The 2026 agenda

Join us for an in-depth conversation with Walter Russell Mead, one of the world's leading scholars on foreign affairs. As the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at the Hudson Institute, professor, and Global View columnist at The Wall Street Journal, Mead brings unparalleled expertise on geopolitics. Mead and Daniel Needham, president of Morningstar Wealth, explore the current macroeconomic outlook. Unpack how global forces directly impact the daily practice of financial advisors with strategic insights on an increasingly complex world.

Use this time to transition to the Exhibit Hall, where all the action takes place.

Join three experienced Direct Advisory Suite users for a dynamic discussion on how they leverage the platform to empower their clients to make more informed investment decisions.

We’ll explore what success in Direct Advisory Suite looks like from their perspective, highlight real client success stories, and uncover the tools and strategies that enhance their day-to-day workflows.

Stay with us after the discussion for a live demonstration of their favorite workflows in action.

Welcome to the Wealth Management Invest Podcast. David Bodamer delves into the strategic insights of financial advisors and Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) from leading RIAs, including the increasing adoption of alternative investments to enhance the conventional 60/40 portfolio. Episodes showcase engaging discussions with top asset managers, shedding light on the ever-evolving landscape of private investment offerings, cutting-edge technology, and the latest developments in traditional ETFs and SMAs.

In a market environment shaped by evolving economic conditions, technological change, and shifting capital flows, investors are increasingly focused on the role that different asset classes play within a broader portfolio. In this session, Gary Rozier, Senior Managing Director in Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform, will discuss how investors can think about selected real asset exposures, specifically net lease real estate and digital infrastructure, through a portfolio construction lens.

The discussion will explore how these sectors have evolved over time, what has remained consistent in how they are underwritten, and how they fit within a diversified allocation. It will also touch on how investors are evaluating opportunities across a range of markets, as well as the influence of longer-term structural trends, including the growing importance of digital infrastructure in the economy.

Building on insights from the Peer to Pier panel, this session showcases Direct Advisory Suite in action. Watch a live demo highlighting tools like Research, Portfolio Management, and Investment Proposal generation. Plus, get an exclusive look at the latest innovations powered by the AI Assistant!

Evolving investor expectations require wealth managers to deliver portfolios that align with clients' personal beliefs and ethical priorities. This session explores how value-based investing is transforming into a scalable, data-driven component of modern wealth management. Walk away with emerging approaches from industry experts to personalize portfolios and integrate faith-aligned frameworks into your practice.

Warren Pierson, Co-CIO, and Lyle Fitterer, Co-Head of Municipals, discuss the bond market, the importance of liquidity, and opportunities for income and relative value in the Treasury, securitized, corporate, and municipal sectors.

Discover 2026 insights and trends for advisors from the perspectives of investors surveyed in the latest Morningstar Investor Perspectives survey. Explore evolving investor behaviors, the growing role of trust and emotional value, and how financial advisors can bridge knowledge gaps in areas like private markets and AI adoption. Advisors will gain actionable strategies to help clients stay confident, focused, and committed to their long-term financial goals.

'This Week in Wealth' is Citywire's weekly podcast that breaks down the biggest stories in the US wealth management industry and what they mean for advisors. Citywire USA editor-in-chief Alex Steger and Citywire RIA editor Ian Wenik are joined by a rotating cast of Citywire journalists and notable industry names.

We put the leading asset managers bringing private markets to individual investors on the hot seat. This session dissects the opportunities and challenges of integrating private market strategies into portfolios. Unpack liquidity concerns, valuation questions, and the potential for enhanced returns.

Go inside the investment room with Principal Asset Management in this candid, Q&A style conversation featuring CIO and Global Head of Fixed Income Michael Goosay and Senior High Yield Portfolio Manager Josh Rank. Together, they break down the macro signals that truly matter, how those insights shape views on credit and high yield today, and what it means for investors navigating a shifting market. More than commentary, this is a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how real portfolio decisions are debated, tested, and executed—straight from the leaders making them in real time.

SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI’s upcoming IPOs highlight the growth missed by waiting for companies to go public. Learn about the expanding access points to VC-backed companies and how venture exposure should factor into your portfolio.

Financial advice is entering an AI‑native era—one where leading is defined by the quality, independence, and transparency of the data behind the technology you use. We're proud to introduce the AI assistant in Direct Advisory Suite - built to bring independent intelligence directly into the advisor workflow and power the expertise that sets your advice apart, and empowers your clients' success.

Will Danoff has been one of the most successful active managers in history during his more than 35-year tenure at Fidelity Contrafund. In this exclusive conversation prior to his retirement, he’ll reflect on the importance of curiosity, how he manages his research process and information flow, the impact of artificial intelligence, how he’s mentoring younger managers and analysts, what makes Fidelity’s research culture unique, and more.

What is driving the U.S. economy today and what risks and opportunities lie ahead? This panel analyzes the current drivers of the US economy, providing a forward-looking outlook on growth, inflation, labor markets, Fed policy and interest rates. They highlight forces shaping the macroeconomic landscape, from AI disruption to rising geopolitical tensions, and translate these macro trends into investment implications across global assets and currencies, laying out key scenarios and how investors can prepare for an uncertain, fast changing landscape. 

Join us for the taping of a bonus episode of The Morning Filter podcast. Co-host Susan Dziubinski sits down with Morningstar analysts to discuss current market trends and how to invest to take advantage of them.Join us for the taping of a bonus episode of The Morning Filter podcast. Co-host Susan Dziubinski and Morningstar senior equity analyst William Kerwin take a deep dive into Apple as an investment. They'll share some technology stocks that Morningstar thinks look attractive, too.

Make your way to the Aon Grand Ballroom and enjoy our lineup of afternoon keynote sessions. 

Redefine your advisory approach with a live walkthrough of Direct Advisory Suite. Discover how interactive tools like the Client Dashboard, AI-generated talking points, and the new Interactive Web Report empower you to deliver deeper portfolio insights. Plus, see the dynamic Portfolio Compare Tool in action, showcasing its powerful analysis and reporting capabilities.

As private-market strategies become more widely available, financial advisors and their clients are gaining new tools to incorporate into portfolios. We’ll discuss what’s driving this shift, the opportunities and risks associated with private markets, and how advisors can help clients navigate this evolving landscape. Most importantly, we’ll explore how these strategies can potentially enhance diversification – rather than lead to “diworsification.”

Discover how dividend-paying stocks with economic moats can strengthen income-focused portfolios. This panel explores investment strategies for identifying companies with durable competitive advantages and attractive dividend yields—helping you build resilient, income-generating portfolios for your clients. 

From the roaring twenties to the present day, a century of US equity market history offers invaluable insights for investors. Experts from Morningstar Indexes and the academic community examine historical market trends through the lens of the CRSP Research database. Topics to be covered in this interactive session will include market concentration, public-to-private convergence, and initial public offerings.

Our panel of Morningstar manager research leaders share the red flags that make them pause, probe further, or rule out a fund entirely—and how advisors can use these practical insights to identify risks during the due diligence process.

The original vehicle for retail investors is under attack from ETFs and CITs.

Discover how the AI Assistant in Direct Advisory Suite transforms client reviews into seamless, story-driven experiences. Through a live walkthrough, see how a single chat generates portfolio insights, comparison reports, and meeting-ready prompts—from holdings details to tailored talking points. Gain clarity, speed, and confidence to elevate every client conversation.

Leaders from Morningstar's Chief Investment Office discuss the best investment ideas across global equity and fixed income markets. Get insights on how to position client portfolios to capture the strongest opportunities in the current market environment. 

Discover the best practices for incorporating semiliquid funds into investment strategies. This discussion evaluates their merits against traditional asset classes to determine their true efficacy as a portfolio diversifier.

Clients don’t just want portfolios, they want to see how those portfolios fit their lives. Join us for a live product experience that shows how advisors can build personalized investment strategies and bring them to life through dynamic construction and interactive client reporting. Using Direct Advisory Suite, we’ll demonstrate how advisors can translate data into a collaborative planning experience that clients can explore, understand, and engage with - long after the meeting ends.

In this session, John Bogosian, Managing Director, Blackstone Private Wealth, will cover the fundamentals of private markets and discuss the role private assets can play in portfolios.

Join David Booth, a pioneer of index and factor investing, for a candid conversation on what five decades in markets have taught him. In this closing session, Booth reflects on the industry’s biggest shifts, how Dimensional Fund Advisors—the asset management firm he founded—has adapted through market cycles, and why uncertainty can benefit long-term investors. Expect grounded insights from a leader who helped shape modern investing.

Exhibit Hall re-opens for afternoon sessions at 1:30 PM. Please begin to make your way back for all that the afternoon awaits!

AI remains a dominant investment theme in 2026, with infrastructure spending set to rise by 60% to over half a trillion dollars. Kenneth Lamont explores how AI is reshaping industries, identify key beneficiaries, and shares effective strategies for investing in equities and funds during this transformative era.

AI adoption in financial services is accelerating, and that means new challenges are popping up every day. From endless proofs of concept and hallucinated responses to outputs that are inconsistent across models, meaningful AI deployment is far more complex than experimenting with a chatbot.

This session will explore what typical AI conversations miss: the rising risks in our evolving AI landscape, what firms are actually experiencing as they test AI, and why the quality and structure of data inputs matter just as much as the model generating the output.

Whether you’re experimenting with generative AI or taking further steps to responsibly bring AI into your workflows, this session will provide practical insights into what works, what doesn’t, and what financial services firms should be thinking about next.

Mutual funds are increasingly migrating toward ETFs through conversions, share classes, and new stand-alone structures. Explore the distinct advantages and disadvantages of each approach while uncovering the critical implications for advisors and investors during this transition.

Gold, commodities, and crypto are often grouped together, yet their market drivers differ significantly. This panel breaks down the economic forces behind each, how they interact with equities and bonds, and what advisors should consider before allocating client capital.

ETFs are evolving fast.  This session cuts through the headlines with “facts-behind-the-flows” view of what’s driving industry trends, and where investors are seeing real opportunity versus noise.  We’ll highlight Invesco’s leadership across core ETF building blocks – QQQ, factors, commodities, fixed income – along with industry-leading experience educating the market on active ETFs.  We’ll share timely perspective on QQQ and Nasdaq index stewardship, and what it takes to manage and scale index-linked exposures through changing market environments.  Finally, we’ll deep dive into the derivative-income ETF landscape and Invesco Income Advantage ETFs – how to define the peer group, what “good” looks like in product mechanics, and a clear feature-by-feature framework for evaluating products across the Morningstar derivative-income category.