Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Analyst Price Target Expected Returns And Option Implied Risk, Turan G. Bali, Jianfeng Hu, Scott Murray

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Motivated by the nature of asset pricing models, we investigate the cross-sectional relation between the market's ex-ante view of a stock's risk and the stock's ex-ante expected return. We demonstrate that an ex-ante measure of expected returns based on analyst price targets is highly related to the market's required rate of return. Using this measure, we show that ex-ante measures of volatility, skewness, and kurtosis derived from option prices are positively related to ex-ante expected returns. We then decompose the risk measures into systematic and unsystematic components and find that while expected returns are related to both systematic and unsystematic …

Fee Based Compensation Aligns Interests, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Retail financial professionals have increasingly moved away from commissions and to a standard fee-based structure. This change should better align the interests of clients and advisors. For example, there is less incentive to trade. Moreover, there is little need for advisors to select funds that charge a high load, as their compensation no longer depends on the "kickback" received from the fund companies. As a result, the fund flow to high load funds has turned negative. See article here, Investment News.

A Closer Look At The Impact Of Quantitative Easing On The Capital Markets: Garch Analysis Of The Exchange Traded Funds Market, Nicholas R. Duafala

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper analyzes the effects of quantitative easing (QE) on the capital markets by modeling exchange traded funds (ETFs) returns using a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) methodology. The results show that the 10-Year Treasury yields are significant in the returns of some sectors of the economy more so than others, and the Federal Funds Futures trading volume is significant in all ETFs return volatility. The implications of these results not only provide information about the reaction of the ETF market and QE, but also provide insight for developing investment strategies.

2015 Macro Trends, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

While it is still early, Goldman Sachs has posted its 10 market themes for 2015. These may be useful in top-down analysis. See article here, Barrons.

Short Term Market Indicators, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

For those interested in technical analysis, some traders are suggesting that the market is set for a pull back. See article and video here, Yahoo.

Mandated Personal Finance Education, Martina Peng, Souren Soumbatiants

Learning Showcase 2014

The urgency of implementation of financial literacy education has been recognized in the recent years. This study evaluates the recent progress on state financial literacy legislation and the effectiveness of personal finance education mandates in high schools. The three common approaches to the mandatory personal finance education policy take forms in setting education standards, personal finance courses, and required testing. Course mandates appear to be the most effective in raising financial literacy scores. State policy requiring testing personal finance concepts has been the least effective. The findings of this study have important implications for policymakers, educators and researchers considering personal …

Understanding The Differences Between Defined Benefit Pension And Defined Contribution, Emily G. Brown Jd, Jeanne Medeiros Jd

Pension Action Center Publications

In recent years, more and more employers are offering employees defined contribution plans instead of defined benefit plans. Although, there has been a shift away from the defined benefit pension plan, it is important for employees to understand the difference and value of both pension plans.

Each type of pension plan has both advantages and disadvantages. What may appear as an advantage to one person might seem to be a disadvantage to another person. For example, a person who spends all or most of her career with a single employer will have very different concerns from someone who changes jobs …

Understanding The Specialized Language Of Retirement Plans, Emily G. Brown Jd, Jeanne Medeiros Jd

Pension Action Center Publications

Whether you are a participant in a defined benefit plan or a defined contribution plan, the realm of pension benefits can be tricky and confusing to navigate. Some of the terminology used might be unfamiliar to the average person. This glossary of common terms associated with retirement plans is meant to serve as a helpful resource for plan participants.

Incumbent Decisions About Succession Transitions In Family Firms: A Conceptual Model, Britta Boyd, Isabel C. Botero, Tomasz A. Fediuk

Management Faculty Publications

In the family business literature, succession research has focused on the family member as they enter the leadership role or on the different issues that affect the succession process. Although researchers have acknowledged that succession in family businesses is “punctuated” by decision making events, less attention has been given to understanding how incumbents make decisions about ownership and management transitions. In an effort to continue to understand the succession process it is important to understand how incumbents make decisions about the type of transitions they intend to engage in (i.e., intra-family succession, out of family succession, or no succession). Building …

Risk Sharing In An Asymmetric Environment, Eric Fesselmeyer, Leonard J. Mirman, Marc Santugini

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We study the effect of an asymmetric environment on risk sharing. In our model, entrepreneurs consider undertaking risky projects in the real sector as well as selling part of their projects to investors. To capture the idea of an asymmetric environment, the returns on the alternative risk-free investment are allowed to differ between the entrepreneurs and the investors, i.e., agents have different opportunity costs of participating in the risky projects. We first show that the presence of asymmetric options establishes links between the risk-free and risky sectors as well as between the real and financial sectors. In particular, an asymmetric …

Financial Advice For Professional Sportspeople, John Karaffa

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Mind The Liquidity Gap: Building A Better Capital Market For You, Kaushik Rudra

Asian Management Insights

Asian banks in most jurisdictions are currently more than adequately capitalised with respect to Basel III. However, as they are called upon to support the region’s economic growth over the next decade, they are likely to run up against capital constraints.

