About Steven Johnson

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Here are my most recent posts

The Relationship Between ETFs and Their Assets

personal finance

One of the more exciting innovations in the financial markets has been the Exchange Traded Fund. By acting as a publically traded fund without redemption, ETFs have given investors access to extremely cost effective diversification, indexing, and even analytical expertise. This allows … [Read more...]

Why the Decline of the Euro Currency is Worse Than You Think

personal finance

Over the last few months we’ve seen a significant decline in the decline of the Euro against other global currencies. Even compared to some of the more volatile currencies, the Euro is considered to have underperformed on all fronts. However, as 2012 begins to shows indications that … [Read more...]

Understanding Economies of Scale: Brokerage Commissions

personal finance

The other day I received a question at work about how it is that a mutual fund or ETF can provide an investor with scale in an investing portfolio. The asking party was mainly curious about how it is that the diversification benefits of a fund can outweigh the liquidity that an … [Read more...]

Who Regulates Financial Advisory in the USA?

personal finance

Financial planners and advisors seem to spring up frequently these days, all claiming to be the best qualified to handle our personal savings and investments. While many of these professionals do indeed have the skills necessary to guide us towards our financial goals, it can still be … [Read more...]

Part 3 Practical Mutual Funds: Finding Equity Value

personal finance

Over first and second articles discussing how to implement Mutual Funds, we’ve gone into detail about the obvious rewards, and lesser-known risks associated with fund investment. With these valuable tools under control, I’m now going to share with you some professional tips on how … [Read more...]

Evaluation of Vanguard World Funds & Consumer Staples Mutual Funds

personal finance

If you haven’t been following along regularly, this is going to be a post that evaluates a series of Mutual Funds based on a selection of information that is compiled in the previous post. You don’t need to open a window to keep up with everything that’s going on, but you can if … [Read more...]

Doomsday Scenario The Risk of Economic Evaporation

personal finance

During the Mortgage Crisis, the Federal Reserve had to issue more than $700B worth of ‘stimulus’ funds towards saving the economy from economic ruin. Ignoring the ongoing debate about how effectively those funds were actually applied, I raise this example to illustrate how it is … [Read more...]

Part 1 Practical Mutual Funds: How to Gain For Smart Investors

personal finance

As a personal investor, your mutual funds are your life-blood. Their ability to place a smaller retail client in a favourable buying position, combined with the benefits of professional management out-weigh any other asset class in your portfolio. Be they income producing or … [Read more...]

Long Call Market Neutral Positioning

personal finance

In the last article, I discussed a simple strategy for hedging out macroeconomic risks in a particularly turbulent market. However, the market neutral equity strategy described has a very serious risk implication on its own. Specifically, a market neutral equity strategy requires a … [Read more...]

Big Yields from Covered Cap ETFs

personal finance

Throughout the week, we’ve discussed the value of using options to hedge returns and increase yields. Having gone through the absolute basics of these strategies, it’s no wonder that their profitability has begun to emerge in the mutual funds industry. Specifically, “Covered … [Read more...]

Portfolio Balancing Part 3 – What Should Your Portfolio Look Like?

personal finance

Over the course of the first and second articles we’ve investigated how the four main asset classes can be used in your personal investment portfolio to manage your monthly expenses, while maintaining the liquidity necessary to your lifestyle. To make for an exciting conclusion of … [Read more...]

Research in Motion The Failing Giant

personal finance

Research in Motion has been in the front page of the news for years now. As the manufacturer of the highly sophisticated mobile products in the blackberry line, RIM was able to capture a huge share of the corporate technology market. Focusing on creating secure business communications … [Read more...]

Corporate Bonds and High Yield Bonds

personal finance

The next major investment trend that I want to point out surrounds debt, but in a different way than previously discussed. Granted, most of us don’t even want to think about debt after such a terrible decade for mortgages and credit cards, but it is important to remember the … [Read more...]

JMCVX & FMILX Mutual Funds Overview: Broad Market Investment and Diversification

personal finance

Having looked at a number of different mutual funds that focus in on generating returns based on the performance of specific market aspects, I’ve decided to spend this week comparing a set of broad market funds. By including funds such as the Janus Investment Fund Mid-Cap Value … [Read more...]

How Video Game Companies Make Money

personal finance

One of the quietest growth stories over the last few years has come from what is possibly the loudest consumer industry in existence (besides rock and roll I guess). The video game industry has been exploding over the last decade, and investors are starting to see serious returns from … [Read more...]

Investment Risk, and Understanding when to Sell or Hold

personal finance

When we sell a security, we are doing so with the understanding that we can re-invest the proceeds in a way that will maintain our nominal returns. The logic behind this is fairly simple, in that we wouldn’t sell the security if we didn’t feel as though there was a long-term … [Read more...]

Understanding Stock Market Momentum Investing

personal finance

Momentum investing is a strategy that revolves around buying high, and selling even higher. While not necessarily as mathematically grounded a strategy as others, it has demonstrated itself time and again as being an extremely effective method of money management. Specifically, … [Read more...]

Credit Score Factors: Access to Credit

personal finance

One of the most significant aspects of a credit application comes down to a question of whether or not the applicant already has access to the funds necessary to pay off the loan itself. A borrower that already has $100,000 available in their accounts is much better able to pay off a … [Read more...]

How To Evaluate The Vanguard Energy Fund (VGENX)

personal finance

In the last post, I summarized the inner-workings of the Vanguard Energy Fund. Today, I’m going to take you through exactly how I would evaluate this fund as an investment opportunity for a personal investor. I’m going to pursue this evaluation under the following … [Read more...]

How a Gold Exit Might Impact Your Real Estate Portfolio

personal finance

When looking at how it is that a gold liquidation would impact a personal investing portfolio, we need to remember how it is that Gold will generally act as a store of value against uncertainty, inflation, and general macroeconomic risk. However, the only real reason why it is that … [Read more...]