CREATESPACE Portfolio Management: Theory, Behavioral Aspects and Applications

Portfolio Management: Theory, Behavioral Aspects and Application covers behavioral aspects of investing, investment strategies including buy and sell disciplines, technical analysis, plus the more standard textbook topics of systematic portfolio management, portfolio construction and analysis, security valuation and risk analysis, asset class management, portfolio applications, derivative valuation and portfolio evaluation. The behavioral topics range from psychological factors to “deadly sins” of financial decision making. As part of the behavioral aspects a brief overview of technical analysis is presented. The first two chapters set the stage for portfolio management by presenting systematic portfolio management and behavioral aspects. These chapters help lay out the environment in which investors and portfolio managers operate. The next three chapters present modern portfolio theory, capital market theory including the capital asset pricing model, and arbitrage pricing theory. We then move into valuation of two primary asset classes, debt instruments and equity. This valuation portion assumes the reader has successfully completed an investments course, and because the material covered varies between courses it is in placed in the text for review so students have a common base to work from. Next we turn our attention to strategies and managing portfolios for several chapters. Disciplined stock selection and tactics are presented in Chapter 9, while the most important decisions relating to portfolio management, namely asset allocation, is discussed in Chapter 10. Styles and strategies, and global investing are then presented in the next two chapters respectively. Chapter 13 presents strategies for managing bond portfolios. Our attention turns to derivative securities in Chapters 14 and 15. The book concludes with a critical element of portfolio management, namely evaluation of performance. The main body of the book is divided into sections and contains the chapter material in an outline form with essays to expand on the material. For the more advanced reader the outline will provide a synopsis and allow the reader to decide if they need to refresh their knowledge or if they need to expand their knowledge by reading the essay portions. For the less advanced reader the outline provides a summary of the material and the essay portions fill in the details for a fuller understanding of the topics presented. Each section has a brief overview of the material contained in the section. For each chapter thought questions and, if applicable, old CFA questions are provided for student learning. Additionally, multiple choice questions are presented at the end of the chapters so students can check their understanding of basic topics. Answers to the multi-guess questions are provided in Appendix A. The CFA material is reprinted with the kind permission of the CFA Institute (formally the Association for Investment Management and Research) Charlottesville, VA. All rights reserved. Some of the CFA questions cover material not directly covered in the book, hence the student needs to expand their learning experience and explore the Internet or think and realize it is an extension of what is covered in the text. In fact, the student is strongly encouraged to explore the Internet to further enhance the chapter material. If you are interested in adopting this book for your portfolio management or investments course (it has been used in both) please contact: Dr. Walter J. Reinhart Loyola University Graduate Center 2034 Greenspring Drive Timonium, MD 21093 TEL: 410.617.1555 for a complimentary copy. When you adopt the book, suggested answers to the end of chapter questions and problems will be provided. However, please note the text does NOT provide detailed mathematical examples, instead the book is designed to allow the professor of the course to go into the quantitative details suited to their students.