Financial Portfolio Management Fundamentals

Gain an understanding of portfolio management—what it is as a process and what portfolio managers do in their roles. This course first helps you establish your knowledge of the portfolio management process by focusing on the firm-side, answering questions like “What is a traditional versus non-traditional portfolio manager?” “What are their strategies?” and “What are their investment approaches?” This knowledge will enable you to understand how portfolio managers differ from three key perspectives: stakeholders, risk tolerance, and investment goals. Then, learn what portfolio managers do in their roles by examining how portfolios are constructed, how client mandates are formed, and lastly, how a portfolio manager’s performance is measured. Check out this course to gain a better understanding of what one of the most sought-after roles on the buy-side entails and be in a better position to gauge whether or not a career in portfolio management might be for you.

Learning objectives
Describe what portfolio management is as an activity, and be able to articulate what a portfolio manager does and how this role differs from other popular capital markets roles.
Characterize traditional versus non-traditional asset managers in terms of their stakeholders, risk tolerance, and investment goals.
Explain the portfolio construction process and how each of the parties—stakeholders (investors), board of directors, and portfolio managers—are involved.
Articulate how client risk profiles impact portfolio construction.
Illustrate how fund performance is analyzed and measured by explaining the core concepts of performance attribution and performance versus benchmark at the portfolio manager level.