Managing a portfolio is fundamental to this course. Therefore, you have to write two reports regarding your trading activities during the term. The first report is your investment proposal, in which you assume that you have $1,000,000 to invest. You may assume that you are either managing the portfolio for yourself or on behalf of a client (aunt, grandparents, parent, etc.).

AS3 Instructions:

After studying the different type of securities available to investors in units 2 and 3, you must design an investment proposal.

The proposal should have:

1. Your investment strategy. Since this is an 8-week course, you have a very short-time horizon to invest. However, for this proposal, you may assume that you do not have this constraint. For example, you can say, my time horizon to start withdrawing funds is ten years. You may use the Investor Profile questionnaire that you completed in Unit 1 AS3 to help you to select the strategy.

2. Asset allocation. Asset allocation must be consistent with your investment strategy.

3. Security selection. You may choose any securities you want. However, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) provide a relatively easy way to reach the asset allocation you have chosen. As part of this assignment, you must include at least three common equity stocks in your portfolio. Therefore, make sure you include them as part of the securities of your portfolio. You have to justify why you are purchasing (or short selling) these stocks (see requirement # 4). Note: you will need to check the prices of the securities you have chosen at the end of the term; therefore, create a watchlist for these securities (for example using Finance Yahoo, Finance Google or any other free finance website that offer this service).

4. Stocks Justification. You have to substantiate the selection of three (3) of your picks, providing a compelling story of why you are buying or short selling the stocks. You have to back up the justification by showing that you have done some research on the stock and citing your sources. You cannot just say my guts tell me I should buy this company, or I am buying this company because someone recommended me to buy it.

5. Presentation of the portfolio. This is a table showing portfolio weights. The weights are the proportion (or percentages) of each of your securities relative to the total investment you are making. The table must also show the portion of your asset allocation relative to the total investment. An example of a portfolio is attached ("Example of Portfolio").