A combination of lectures, supplementary materials & presentations and class presentations.
1. Client objectives for diversified portfolios: risk and investor preferences.
2. Asset allocation: Portfolio analysis, Markowitz Risk-Return Optimization, Portfolio selection, delineation of efficient portfolios and techniques of calculating efficient frontiers.
3. The investment management process: Efficient market hypothesis and the key elements of the investment process.
4. Equity portfolio construction.
5. Fixed-income management.
6. Global investment opportunities.
7. Alternative investment classes.
8. Performance measurement and attribution.
9. Managing client relations.
At the end of the course, the successful student should be able to:
1. evaluate and describe the techniques required to select an optimum portfolio;
2. describe various strategies of capital allocation to create optimal mix portfolios;
3. evaluate portfolio returns of a small, active portfolio;
4. explain the portfolio evaluation techniques of earning estimation and bond pricing techniques;
5. describe the valuation and uses of financial futures in the management of portfolios;
6. use real data of securities to estimate risk, estimate returns, and adjust the returns in accordance with inflation and money exchange rates;
7. select the appropriate asset mix for an investor’s profile;
8. estimate the capital allocation weights and asset allocation weights through the use of Excel spreadsheets in order to create an investment portfolio;
9. evaluate a portfolio’s performance and identify the main reasons that underlie its performance;
10. provide recommendations to clients (investors) to maintain an appropriate portfolio allocation.
| Midterm exam(s) | 30-40% |
| Portfolio Project(s) | 20-30% |
| Presentation | 10% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
Required: Stewart, S. D.; Piros, C. D.; Heisler, J. C. Running money: Professional Portfolio Management, McGraw-Hill Irvin, latest edition. (or other textbooks as approved by the department).
Only Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration approved calculators may be used for tests and examinations. (Texas Instruments BA II Plus, or Hewlett Packard 10B)