The Morning Filter How to Build a Portfolio: What to Own, What to Skip, and Why
19 snips
Apr 23, 2026 
Christine Benz, Morningstar’s director of personal finance and retirement planning and retirement author, walks through portfolio construction basics. She covers which asset classes to own and skip. She explains the role of international stocks and why core bond funds matter. She names favorite mutual funds and ETFs and answers rapid-fire practical allocation questions.
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Use Unhedged Currency For International Equities Only
- Hold unhedged currency exposure inside international equity allocations for diversification.
- Avoid unhedged foreign currency in fixed income because FX swings can make bonds behave like equities.
Make Intermediate Core Bonds Your Primary Bond Sleeve
- Use intermediate core or core-plus bond funds as the primary bond sleeve to provide ballast, not high returns.
- These funds offer quality and some latitude to add yield without turning bonds into a risk-on asset.
Treat Multi Sector Bonds As Supporting Assets
- Use multi-sector or high-yield bond funds only as supporting players, not a replacement for high-quality core bonds.
- Those funds behave more risk-on and should augment, not supplant, the core fixed-income allocation.