESTMENT
BENZ: TECH STOCK ANTIDOTE
- Own a “great,” cheap small-cap value index fund
- 2 Morningstar Gold Medalist Rated index funds:
- Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Fund Admiral Shares (VSIAX)
- ETF version: Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR)