Morningstar

Christine Benz

Christine Benz is director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar. She is also the author of How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement. Email Christine at christine.benz@morningstar.com. She reads all of the emails she receives but doesn't always have time to send a personal response.

More From Christine Benz

The costs of participating in company retirement plans have come way down, but investors in small plans pay far more than large-plan investors.
Christine Benz

The skinny on Roth versus traditional contributions, early withdrawals, loans, and more.
Christine Benz

The 'White Coat Investor' discusses how high earners can avoid lifestyle creep and why a minimalist approach to investing is best.
Christine Benz

The longtime manager of FPA Crescent Fund talks balancing risk and reward in the COVID-era, why he’s not holding even more cash, the case for Wells Fargo, and more.
Christine Benz

Your personal experiences have likely had a big influence on how risk-averse or -tolerant you are.
Christine Benz

Retirement researcher Wade Pfau discusses why low yields put this withdrawal rule at risk and what strategies retirees can use instead.
Christine Benz

How volatile markets and concerns over the program's finances should affect claiming decisions for pre-retirees and early retirees.
Christine Benz

The tax- and retirement-planning expert discusses SECURE and CARES Act implications for charitable giving and estate planning, the pause on RMDs, and why 2020 is shaping up as an ideal year for Roth conversions.
Christine Benz

Annuities can offer valuable protection against clients outliving their assets, but they can also be high-cost and complicated. We dig into some pluses and minuses.
Christine Benz

More About Christine Benz

Christine Benz is director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar, Inc. She is also the author of a new book, How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement (Sept. 2024, Harriman House). She co-hosts a podcast for Morningstar, The Long View, which features in-depth interviews with thought leaders in investing and personal finance.

Benz joined Morningstar in 1993. Before assuming her current role she served as a mutual fund analyst and headed up Morningstar’s team of fund researchers in the U.S. She also served as editor of Morningstar Mutual Funds and Morningstar FundInvestor.

She is a frequent public speaker and is widely quoted in the media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, CNBC, and PBS. In 2020, Barron’s named her to its inaugural list of the 100 most influential women in finance; she appeared on the 2021 list as well. In 2021, Barron’s named her as one of the 10 most influential women in wealth management.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Russian language from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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