About the Editor
Ben Johnson, CFA, is director of global ETF research for Morningstar. Before assuming his current role in 2012, he was director of ETF research for Europe and Asia. He also previously served as a senior equity analyst, covering the agriculture and chemicals industries. Before joining Morningstar in 2006, he worked as a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. In 2015, Fund Directions and Fund Action named Johnson among the 2015 Rising Stars of Mutual Funds.


Investment Strategy
Morningstar ETFInvestor scans the globe for value and improving fundamentals across virtually all asset classes. Editor Ben Johnson draws upon academic and practitioner research — including Morningstar's sizeable bench of stock, bond and fund analysts — to find reliable drivers of outperformance.

Morningstar ETFInvestor features five model portfolios.

The Basic Portfolio harnesses the market's collective wisdom with ultra-low-cost funds and is the baseline portfolio against which the three other portfolios will be compared.

The Defensive Portfolio aims to provide lower volatility, better downside protection, and better risk-adjusted performance than the basic portfolio over the long-term.

The Factor Portfolio is designed to earn higher returns than the basic portfolio over the long-term.

The Income Portfolio attempts to earn a higher distribution yield than the basic portfolio, without taking a lot more risk.

The ESG Portfolio targets firms with strong corporate governance and sustainable environmental and social practices, while offering competitive returns and similar risk to the basic portfolio.

 
 
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Ben Johnson, CFA
Director, Global ETF Research and Editor
Ben Johnson, CFA, is director of global ETF research for Morningstar. Before assuming his current role in 2012, he was director of ETF research for Europe and Asia. He also previously served as a senior equity analyst, covering the agriculture and chemicals industries. Before joining Morningstar in 2006, he worked as a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley.
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New Issue: 5 Things About ESG Investing We Can All Agree On

The PDF version of the June issue of ETFInvestor is now available for download.

If the link above doesn’t work, you can download this month's issue by copying this address into your browser: http://etf.morningstar.com/Newsletter.aspx?download=currentIssue

Environmental, social, and governance investing can be a divisive topic. It is charged with ideological undertones that can split a room in two. Regardless of which corner investors find themselves in, I think there is common ground among them. I believe there are five things about ESG investing that all investors can agree on, which I outline in this month’s cover.

Here’s a rundown of what else you’ll find in this month’s issue:

  • Ryan Jackson looks at the tradeoffs between active risk and ESG bona fides in the ESG Portfolio.
  • We spotlight a pair of ESG intentional ETFs: PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active ESG ETF EMNT and iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF SUSL.
  • Bryan Armour looks at how asset managers aim to effect positive change on investors’ behalf in engaging with the companies they invest in and through proxy voting.
  • Lan Anh Tran underscores the importance of looking beyond ESG funds’ labels.

Ben

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New Issue: Thematic Funds
New Issue: The Pros and Cons of Market Cap Weighting
New Issue: Rising Rates
Correction: February's Equity ETF Watchlist
New Issue: Liquid Alternatives
New Issue: Funny Money
More...
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3 Excellent Dividend-Stock ETFs
3 of the Best Value-Stock ETFs
3 Exceptional Core ETFs
3 Highly Rated ETFs on Sale
How to Invest Your Funny Money
2 Bond ETFs for a Rising Interest-Rate Environment
How Have Low-Volatility Funds Performed in 2022?
3 ETFs for an IRA
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Introduction to ETFInvestor Model Portfolios
Morningstar's Guide to Closed-End Funds

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Product Support

Inquiries regarding your subscription such as address changes, missing/damaged issues, etc.
Phone: 1-800-957-6021 | Mon-Fri 8:30AM-5:00PM

Inquiries regarding technical issues such as logging in or downloading
Phone: 1-312-424-4288 | Mon-Fri 8AM-6PM
Email: newslettersupport@morningstar.com

 

Product Sales

Inquiries regarding your subscription renewal, billing or to learn about other Morningstar investment publications and resources
Phone: 1-866-608-9570 | Mon-Tue 8AM-5PM CST
Email: newslettersupport@morningstar.com

 

Contact Your Editor

Email: ben.johnson@morningstar.com

About the Editor


Ben Johnson, CFA, is director of global ETF research for Morningstar. Before assuming his current role in 2012, he was director of ETF research for Europe and Asia. He also previously served as a senior equity analyst, covering the agriculture and chemicals industries. Before joining Morningstar in 2006, he worked as a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. In 2015, Fund Directions and Fund Action named Johnson among the 2015 Rising Stars of Mutual Funds.

Investment Strategy


Morningstar ETFInvestor scans the globe for value and improving fundamentals across virtually all asset classes. Editor Ben Johnson draws upon academic and practitioner research — including Morningstar's sizeable bench of stock, bond and fund analysts — to find reliable drivers of outperformance.

Morningstar ETFInvestor features five model portfolios.

The Basic Portfolio harnesses the market's collective wisdom with ultra-low-cost funds and is the baseline portfolio against which the three other portfolios will be compared.

The Defensive Portfolio aims to provide lower volatility, better downside protection, and better risk-adjusted performance than the basic portfolio over the long-term.

The Factor Portfolio is designed to earn higher returns than the basic portfolio over the long-term.

The Income Portfolio attempts to earn a higher distribution yield than the basic portfolio, without taking a lot more risk.

The ESG Portfolio targets firms with strong corporate governance and sustainable environmental and social practices, while offering competitive returns and similar risk to the basic portfolio.