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Course Objectives

This course will enable the students to accomplish the following objectives:

●understand the four-step portfolio management process

●learn how to select investments in a global investment setting

●learn about the asset allocation decision in achieving risk and return goals

●understand the risk and return tradeoff in investment decisions

●learn about the equity portfolio management strategies

●be able to conduct industry and company analysis

●learn the macroanalysis and microvaluation of the stock market

●understand the three-step top-down valuation process and security valuation techniques

●learn the valuation of bonds and bond portfolio management strategies

●learn how to evaluate the performance of stock and bond portfolios

●be able to integrate the investment and valuation theories with the best real-world portfolio management practices.

Course Description

In this course, you’ll learn how to manage money to derive the maximum benefit. The course will teach you about the many investment alternatives available in global financial markets and help you develop a way of analyzing and thinking about investments. The book discusses the operation of capital markets worldwide and details how you would evaluate current and future investment opportunities to develop a desirable portfolio. You’ll learn about investment theories and real-world portfolio management process. The course will integrate theory with practice and focus on analysis of the global equity markets, security valuation techniques, and portfolio management strategies. To move from investment theory to building and managing real-world investment portfolios, students will be required to manage a Stock-Trak Simulated Portfolio of real-world traded stocks, bonds, ETFs, options, futures, and other investments.

Assignments and Prerequisites

Some end-of-chapter problems from your text will be assigned as practice problems to sharpen students’ understanding of investment theory and portfolio management. You will need a financial calculator to work on most problems. Students are responsible for any assigned readings from The Wall Street Journal.

Class participation is strongly encouraged and is an essential part of the learning experience. Students are responsible for all the subject matter discussed in the class. The quizzes typically come from the material discussed in class lectures. You are expected to know the material covered in FIN 430 which is a prerequisite for this course.

All students will be submitting an investment policy statement (IPS) for their Stock-Trak portfolio in the second week of the class. The IPS must be typed and consistent with how you’ll invest money in the Stock-Trak portfolio simulation. The final written report for Stock-Trak investment simulation is due on the final exam day.

Grading

Percent Points

Mid-Term Exam (Oct 26, Thursday) 33% 99

Final Exam (Dec 5, Tu, 12-1:50 pm) 33% 99

Quizzes (announced) 20% 60

Stock-Trak Portfolio Report (Nov 30) 14% 42

Total Score 100% 300

Shaded grades will be awarded on this scale: 90%=A, 89%=A-, 87%=B+, 80%=B, 78%=B-, 76%=C+, 70%=C, and 60%=D. Make-up provisions for exams will apply only in extenuating circumstances and with the instructor’s advance permission. No make-up quizzes will be given. Do not plead in person or send me e-mails to change your course grade. Also, do not ask me for some extra credit work to change your course grade. Any point adjustments would apply to all the students in the class or not apply to any student. Use of cell phones, including any apps for financial calculations, or other electronic devices that’ll give you access to BB or internet is not permitted during quizzes and exams. As per CSUSB academic dishonesty policy, “Using or consulting during an examination sources or materials not authorized by the instructor,” is considered cheating.

Grades will be posted throughout the quarter on Blackboard. If you find any problem with your score, you must inform the instructor within one week from the time this score is posted. After one week, scores will not be reviewed. In the case of score dispute, the entire exam or assignment will be reviewed, not just the question(s) in dispute. The score could go up, down, or remain the same.

To register for the stock-trak portfolio simulation project, please use the following link:

http://www.stocktrak.com:80/members/registerstudent?className=CSUSB-FIN435-Fall2017

Tentative Course Schedule*

* The schedule is subject to revision at the instructor’s discretion. I may cover only selected topics from some chapters.

**Limited coverage as this is review of material covered in FIN 430.

University Policies and Other Rules

Please read “Academic Regulations and Procedures” in the CSUSB Bulletin of Courses for the university’s policies on course withdrawal, cheating, and plagiarism. I’ll follow these university policies. You are responsible to know the census date and other important dates for adding and dropping courses. Please read the university policy on student academic dishonesty at this link: http://senate.csusb.edu/fam/policy/(fsd96-12.r2)academic_dishonesty.pdf .

“If you are in need of an accommodation for a disability in order to participate in this class, please contact Services to Students with Disabilities at UH-183, (909)537-5238."

Also, please let me know in the first week of classes for any special accommodation you may need for this class. It is the student’s responsibility to seek academic accommodations for a verified disability in a timely manner.

Any changes related to this course such as course coverage, quiz and exam dates, class cancellation for unforeseen situations, and extra-credit work will be announced in the class. Such announcements may not appear on the Blackboard. If you have the habit of missing classes, you are responsible for any course-related announcements that I make in the class.

It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that his/her name is on the official class roster. If your name is not on the official class roster, then you should not be sitting in the class as you’ll not be allowed to take the quizzes and exams.

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