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Hi, and welcome to the Longview. I'm Christine Ben's Director of Personal Finance for Morningstar.

And I'm Jeff Patak, Chief Ratings Officer for Morning Star Research Services.

Our guest on the podcast today is Michael Falk. Michael is a partner at the Focus Consulting Group,

where he specializes in helping investment and wealth management firms with investment decision

making, strategic planning,

and succession.

Previously, he was a chief strategist at Global Macro LP and a chief investment officer in

charge of manager due diligence and asset allocation for a multi-billion dollar advisory practice.

Michael has authored or co-authored several books, including Let's All Learn

How to Fish to Sustain Long-Term Economic Growth, Get to Work on Our Future, and Money, Meaning, and

Mindsets. He is a frequent public speaker, and he's also a CFA charter holder. Michael, welcome to

the Longview. Christine, thanks so much. Great to be here with you.

Well, it's great to have you here. You've described yourself as a contrarian on many matters

of retirement planning. Where would you say your thoughts run counter to the conventional wisdom

of how investors and their advisors should assemble retirement portfolios and go about

spending from them. I'm a simple guy, Christine, and I like simplicity wherever and whenever it is

...