Course Content
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT: AN OVERVIEW
This topic is covered in study session 18 of the material provided by the Institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. describe the portfolio approach to investing; b. describe the steps in the portfolio management process; c. describe types of investors and distinctive characteristics and needs of each; d. describe defined contribution and defined benefit pension plans; e. describe aspects of the asset management industry; f. describe mutual funds and compare them with other pooled investment products.
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Portfolio Approach to Investing
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Portfolio Management Process
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Types of Investors
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Pension Plans
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Aspects of Assets Management Industry
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Pooled Investments
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PORTFOLIO RISK AND RETURN: PART I
This topic is covered in study session 18 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. calculate and interpret major return measures and describe their appropriate uses; b. compare the money-weighted and time-weighted rates of return and evaluate the performance of portfolios based on these measures; c. describe characteristics of the major asset classes that investors consider in forming portfolios; d. calculate and interpret the mean, variance, and covariance (or correlation) of asset returns based on historical data; e. explain risk aversion and its implications for portfolio selection; f. calculate and interpret portfolio standard deviation; g. describe the effect on a portfolio’s risk of investing in assets that are less than perfectly correlated; h. describe and interpret the minimum-variance and efficient frontiers of risky assets and the global minimum-variance portfolio; i. explain the selection of an optimal portfolio, given an investor’s utility (or risk aversion) and the capital allocation line.
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Return Measures
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Money Weighted vs. Time Weighted Rate of Returns
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Risk Aversion
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Measures of Risk
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Portfolio Risk
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Minimum Variance Portfolio
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PORTFOLIO RISK AND RETURN: PART II
This topic is covered in study session 18 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. describe the implications of combining a risk-free asset with a portfolio of risky assets; b. explain the capital allocation line (CAL) and the capital market line (CML); c. explain systematic and nonsystematic risk, including why an investor should not expect to receive an additional return for bearing nonsystematic risk; d. explain return-generating models (including the market model) and their uses; e. calculate and interpret beta; f. explain the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), including its assumptions, and the security market line (SML); g. calculate and interpret the expected return of an asset using the CAPM; h. describe and demonstrate applications of the CAPM and the SML. i. calculate and interpret the Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, M2, and Jensen’s alpha.
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Risky and Risk-free Asset’s Portfolio
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Capital Allocation Line/ Capital Market Line
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Systematic and Non-Systematic Risk
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Return Generating Models
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Calculation and Interpretation of Beta
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CAPM and SML
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Application of CAPM
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BASICS OF PORTFOLIO PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION
This topic is covered in study session 19 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. describe the reasons for a written investment policy statement (IPS); b. describe the major components of an IPS; c. describe risk and return objectives and how they may be developed for a client; d. distinguish between the willingness and the ability (capacity) to take risk in analyzing an investor’s financial risk tolerance; e. describe the investment constraints of liquidity, time horizon, tax concerns, legal and regulatory factors, and unique circumstances and their implications for the choice of portfolio assets; f. explain the specification of asset classes in relation to asset allocation; g. describe the principles of portfolio construction and the role of asset allocation in relation to the IPS. h. describe how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations may be integrated into portfolio planning and construction.
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Investment Policy Statements
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Risk-Return Objectives
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Investment Constraints
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Asset Allocation
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ESG Considerations in Portfolio Management
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INTRODUCTION TO RISK MANAGEMENT
This topic is covered in study session 19 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. define risk management; b. describe features of a risk management framework; c. define risk governance and describe elements of effective risk governance; d. explain how risk tolerance affects risk management; e. describe risk budgeting and its role in risk governance; f. identify financial and non-financial sources of risk and describe how they may interact; g. describe methods for measuring and modifying risk exposures and factors to consider in choosing among the methods.
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Risk Management
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Risk Management Framework
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Risk Governance
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Risk Tolerance
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Risk Budgeting
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Sources of Risk
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Measuring & Modifying Risk Exposure
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TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
This topic is covered in study session 19 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. explain principles of technical analysis, its applications, and its underlying assumptions; b. describe the construction of different types of technical analysis charts and interpret them; c. explain uses of trend, support, resistance lines, and change in polarity; d. describe common chart patterns; e. describe common technical analysis indicators (price-based, momentum oscillators, sentiment, and flow of funds); f. explain how technical analysts use cycles; g. describe the key tenets of Elliott Wave Theory and the importance of Fibonacci numbers; h. describe intermarket analysis as it relates to technical analysis and asset allocation.
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Technical Analysis Explained
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Technical Analysis Charts
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Trend, Support, Resistance Lines, and Change in Polarity
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Common Chart Patterns
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Technical Indicators
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Cycles
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Inter-Market Analysis
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Portfolio Management
About Lesson

LOS A requires us to:

describe the implications of combining a risk-free asset with a portfolio of risky assets.

a.  Introduction of the risk-free asset there is a better trade-off available to the investment for risk and return, thus improving the risk-return characteristic.

b.  This trade-off can be better represented with the help of a capital allocation line (CAL). This will be discussed in detail in the next LOS.

c.  A capital allocation line can be drawn as follows:

Capital Asset Allocation Line Portfolio Management CFA level 1 Study Notes

On the horizontal axis, we take a risk, and on the vertical axis, the return. The trade-off is simple, higher the risk – greater the return. The CAL begins with the risk-free rate where the risk is zero. At that level, the returns are at a risk-free rate. The  CAL is upward sloping because of the risk-return trade-off.

d.  For a portfolio that contains both a risk-free asset and risky assets (i.e. the composite portfolio), the expected return can be calculated as the weighted sum of expected returns of the underlying assets.

e.  And the portfolio risk of the composite portfolio can be calculated using the standard deviation, weights, and covariance or correlation between the assets. If you recall, the formula for the same is:

variance of the portfolio Portfolio Management CFA level 1 Study Notes

f.  If the assets in the portfolio are negatively correlated then the variance (or risk) of the portfolio is lesser than that of the underlying assets, reducing the underlying risk of the portfolio. 

This is mainly because the second part of the above equation becomes negative due to negative covariance.

g.  It is difficult to find the optimal portfolio for the market because each individual has different assumptions and risk tolerance. Or, we have to make an assumption that the investor’s expectations are homogeneous.

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