Investment Analysis and Portfolio

Management
First Canadian Edition

2 By Reilly, Brown, Hedges, Chang

 Chapter 2
The Asset Allocation Decision

Individual Investor Life Cycle

The Portfolio Management Process
The Need for Policy Statement
Constructing the Policy Statement
The Importance of Asset Allocation

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 What is Asset Allocation?

Asset Allocation
process of deciding how to distribute an
investors wealth among different
countries and asset classes for investment
purposes
Asset Class
group of securities that have similar
characteristics, attributes, and risk/return
relationships
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 What is Asset Allocation?

Investor:
Depending on the type of investors,
investment objectives and
constraints vary
Individual investors
Institutional investors

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 Individual Investor Life Cycle:
Preliminaries
Life Insurance: Providing death benefits
and, possibly, additional cash values
Term life and whole life insurance
Universal and variable life insurance
Non-life Insurance
Health insurance & disability insurance
Automobile insurance & Home/rental insurance
Cash Reserve
To meet emergency needs
Equal to six months living expenses
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Phases of an Investors Life Cycle
Accumulation phase
Early to middle years of working career
Consolidation phase
Past midpoint of careers. Earnings greater
than expenses
Spending/Gifting phase
Begins after retirement

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Phases of an Investors Life Cycle

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 Life Cycle Investment Goals

Near-term, high-priority goals

Long-term, high-priority goals
Lower-priority goals

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Benefits of Investing Early and Often

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 Portfolio Management Process:
Policy Statement
Specifies investment goals and acceptable
risk levels
Should be reviewed periodically
Guides all investment decisions

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Portfolio Management Process

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 Need for Policy Statement

Understand investors needs and articulate

realistic investment objectives and
constraints
What are the real risks of an adverse financial outcome, and what
emotional reactions will I have?
How knowledgeable am I about investments and the financial
markets?
What other capital or income sources do I have? How important
is this particular portfolio to my overall financial position?
What, if any, legal restrictions affect me?
How would any unanticipated portfolio value change might affect
my investment policy?

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 Need for a Policy Statement

Sets standards for evaluating portfolio

performance
Provides a comparison standard in judging the performance
of the portfolio manager
Benchmark portfolio or comparison standard is used to
reflect the risk an return objectives specified in the policy
statement
Should act as a starting point for periodic portfolio review
and client communication with the manager

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 Need for a Policy Statement

Other Benefits
Reduces possibility of inappropriate or unethical
behaviour of the portfolio manager
Helps create seamless transition from one money
manager to another without costly delays
Provides the framework to help resolve any
potential disagreements between the client and
the manager

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 Input to the Policy Statement

Constructing the policy statement begins

with a profile analysis of the investors
current and future financial situations and a
discussion of investment objectives and
constraints.

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 Input to the Policy Statement

Objectives
Risk
Return
Constraints
Liquidity, time horizon, tax factors, legal
and regulatory constraints, and unique
needs and preferences

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 Investment Objectives

Risk Objectives
Should be based on investors ability to
take risk and willingness to take risk

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 Investment Objectives

Risk tolerance depends on an investors

current net worth and income
expectations and age
More net worth allows more risk taking
Younger people can take more risk
Careful analysis of clients risk tolerance
should precede any discussion of return
objectives

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 Investment Objectives

Return Objectives
May be stated in terms of an absolute or a
relative percentage return
Capital Preservation:
Minimize risk of real losses

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 Investment Objectives

Capital Appreciation: Growth of the

portfolio in real terms to meet future need
Current Income: Focus is in generating
income rather than capital gains
Total Return: Increase portfolio value by
capital gains and by reinvesting current
income with moderate risk exposure

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 Investment Constraints:
Liquidity
Liquidity
Vary between investors depending upon age,
employment, tax status, etc.
Planned vacation expenses and house down
payment are some of the liquidity needs.

