Morningstar - Q4 2020 - 7

Letter From the Editor

Deep Bench

Jerry Kerns

To tackle a topic as important and complex as
the worst pandemic and economic collapse
in generations, we have the luxury of tapping into
a team of talented professionals with expertise
across a range of disciplines. It's what
makes Morningstar such a powerful resource for
investors. We are able to cover events from
different perspectives. We are experts in fund and
stock analysis, economic research, and
personal finance. We are masters of making
complicated concepts accessible through
design. Each of these elements became crucial
as we examined the world after COVID-19.
Christine Benz is a former director of mutual
fund analysis who over the past decade has led
Morningstar's personal finance initiatives.
Her articles frequently appear on Morningstar.com,
helping individual investors make sound decisions
to meet their financial goals. In "What the
Pandemic Means for the Future of Spending and
Saving," Page 29, she looks at how the economic
fallout from COVID-19 has affected investors'
financial plans and what they can do about it. She
urges financial advisors to take this opportunity
to help clients rethink their goals.
Like Benz, Susan Dziubinski was a mutual
fund analyst. Today, she is director of content
at Morningstar, writing about a range of
investing topics. For the magazine, she wrote
"Dollars to Doctors," Page 36, about how
the pandemic is reshaping healthcare spending.
Although spending has dipped this year, she
expects it will continue to be significant
as companies continue to find ways to treat
unmet medical needs.
David Sekera came to Morningstar in 2010. He was
a credit and equity analyst for the company
before becoming Morningstar's chief U.S. market
strategist. In "Staying Home," Page 41, he
shows how three key themes-shifting workplace
patterns, social distancing and its impact on

industries such as restaurants and travel,
and the acceleration of e-commerce and digital
entertainment trends-will shape the postCOVID-19 economy. Sekera argues that although
the overall market has recovered from March
lows, sector valuations have diverged because
investors are convinced that some areas of the
economy will be permanently changed. That might
be true some cases, but in others, Sekera
says, sectors have been unfairly punished and a
few opportunities have slipped through the cracks.
Preston Caldwell is a senior economics analyst.
Our equity analysts have spent the past six months
studying how the pandemic is changing the
landscape for the companies they cover. To help
them, Caldwell developed a framework for
determining what shifts are likely. In "History's
Lessons for Navigating the Postpandemic World,"
Page 51, Caldwell details how habits, fear,
and sunk costs are important ways that COVID-19
could continue to shape the economy long after
the pandemic is over. To understand how
these elements work, Caldwell applied them to
five historical events that, like COVID-19, shocked
the economy in the short term. In most cases,
Caldwell found, people's behavior and actions
resumed the course they were on before the shock.
It took a big team to produce this issue's
Spotlight section and its corresponding version on
Morningstar.com. Art director Alex Skoirchet
worked closely with illustrator Adam Simpson to
develop the vibrant cover and art throughout
the section. Skoirchet and designer Paul
Zdon created the exhibits and article layouts.
Jordan Sheckman led the effort to translate the
design to digital. This issue showcases the
best Morningstar has to offer and gives investors
the information they need to navigate this crisis.

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