The author of Morningstar’s Mind the Gap research on why investors can benefit from simpler portfolios, less trading, and avoiding the temptation to chase performance. Our guest on the podcast today is Jeff Ptak. He’s a longtime Morningstar employee and currently serves as managing director for Morningstar Research Services. He originally joined Morningstar back in 2002 as a senior mutual fund analyst. Jeff was one of the original two co-hosts of this podcast and regularly posts his thoughts on Morningstar.com, Substack, X, and LinkedIn. Ptak’s work really focuses on investor outcomes. One of the highlights from the podcast today was when Ptak talked about how such a small number of stocks tend to generate a disproportionate amount of the market returns and what that means for diversified actively managed funds. He also discusses what target-date funds get right for investors, as well as what some of them may be missing. Read: Mind the Gap 2026 https://www.morningstar.com/business/insights/research/mind-the-gap Episode Highlights More From Morningstar Leyla Kunimoto: Why Investors in Private Markets Need a Louder Voice https://youtu.be/J29pfclauJ0?si=qS9fSgx9Layitcrz Will Danoff: ‘Be Very Careful of Unprofitable Companies’ https://youtu.be/IuoA0O-NQjA?si=PDslnTwiHIudfNBz Don Phillips: Encouraging Better Outcomes for Investors https://youtu.be/U1JNp6Ot4EQ?si=KRSYvKvQqY6ohhn3 If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com. Follow The Long View on social media: Christine Benz on X (@christine_benz) https://x.com/christine_benz Ben Johnson on X (@MstarBenJohnson) https://x.com/MstarBenJohnson Christine Benz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-benz-b83b523 Amy Arnott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-c-arnott-cfa-6a1a7331 Ben Johnson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-johnson-cfa-5a288175 Subscribe to Christine’s weekly newsletter, Improving Your Finances https://www.morningstar.com/newsletters/improving-your-finances Visit Morningstar.com for new research and insights from Christine, Ben, and Amy.