Live from Bundle HQ: Morningstar's Christine Benz on 5 things to do to improve your financial life now

Here's what I like about Christine Benz: She's just like the rest of us. Only smarter. As director of personal finance for the independent investment research firm Morningstar (full disclosure: Morningstar has invested in Bundle), she's a person whose advice I'd trust on anything money-related, from getting organized to getting out of debt to saving and investing decisions of varying complexity.

But she's also willing to admit that she and her husband still wing the occasional financial decision, and unlike some other personal finance guru-types out there (Suze Orman, I'm talking to you), she won't yell at you. Benz stopped by BundleHQ yesterday to talk about how much you really need in an emergency fund, what documents you just don't need to keep, and how to get started investing with minimal cash and minimal hassle.

Let's assume my personal money management system amounts to a shoebox and some piles of paper. Where do I start?

This feels like a big, overwhelming thing that looms. It doesn't have to be. My thing is, get it done, get it done quickly, check it off your list. No one likes to do this stuff. Also, people don't realize how much paperwork they can throw away! You can retrieve almost every financial document online now, so if you're keeping those, you can shred them. Anything government related-birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, or anything related to your tax return — you don't want to toss.

That gets you down to one skinny file. Now what?

I'm a big believer in creating a master document with accounts, phone numbers, URLs, logins, passwords. It can be scary to put all that in one place, and you have to protect the hell out of it. But it's a good underpinning to understanding your overall financial position, and from there it's pretty easy to see what you need to address first.

For people who are getting by — no major debt, but not a lot extra, and no assets to speak of-what's the single first thing you'd suggest they do?

It's boring, but I would say starting an emergency fund. It's hard to get excited about saving, especially with yields so low, you're not really earning anything. But you have to think of that account as a place where you're keeping your money safe, and you're not spending it.

You used to hear you needed three to six months of living expenses. Now you hear nine months to a year. That seems to make sense if you're an established professional who wants to be picky about his next job, but if you're younger, can you get away with less?

Maybe. Younger workers tend to be more flexible — if they lose their job,they can move or they can get a roommate. The point is to have money in case you lose your job or run into an emergency, so you don't end up living off your credit cards.

And if you've done that, and you're ready to think about investing, where do you start?

With your employer. If you have a 401(k) plan and you get a match, you should start there and contribute enough to get that. If you don't get a match, or if you have money left over, you should open a Roth IRA.

If you're opening a Roth IRA, where would you do it? Can you recommend one single fund to start with?

Vanguard's STAR fund. It's the best gateway to the most investor-friendly fund company, and it's the lowest-minimum fund they have — you only need $1,000 to get started. You could also do T. Rowe Price's $50 per month program, with one of their target-date funds, or with Spectrum Growth. Either of those two routes would be fine.

Have other questions about saving, investing, or getting out of debt? Christine Benz — and other experts — will be back for the occasional Q&A. Email your questions to editors@bundle.com or submit them at bundlehq.tumblr.com/ask.

Giveaway: We're giving a copy of Christine Benz' new book to the first person to mashup our video. What are you waiting for? Email entries to editors@bundle.com