Wealth Investment Skills

1 How the Real World affects Investments

A non-technical overview of the meaning and effect on the markets of the following

- Growth - Inflation and deflation

- Business cycle - Interest rates

- Foreign exchange rates - International trade

- Unemployment - Money supply

2 Investment Principles and Reporting

- What to look for in investments

- What is risk? Why use volatility as a risk measure?

- Effect of time

- Main asset classes. Their nature, risk and return

- Secondary types of investment explained

- Where returns originate

- What does hedging do?

- Portfolio reporting: what you want

- How to assess performance

- The Back Office: meaning of Settlement and Custody

3 Equity Investment: what the Stock Market offers

- Types of analysis and their uses: Fundamental, Technical etc

- What moves the market: Short term to Long terms influences

- Meaning and use of an index

- Main equity valuation measures

- Sector importance and selection

- Relative value assessment

- Income v Capital emphasis

- Growth v Value approach

- Large v Small company impact

- The problems with Broker recommendations

- Classic signs of company success and failure

4 World Stock Markets Overview: using Risk to reduce Risk

- Why invest overseas?

- Main stock markets compared

- Developed v Emerging Markets: the trade-offs accepted

- Meaning and use of Correlation to reduce portfolio risk

- What to look for in the Overseas Market

5 Fixed Income or Bonds Investment

- Types of bonds and their nature

- Main jargon terms

- Yield explained

- Bond Ratings :meaning of Investment Grade and High Yield Bonds

- Bond valuations dissected

- Yield curves explained and their uses

- Assessing the trade off between different bonds

- How a Bond Portfolio Manager can position himself/herself

6 Behavioural Finance: are you your worst enemy?

- The meaning and increasing importance given to Behaviour Finance

- The factors that affect your success

- Characteristics of super successful Fund Managers

7 Dealing Techniques: Buying and selling is an art

- What information to look for before Dealing

- Assessing the “right” price

- Order sizing

- Types of order

- Timing order entry

- Use of Stop Losses

8 Derivatives Overview: The Heaven and Hell of Futures and Options

- What is a Future? Types, Terminology

- Pricing, Contract sizes

- Typical Futures used by Fund Managers

- Why use a Future?

- What is an Option? Futures v Options contrasted

- Types, Terminology, Pricing, Contract size

- Why use an Option?

- Hedging and Portfolio Protection using Futures and Options Explained

9 Real Estate Investment Overview

- Types of property for Investment: Residential, Industrial, Commercial, Retail

- Investment Vehicles: Direct, Unit Trusts, Pooled Funds, Property Shares, REITs

- How property is valued

- Where the return is generated

- Liquidity, Management and other considerations

- Impact of Lease and Break clauses. Impacts of voids.

- Marriage value and value adding effects

- Effect of gearing

10 Hedge Funds Overview

- What are Hedge Funds?

- Meaning of Long/Short

- Use of Leverage/Gearing

- What is a Hedge Fund?

- Hedge Fund strategies

- Returns and risks outlined

- Meaning of the jargon words: alpha, beta, Drawdown, other parameters etc

- Serious problems with quoted Hedge Fund Performance figures

- Benefit and drawback of Fund of Funds

- Performance figures considerations

11 Gold Investment Overview

- Why invest in Gold?

- Alternative Gold Investments and their advantages and disadvantages:

• Bars
• Coins
• ETCs
• Gold Mining shares
• Gold Futures & Options

12 Portfolio Construction and Monitoring

- Client Profiling and Needs identification

- How seemingly similar clients vary

- Selecting a Benchmark: Different example benchmarks:

• Index related
• Peer Comparison
• Absolute

- Top Down v Bottom Up Portfolios

- Model Portfolio importance

- Over/Underweighting

- Strategic Asset Allocation v Tactical Asset Allocation

- Outline Meaning of Tracking Error and Risk Budgeting

- Use of Fund Overlays and Hedging

- Fund Manager Risks

- Portfolio Rebalancing: What, why and when

- Portfolio Monitoring

- Group Portfolio Exercise including Scenario Development, Asset Allocation and Sector Selection