Jason Kephart

More From Jason Kephart

The Sector Powering T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation

Jason Kephart May 11, 2019

A Big Deal: Merger-Arbitrage Funds Are Benefiting From Higher Cash Rates

Event-driven strategies have performed well in a difficult period for liquid alternatives, and rising cash rates could further boost their outlook.

Bobby Blue Feb 12, 2019

Target-Date Funds Don't Get Much Better Than This

Gold-rated BlackRock LifePath Index's blend of forward-thinking management, low costs, and high-quality building blocks make it among the industry's best options.

Jason Kephart Jan 31, 2019

Why Long-Short Funds Didn't Deliver

Jason Kephart Jan 31, 2019

Fees Increasingly Important to Target-Date Fund Performance

Target-date funds are performing more alike before expenses than in the past, making fee differences even more important in separating good and mediocre performers.

Jason Kephart Jan 29, 2019

Tuition Inflation Is Real Test for College-Savers

If history repeats itself, saving early can improve your odds of slaying the tuition inflation monster by about a third.

Jason Kephart Nov 5, 2018

What If? The Liquid Alternatives Edition

We address some questions about our recent study on liquid alternatives’ performance.

Jason Kephart Sep 27, 2018

Liquid Alternatives Have Yet to Prove They Belong in Portfolios

A framework for evaluating the diversification benefits an alternative mutual fund might confer to a traditional portfolio.

Jason Kephart Aug 14, 2018

A Fee Methodology Update Makes Some Funds' Fees (Appear to) Swell

The fund net expense ratios Morningstar publishes now include costs from interest and dividend expense, but that won't affect Morningstar Analyst Ratings.

Jason Kephart Aug 2, 2018

Death Is a Way of Life for Liquid Alternatives

Alternative funds have been liquidating much faster than other groups of funds over the past five years.

Jason Kephart Jul 16, 2018

Low Costs, Top Team Put This Target-Date Fund on Our Radar

Jason Kephart Jun 14, 2018

2 Good Entry Points Into Alternative Fund Investing

Jason Kephart Mar 1, 2018

Liquid Alts Funds That Weathered the Sell-Off Storm

Jason Kephart Feb 16, 2018

When Stocks Corrected, Were Our Alt Picks Ready for It?

How our alternative Morningstar Medalists fared in the correction.

Jason Kephart Feb 15, 2018

Mapping Alternatives

Where these funds land in the style box reveals their diversification benefits.

Jason Kephart Feb 14, 2018

An Upgrade For This Vanguard Quant Fund

Increased conviction in the team and approach has led to an Fund Analyst Rating upgrade to Silver for Vanguard Strategic Equity.

Jason Kephart Feb 4, 2018

Why Low-Fee Vanguard Market Neutral Lagged in 2017

Valuation plays a key role in selecting stocks to buy and short at this Silver-rated fund, which hurt relative performance last year.

Jason Kephart Jan 14, 2018

Long-Short Equity Fees Ate Your Alpha

Many long-short equity managers have stock-picking skill, but not enough to clear their high fee hurdles.

Jason Kephart Dec 28, 2017

Shrinking Alts Universe Is a Positive for Investors

Jason Kephart Nov 17, 2017

5 Medalist Funds That Have Been Negatively Correlated With the Market

Using the new Morningstar Style Box for alternative funds, we look at funds that have moved the opposite way from global equities over the last three years.

Jason Kephart Oct 31, 2017

Inside the Morningstar Style Box for Alternatives

A look at where liquid alternative funds fall in the alternatives style box and what it means for investors.

Jason Kephart Oct 30, 2017

Look What These Liquid Alts Made Investors Do

Poor timing has investor returns lagging in liquid alternatives.

Jason Kephart Sep 28, 2017

3 Funds We Like in the Market-Neutral Category

Jason Kephart Aug 12, 2017

Absolute Return Funds Fail the S.A.M.U.R.A.I. Test

Their benchmarks lack honor.

Jason Kephart May 15, 2017

Target-Term Funds: What's Old Is New Again in CEFs

Target-term funds are back in fashion.

Cara Esser May 11, 2017

A Calm Quarter for Closed-End Funds

Low market volatility leads to a benign start to the year for CEFs.

Cara Esser Apr 13, 2017

The New CEFs on the Block

But you can only take your money out step by step.

Cara Esser Mar 9, 2017

Would the Dissolution of the Fiduciary Rule Bring Back CEF IPOs?

It's unclear whether the rollback of this rule would help ignite this dormant market, but probably not.

Cara Esser Feb 9, 2017

One More Reason for CEF Investors to Forget 2016

Winter melancholy and the infinite sadness of shrinking taxable CEF distribution rates.

Jason Kephart Jan 12, 2017

A November to Forget for Muni CEF Investors

This year's strong rally in municipal CEFs has sharply corrected as inflation expectations soar.

Cara Esser Dec 15, 2016

More About Jason Kephart

Jason Kephart, CFA, is director of multi-asset ratings for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. He is responsible for Morningstar’s multi-asset ratings methodology and shares responsibility for research priorities. Kephart leads the firm’s global and North American multi-asset ratings committees. Kephart regularly contributes to Morningstar’s thought leadership on target-date strategies, 60/40 portfolios, model portfolios, and other multi-asset outcome-based products. He has been the lead analyst for multi-asset strategies from firms such as Vanguard, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, and Dodge & Cox.

Before joining Morningstar in 2014, Kephart spent seven years as a journalist for InvestmentNews, Fund Action, and SmartMoney, reporting primarily on the mutual fund and exchange-traded fund industries.

Kephart holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Florida State University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.