LOS C requires us to:
describe types of investors and distinctive characteristics and needs of each
1. Individual Investors
a. Individual investors can be defined in a variety of ways based on the level of their confidence, aggression, their attitude towards people, their sense of optimism or pessimism, etc.
b. These investors define risk as “losing money” or sometimes “doing something that makes them feel uncomfortable”.
c. These investors can be financially strong in terms of the wealth they possess and the financial goals they have.
d. Their needs may range from ‘safety’ to ‘growth’.
e. Their investment horizon may be range from ‘very short-term’ to ‘40+ years’.
f. They may be risk-averse as well as risk-tolerant.
2. Institutional Investors
Institutional investors are the financial institutions, which collect and invest money on a long-term basis on the behalf of individuals or corporate. They include pension funds, life insurance companies, which write long-term insurance business, general insurance companies, which write short-term non-life insurance business, investment trusts, and unit trusts.
Some of the important institutional investors are:
2.1. Pension Funds
Pension funds are characterized by:
a. long-term investment horizon,
b. the main focus is on earning income and growth,
c. low liquidity needs, and
d. moderate risk tolerance.
2.2. Endowment Foundations
They are mainly characterized by:
a. ‘preservation of capital’ motive (on an inflation-adjusted basis),
b. perpetual life, thus a very long-term investment horizon,
c. moderate to high-risk tolerance,
d. low liquidity needs, and
e. income and growth objectives.
2.3. Banks
These are mainly characterized by:
a. low-risk tolerance,
b. very high liquidity needs,
e. short-term investment horizon, and
f. income objectives.
2.4. Insurance Companies
These are characterized by:
a. Low-risk tolerance,
b. high-to-moderate liquidity needs,
c. investment time horizon, and capital preservation priority are dependent on the policy type,
d. the objective of safety, growth, and income.
2.5. Investment Companies
The characteristics of an investment company vary depending upon its type.
2.6. Sovereign Wealth Fund
It is a government-owned investment fund, usually charged with investing revenues from a finite source, such as oil, petroleum, etc., to benefit the future generation or to manage the foreign exchange reserves.