Advanced Investments Management

Introduction/MPT Review

Performance Analysis
Learning to decipher good investment decisions from bad ones takes time and education. In our opening session, we dive right into performance analysis. Review the structure and design of benchmarks, how to use benchmarks to measure fund performance and evaluate investment managers, and more.

Strategy Evaluation
This session will formulate a methodology to drill down and evaluate investment strategies. The focus will be on both monitoring past performance and developing implications for future performance. Insights will be developed that will facilitate an assessment of multiple aspects of the investment process, including asset allocation, the role of active management, and risk-adjusted performance. The presentation will include the development of a rationale for bringing multiple benchmarks into the investment process. The role of factor-based strategies in a portfolio will be addressed.

Topics in Asset Allocation
What management techniques do you need to adopt in order to ensure that your fund is selecting the right options? We discuss bond pricing, interest-rate risk, risks faced by bond portfolios, duration and convexity, and portfolio immunization and dedicated portfolios. But asset allocation also plays a role in your fund’s investment practices, and we conclude the day with asset-allocation strategies, asset allocation and financial crisis, and weighting strategies.

Introduction to Case Study
An important part of the Advanced Investments Management program is the interactive case study. At the end of Day One, you will be directed to meet with your small group to introduce yourselves and discuss the case study you will be working on for the remainder of the week.

Alternative Investments: Hedge Funds to Private Credit
Understanding different types of alternative investments is no easy task. Day Two continues with a discussion of hedge funds. Discover the pros and cons of hedge funds, the overall outlook for alternative investments, and tips for selecting the right managers for this type of investment and how to monitor their performance over time.

Global Markets
This session discusses the foreign exchange market, global money markets, derivatives instruments, and the basics of FX hedging.

International Investing
How do we measure the performance of our international investments and foreign assets? In this session, we cover that and more, including international diversification and currency risk, risks and returns on international bonds for a pension fund, and strategies to invest internationally with an exchange-rate view.

Case Study Group Work
At the end of Day Two, you will be directed to meet with your small group to continue working on the case study.

International Investing (continued)
How do we measure the performance of our international investments and foreign assets? In this session, we cover that and more, including international diversification and currency risk, risks and returns on international bonds for a pension fund, and strategies to invest internationally with an exchange-rate view.

Investment Policy
Explore the issues related to investment policies in this last lecture.

Case Study Discussion
Our final session will discuss our case study and the various answers received by the small groups.