Among the hundreds of articles published on Morningstar.com.au this year, the following were among the top-10 most read in providing you, our subscribers, with the investment insights and analysis you need.

These spanned a range of topics and sectors, from retirement income planning, to large-cap companies in the finance sector, healthcare sectors, top-ranked dividend stocks, and the changing superannuation landscape.

3 key principles of retirement income

At number one was a discussion about retirement income by Morningstar's managing director of research strategy Asia Pacific, Anthony Serhan.

Coinciding with the federal government's MyRetirement review, he said it has "pros and cons".

"It is this sort of process that has created a system the envy of many countries. I am certain that elements of whatever comes out of this process will also be world-leading and have an impact far beyond our shores," Serhan said.

"With all that said, I admit to being annoyed the first time I started reading it, because of the overly negative way account-based pensions were portrayed, and what felt like rose-coloured glasses being applied to longevity insurance.

"I believe the narrative and industry debate has been too heavily skewed towards product-based solutions. There is a lot more groundwork that can be laid to improve retirement outcomes before jumping straight to a product.

"I do not profess to have a complete solution, but there are three broad principles that need to be embraced as part of this process: mechanics, technology, and preferences," he said.

2 undervalued shares paying fully-franked dividends

This article from March discussed two stocks on the ASX that "not only deliver fully-franked dividends to investors and carry narrow economic moats, but also traded at modest discounts to their fair values".

Global asset manager Platinum Asset Management (ASX:PTM), headed up by prominent industry figure and star investor Kerr Neilsen, was one of the named companies, as discussed by Morningstar senior equities analyst David Ellis.

At the time, he said the yield on the stock was "5.5 per cent, fully franked--supported by high operating leverage, low capital demands, and strong free cash flow generation".

"Short-term investment underperformance and fear of weakening equity markets are currently weighing on the share price.

"Platinum is attractively priced, and while there are short-term pressures, we expect earnings to recover given its strong brand and long-term investment performance track record."

Why this financial stock is one to watch

Another article linked in some way to the government's review of its retirement income framework, this looked at a company likely to benefit--Challenger Limited (ASX: CGF).

"These products (annuities), which are largely unknown and widely misunderstood within the broader Australian population--even more so than superannuation--are becoming increasingly important for a couple of reasons," Morningstar's Ellis said.

"To help address this, the Australian government has for some time been searching for ways to minimise the impact on the publicly-funded pension. The plan to facilitate the creation of more efficient retirement income products is a key part of these efforts, and has led the government to ask the financial industry for its input--Morningstar is among those to respond."

Ellis said when the article was published in March: "The opportunities for further growth of the annuities market are strong and come from the relatively low usage of annuities in Australia and the growing compulsory retirement savings pool."

"Challenger is well positioned to capture this growth given its wide and growing distribution reach."

All-star cast of dividend stocks

In fourth place, this article gave an overview of Morningstar's Model Income Equity Portfolio, a basket of between 15 and 30 income-producing equity holdings, with only minimal turnover of stocks.

Joel Bloomer, Morningstar's head of discretionary equity strategies, Asia Pacific, discussed the rationale behind the portfolio.

"The Morningstar Model Income Equity Portfolio was launched in 2001, starting out as a theoretical portfolio to demonstrate the returns potentially achievable from a concentrated portfolio of high-quality income-producing shares," he said.

Quantifying the impact of assets test changes

Another article looking at retirement legislation, though this time specifically at changes to assets testing introduced in January 2017, was provided by actuarial firm Accurium.

These changes included the higher assets test thresholds, which "allow retirees to hold more assets before their pension starts to reduce under the assets test".

"For some retirees with lower asset levels, this may lead to higher pension entitlements. For others, the income test will continue to determine their entitlements," it said.

In addition to discussing changes to the assets test taper rate, the article also provided a detailed case study of how the changes would likely impact a couple aged 66 and 68.

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Glenn Freeman is Morningstar's senior editor.

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