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 Investment Constraints:
Time
Time
Influences liquidity needs and risk tolerance
Longer investment horizons generally requires
less liquidity and more risk tolerance
Two general time horizons are pre-retirement
and post-retirement periods

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 Investment Constraints:
Taxes and Interest Income

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 Investment Constraints:
Taxes and Interest Income
Interest Income: 100% of all interest income is
taxed at an investors marginal tax rate in
Canada.
Assuming a marginal tax rate of 26%, an investor
that receives $2,000 in interest income will have
a $520 tax liability ($2,000 X 26%)
After Tax Return on Investment (AT -ROI)

AT - ROI = Pre-tax ROI X ( 1 Marginal Tax Rate)

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 Investment Constraints:
Taxes and Interest Income
Interest Income: 100% of all interest income is
taxed at an investors marginal tax rate in
Canada.
So an investor if you received $2,000 interest
income on a $100,000 investment that would be
a 2% ROI on a pre-tax basis
After Tax Return on Investment (AT -ROI)

AT ROI = Pre-Tax ROI X ( 1 Marginal Tax Rate)

AT - ROI = 2% X ( 1 .26 ) = 1.48%

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 Investment Constraints:
Taxes and Dividends
The Dividend Tax Credit Calculation
Dividend Income $2,000
Div. Tax Credit Gross Up (145%) $2,900
Fed. Tax on Grossed Up Div. (26%) $754
($2,900 X 26%)
Fed. Div. Tax on Grossed Up Div. (18.97%) $550
($2,900 X 18.97%)
Net Fed. Taxes on Dividends $204
($754 - $550)
Effective Tax Rate on Dividends 10.20%
($204 $2,000)
Assuming a marginal tax rate of 26%, the dividend tax credit
effectively reduced the effective tax rate by about 60%

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 Investment Constraints:
Taxes and Capital Gains
Capital gains are also taxed at an effectively lower tax rate
because only 50% of a gain is taxed in Canada
Capital Gains Exclusion and Income Taxes
Capital Gain $2,000
Cap. Gains Exclusion Rate (50%) $1,000
(50% X $2,000)
Tax on Taxable Cap. Gains (26%) $260
Effective Tax Rate on Cap. Gains 13%
($260 $2,000)
Assuming a marginal tax rate of 26%, the effective tax
rate on capital gains is 50% of the marginal rate or in this
case 13%.

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 Investment Constraints

Taxes
Unrealized capital gains: Reflect price
appreciation of currently held assets that have
not yet been sold
Realized capital gains: When the asset has been
sold at a profit
Trade-off between taxes and diversification: Tax
consequences of selling company stock for
diversification purposes

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 Tax Free Investments

Earn income that is NOT subject to income

taxes
Tax Free Savings Accounts (TSFA)
tax-free investments

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 Tax Deferred Investments

Tax deferred investments

compound tax free but when withdrawn are
subject to taxes
Registered Retirement Savings Accounts
(RRSP)
individuals can deposit money into and earned
tax deferred income
At withdrawal, all funds are subject to tax

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 Legal and Regulatory Constraints

Limitations or penalties on withdrawals

Fiduciary responsibilities
The Prudent Investor Rule normally
apply
Investment laws prohibit insider
trading

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 Legal and Regulatory Constraints

Institutional investors deserve special

attentions since legal and regulatory
factors may affect them quite
differently
Example: banks vs. endowment funds

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 Personal Constraints:
Unique Needs & Preferences

Personal preferences such as socially

conscious investments could influence
investment choice
Time constraints or lack of expertise
for managing the portfolio may require
professional management

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 Personal Constraints:
Unique Needs & Preferences

Large investment in employers stock

may require consideration of
diversification needs
Institutional investors needs

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 Importance of Asset Allocation

Asset Allocation:
process of deciding how to distribute an
investors wealth among different
countries and asset classes for investment
purposes

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 Importance of Asset Allocation

An investment strategy is based on four decisions

What asset classes to consider for investment
What policy weights to assign to each eligible
class
What allocation ranges are allowed based on
policy weights
What specific securities to purchase for the
portfolio

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Importance of Asset Allocation

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 Importance of Asset Allocation

According to research studies, most (85 to 95%) of

the overall investment return is due to the first two
decisions, not the selection of individual investments

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 Importance of Asset Allocation
Historically, small company stocks have
generated the highest returns, so have the
volatility
Inflation and taxes have a major impact on
returns
Returns on Treasury Bills have barely kept
pace with inflation

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 Importance of Asset Allocation

Measuring risk by the probability of not meeting your investment

return objective indicates risk of equities is small and that of T-
bills is large because of their differences in expected returns
Focusing only on return variability as a measure of risk ignores
reinvestment risk

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 Asset Allocation
and Cultural Differences
Social, political, and tax environments
influence the asset allocation decision
Equity allocations of U.S. pension funds
average 58%
In the United Kingdom, equities make up
78% of assets
In Germany, equity allocation averages 8%

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