Essay about Capital Markets and Investment Banking Process

Financial Instruments A financial asset is something which is defined as an entitlement of future cash flows. However, a financial instrument is a broader term used to describe financial assets and other assets in which there are no organised secondary markets to trade them. However, a financial security is something that can be traded in a secondary market. Attributes of Financial Assets Financial assets are those that: • • • • Have a return of yield expressed in terms of percentage. Have risk in which there is probability the actual return will differ from the expected return. Are liquid in that they can be sold at current market prices with reasonable transaction costs. Are expected to have a set time-pattern of cash flows in or out.

Investments. “The analysis and process of choosing securities and other assets to purchase.” (Cornett, Adair, & Nofsinger, 2016, p. 7).

Advisors and investors would do well to pay as much attention to the expected volatility of any portfolio or investment as they do to anticipated returns. Moreover, all things being equal, a new investment should only be added to a portfolio when it either reduces the expected risk for a targeted level of returns, or when it boosts expected portfolio returns without adding additional risk, as measured by the expected standard deviation of those returns. Lesson 2: Don’t assume bonds or international stocks offer adequate portfolio diversification. As the world’s financial markets become more closely correlated, bonds and foreign stocks may not provide adequate portfolio diversification. Instead, advisors may want to recommend that suitable investors add modest exposure to nontraditional investments such as hedge funds, private equity and real assets. Such exposure may bolster portfolio returns, while reducing overall risk, depending on how it is structured. Lesson 3: Be disciplined in adhering to asset allocation targets. The long-term benefits of portfolio diversification will only be realized if investors are disciplined in adhering to asset allocation guidelines. For this reason, it is recommended that advisors regularly revisit portfolio allocations and rebalance

These decisions may include selling and buying of stocks, bonds, futures, currencies and so on. Stocktrak.com helps to implement the investment decision process as it includes evaluation tools for securities being traded at stock market. The website provides graphical historical performance of stock prices and this graphical performance can be analyzed for making different investment decisions related to those stocks. This project will be investing the given specified amount in a portfolio. The portfolio investment will help to reduce the level of risk associated with investment. With the reduction in level of risk, the average return of portfolio investment will increase as compare to individual investments. Thus, portfolio investment is better option for investment as compare to individual

“The Benefits of diversification are clear. Portfolio theory has played a crucial role in explaining the relationship between risk and return where more than one investment is held. It also enables us to identify optimal and efficient portfolios.”

Harry Markowitz 1991, developed a theory of “Portfolio choice”, that allows the investors to examine the risk as per the expected returns. In modern World, this theory is known as Modern portfolio theory (MPT). It attempts to attain the best portfolio expected return for a predefined portfolio risk, or to minimise the risk for the predefined expected returns, by a careful choice of assets. Though it’s a widely used theory, still has been challenged widely. The critics question the feasibility of theory as a strategy for

I strongly advocate tactical asset allocation process and diversification over several different income and growth strategies. I believe that risk management and protection of investor's endowment are major objectives. In my portfolio, stocks may occupy a large portion and the

Before recommending investments, it is necessary to better understand the investor’s goals, life stages and risk tolerance. Whether it be a small or large investment, there are several stages to deciding upon the best investment(EdwardJones, n.d.):

o It is highly recommended to minimize the number of different financial assets selected for the portfolio. It is

Please explain your motivation for applying to J.P. Morgan and more specifically for an Internship in Investment Banking. (200 words)*

For the month of December, I was given an assignment consisting of $100,000 and four stocks to invest in. My four stocks were The Ralph Lauren Corp., Visa Inc., Master card Inc. and The Chevron Corp. As stated I was given a month to record my data and I ended up with a total capital gain of $5,518.36 for the one month period for my investments. I have to thank you Mr. Acker, this project was not difficult, but it did confuse me. Receiving this assignment scared me in a way, because I didn’t know what I was getting into. The finance world is scary and tricky, one minute the market is doing good and other days it would be low. While calculating my capital gains or losses I thought I would lose a larger

* Analyze the factors that influence investment decisions at different stages in an investor’s life cycle, and make a recommendation at which stage the average investor should consider financial investments. Provide support for your recommendation.

Financial Management is a critical aspect of any business in order to achieve a sustainable and efficient cash flow. It is essential in maintaining the link between a business’s future financial goals (profit maximization) and the resources that it has in order to achieve its objectives. Businesses demand certain common goals that increase a bussiness's all around achievement, Some of which involve; growth amongst assests, An increase in efficiency in all areas of the business whether it be management or not. And the ability to meet short term and long term debts. Finacial management undertakes the responsibility to implement and acheive these goals for the business using a range of strategies shaped to meet the needs of the business and

For instance, like with this case study, if you were given 10,000 dollars to invest what financial investments would you choose; for me my decision would be as follows: First, I’d choose to invest in General Motors stock which currently cost on average about $6.25 a share, and the current quarterly dividend is rounding up to just over 0.37; or about $1.50 yearly. “Thus, growing in profits with ending results in today’s stock market reaching at the end of day at $45.50 -0.46 – 1.01 %, and after hours at $45.50 0.35 0.78% with an ending volume at 71,447, accordingly, up since the

An investment also known as a security is a pledge of money from an individual, government, or cooperation that is expected to accrue additional wealth on top of its original dollar amount. An investment can be a long-term or short-term obligation depending on the investor’s goals and/or assets they choose to invest in. The investment decision process is a two-step process which is necessary to make a sound trustable and efficient investment. The first step involves an evaluation of the investment you as the investor are interested in committing money towards, including characteristics of the security (i.e. how it acts in the current market, how the current/future market may react to this investment and possible returns on your investment). Finally, the management of your investment portfolio, including how often it should be revised, how the performance of your securities should be measured (how often they should be measured), and other important aspects of your current investments. Investing revolves around one basic concept, improving our future, investors invest money today to improve their welfare in the future which is why understanding what an investment is and the process of decision making before investing is extremely important.