Singapore Exchange: Managing Investment Risk In Times Of Volatility, Geoff Howie

Asian Management Insights

Growing Asian stock exchanges, such as the Singapore Exchange, create economic value for businesses and investors, while helping to reduce volatility by offering a diversified basket of investment choices and equity derivative products.

Portfolio Manager Ownership And Mutual Fund Risk Taking, Linlin Ma, Yuehua Tang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study the effect of portfolio manager ownership, that is, “skin in the game”, on the risk taking of mutual funds. Using a holdings-based risk-shifting measure and a difference-indifferences approach, we find that managers with greater ownership engage in less risk-shifting behavior. We also find that managers with higher ownership exhibit superior reward-to-risk (i.e., Sharpe and appraisal) ratios. Funds with greater managerial ownership attract more capital flows. Taken together, our findings indicate that managerial ownership reduces managers’ incentive to engage in risk-shifting behavior and increases shareholder wealth.

Governance Matter: Morningstar Stewardship Grades And Mutual Fund Performance, Jerry X. Cao, Aurobindo Ghosh, Jeremy Goh, Wee Seng Ng

Research Collection School Of Economics

Mutual fund investors have the arduous task of disentangling luck from ability of mutual fund managers’ performance. In this paper we investigate the role of mutual fund corporate governance (measured by Morningstar Stewardship grade) in mutual fund performance. We propose an objective data-driven corporate governance score based on principal components of Morningstar Stewardship Grades. Furthermore, we establish corporate governance scores have Granger Causality on long-term risk-adjusted returns. The findings suggest that corporate governance grades of mutual funds carry information content beyond the usual star rating measures for predicting long-term mutual fund performance and provide an effective tool for selecting funds.

Mutual Funds And Information Diffusion: The Role Of Country-Level Governance, Chunmei Lin, Massimo Massa, Hong Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We hypothesize that poor country-level governance, which makes public information less reliable, induces fund managers to increase their use of semipublic information. Utilizing data from international mutual funds and stocks over the 2000-2009 period, we find that semipublic information-related stock rebalancing can be five times higher in countries with the worst quality of governance than in countries with the best. The use of semipublic information increases price informativeness but also increases information asymmetry and reduces stock liquidity. It also intensified the price impact and liquidity crunch during the recent global financial crisis.

Ceo Optimism And Incentive Compensation, Clemens A. Otto

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

I study the effect of chief executive officer (CEO) optimism on CEO compensation. Usingdata on compensation in US firms, I provide evidence that CEOs whose option exercisebehavior and earnings forecasts are indicative of optimistic beliefs receive smaller stockoption grants, fewer bonus payments, and less total compensation than their peers. Thesefindings add to our understanding of the interplay between managerial biases andremuneration and show how sophisticated principals can take advantage of optimisticagents by appropriately adjusting their compensation contracts.

Risk Sharing In An Asymmetric Environment, Eric Fesselmeyer, Leonard J. Mirman, Marc Santugini

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We study the effect of an asymmetric environment on risk sharing. In our model, entrepreneurs consider undertaking risky projects in the real sector as well as selling part of their projects to investors. To capture the idea of an asymmetric environment, the returns on the alternative risk-free investment are allowed to differ between the entrepreneurs and the investors, i.e., agents have different opportunity costs of participating in the risky projects. We first show that the presence of asymmetric options establishes links between the risk-free and risky sectors as well as between the real and financial sectors. In particular, an asymmetric …

S&P Breaks Key Tecnical Mark, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

The S&P fell below its 200-day moving average, a key negative technical indicator. Investors should pay close attention to see if this level holds. See article here, yahoo.

How To Strike The Wealth Balance, Shaomin Li, Seung Ho Park

Management Faculty Publications

The underlying attitude towards wealth within a country can have a big impact on a company's decision to invest there. Shaomin Li and Seung Ho Park look at ways in which 'wealth tolerance' can be measured.