Course

Investment Management Techniques

Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Department
Finance
Course Code
FINC 4340
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15 Weeks X 4 Hours per Week = 60 Hours
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This course explores the methods and practice of investment management strategies and techniques. The course highlights the Canadian investment environment, the global securities market, and the risk/return profiles associated with different types of investment vehicles. Emphasis is placed on the key characteristics of mutual funds, ETFs and hedge funds as well as appropriate asset allocation strategies. Topics also include behavioural finance, application of technical analysis, and trading and investment strategies that use derivative securities such as options, futures, forward and swap contracts.
Course Content

1. Introduction to the Canadian investment environment.


2. Global capital markets and investment instruments.


3. The structure and evolution of asset management industry.


4. Fundamentals of mutual funds, ETFs and hedge funds.


5. Fund management fees and other fund charges.


6. Value vs. Growth investing and correlation of investment style and risk.


7. Passive vs. Active management and asset allocation strategy.


8. Behavioural finance and technical analysis.


9. Futures, forwards and swap contracts.


10. Application of options trading strategies.


11. Derivatives in portfolio insurance.

Learning Activities

A combination of lectures, supplementary materials & presentations and class presentations.

Means of Assessment
Midterm exam(s):                 30-35%
Project & Presentation   20%-25%
Class Assignments and Participation   10%
Final Exam   35%
Total   100%

Students may conduct research as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
1. describe the Canadian investment environment and the global capital markets;


2. explain and evaluate the risk and return profiles associated with different types of securities;


3. describe and evaluate mutual funds and ETFs by categories and subcategories based on security type, investment objective and style;


4. provide an in-depth explanation of expense ratios, loads and other fund charges;


5. determine the role that mutual funds, ETFs and hedge funds should play in individual/institutional investor’s portfolio; outline appropriate asset allocation strategies;


6. build a portfolio of funds that is suitable to investor’s goals and unique situation;


7. describe the concept of behaviour finance and its implications;


8. conduct an actual technical analysis on a given portfolio of securities; and


9. understand the concept of derivative securities and illustrate the way they are used as investment strategies in hedging, trading and portfolio insurance.

Textbook Materials

Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management (Latest Edition), Frank K. Reilly & Keith C. Brown,
Thomson South-Western. Textbook subject to change with approval of the department. Software purchase may be required.


Only Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration approved calculators may be used.

Requisites

Prerequisites

(FINC 3350 or FINC 3390) with a grade of “C” or Instructor permission

Corequisites

Nil

Equivalencies

Nil

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for FINC 4340
Athabasca University (AU) AU FNCE 3XX (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU BFIN 3XX (3)
Coast Mountain College (CMTN) CMTN BADM 2XX (3)
College of the Rockies (COTR) COTR ACCT 4XX (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) No credit
Langara College (LANG) LANG BUSM 2XXX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU BUS 2XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU BBUS 3XXX (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU BUSI 3XX (3)
University Canada West (UCW) UCW FNCE 301 (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV COMM_V 2nd (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC COMM 321 (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC COM 3XX (1.5)

Course Offerings

Winter 2024

CRN
Days
Dates
Start Date
End Date
Instructor
Status
CRN
13765
Mon
Start Date
-
End Date
Start Date
End Date
Instructor Last Name
Xue
Instructor First Name
Stephen
Course Status
Full
Max
Enrolled
Remaining
Waitlist
Max Seats Count
35
Actual Seats Count
35
0
Actual Wait Count
0
Days
Building
Room
Time
Mon
Building
Anvil Office Tower
Room
707
Start Time
18:30
-
End Time
21:20