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Advanced Investments

Series: Great Courses

4.7

(29)

Episodes

Rating

TVPG

Year

2014

Language

English

Publisher

The Great Courses

About

Investing can be a valuable part of achieving your hopes and dreams. Now, in these 24 lectures by Professor Steve L. Slezak, learn practical techniques for analyzing if a potential investment is a good deal, for measuring risk, for determining the relative advantages of active and passive investments, and much more.

Related Subjects

Episodes

1. Investment Decisions and Goals

30m

When it comes to wealth, more is better. But how important is liquidity to you? How important is risk? How important is being able to leave a legacy to members of your family or to causes you hold dear? As preparation for the course, consider these and other personal goals.

2. A Framework for Investing

30m

Learn how to layer various types of active management strategies on top of a passive market portfolio. Professor Slezak outlines three primary strategies: timing the market, reallocating money across sectors, and picking stocks that may outperform their sector. He also describes shorting and arbitrage.

3. Mistakes Investors Make

30m

It's easy to fool yourself when making important investment decisions. Examine three common cognitive errors: framing, biased self-attribution, and seeing patterns where none exist. These natural human tendencies highlight the need to avoid emotional or illogical reactions to financial information.

4. The Characteristics of Security Returns

30m

Review concepts from probability and statistics that are essential to know in investing. Focus on formulas that measure three characteristics of an asset: its expected return, its return variance (or volatility), and the covariance (or correlation) of its return with the returns on other assets.

5. The Theory of Efficient Markets

30m

Is it possible to make money by actively trading in the market? According to the efficient markets hypothesis, you are better off as a passive investor, because prices almost always reflect true value. Explore three versions of this theory, including the weak form, which holds that prices follow what is called a random walk.

6. Evidence on Efficient Markets

30m

Continue your study of the efficient markets hypothesis by investigating data from actual markets. Focus on momentum phenomena and volatility anomalies as possible evidence of market inefficiencies. Are these real opportunities to beat the market or only illusions that snare overconfident investors?

7. Valuation Formulas

30m

Explore one of the most basic building blocks of any financial valuation method: the concept of the time value of money. Obtain formulas for present value, future value, and net present value. Then use these tools to solve a problem in retirement planning.

8. Bond Pricing

30m

Investigate bond pricing, which compared to stock pricing is beautifully predictable - if complex. Understand why interest rates vary across different bonds. Practice calculating the bond price for a given rate. Then take the price as given, and determine the yield to maturity.

9. The Term Structure of Interest Rates

30m

At a given moment, interest rates vary with the time to maturity of different bonds. Examine the yield curve and the term structure of interest rates, learning how to weigh your investment choices. Discover that bond prices are a window to the expected future performance of the market.

10. The Risks in Bonds

30m

Learn how to think about the risks of owning bonds. Start by considering interest rate risk. Then examine how default or credit risk affects the yields on bonds. While most investors only want to consider highly rated bonds, significant return can be earned by bearing default risk.

Extended Details

SeriesGreat Courses

Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

Steve L. SlezakWriter

Steve L. SlezakActor