Have you ever wanted to invest in financial markets, but were always afraid that you didn’t have the proper tools or knowledge to make informed decisions? Have you ever wondered how investment management companies operate and what fund managers do? AXA Investment Managers, in partnership with HEC Paris, will introduce you to the most important ideas and concepts in investment management, to help you better understand your financial future.
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This course will enable you to:
• Define what type of investor you are, your investment objectives, and potential constraints.
• Identify the main investible assets and important players in financial markets.
• Understand basis portfolio management techniques.
• Apply these techniques in real case studies from the outset, through peer review assessment.
Finally, we will provide a comprehensive overview of today's asset management industry: the product cycles, the professionals, and regulations. For those who want to identify a talented fund manager to invest for you, we offer you some important criteria for selecting one. And for those who are interested in this learning more about this fascinating industry, we lay the foundation for your ongoing financial journey. Join us now to explore the world of investment management!
Course Specialists
The course has been developed in collaboration between HEC Paris, with Hugues Langlois managing the academic aspect, and AXA Investment Managers specialists, sharing their experiences and expertise and coordinated by Marion Le Morhedec. AXA Investment Managers participants include Maxime Alimi, Stephanie Condra, Nicholas Jeans, Elodie Laugel, Pierre-François de Mont-Serrat, Jean-Gabriel Pierre (AXA Group), Dorothée Sauloup, Irina Topa-Serry, Fiona Southall, Patrice Viot Coster, Susanna Warner, and Joachim Weitgasser.
Course Format
This course will run for 4 weeks and consists of 4 modules, each with a series of lecture videos between 5 to 8 minutes long. Each module contains a set of practice and graded quiz questions. A complete portfolio management exercise covers concepts learned in all modules.
The Project
The preparation of this MOOC has been an exciting adventure for many professionals at AXA Investment Managers and HEC, both for the speakers and a wealth of contributors. Thank you to all of them.
We hope you enjoy this course as much as we enjoyed creating it!
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Defining Your Objectives and Universe
As the first module of the course, we will start with helping you to identify which kind of investor you are, and what are your investment objectives. Then, we will give you an overall view of investible assets and the financial market. In addition, we will introduce the concepts of risk and returns in portfolio management which will help you to make better investment decisions.
WEEK 2
How to Build an Investment Solution
This is the second week of our study. We first learn how to optimize a portfolio allocation given your investment objectives. Then we will learn how to integrate your investment constraints to find a feasible investment solution. You will use asset pricing models to improve your portfolio performance by improving your understanding of financial asset returns. Finally, you will apply different hedging techniques to remove unwanted risk in our portfolios.
WEEK 3
Exploring Specific Portfolio Management Techniques
We take in this module a closer look at investment strategies. We start by examining both quantitative active and qualitative strategies, and understanding their respective benefits. In the second lesson, we will learn how to apply these strategies in real life, including how to translate a strategies into transactions. We finish by examining extreme events in financial markets during which investment strategies were challenged.
WEEK 4
The Asset Management Industry: Selecting or Becoming a Fund Manager
In this final module, we cover the details of the asset management industry. We start by understanding what it takes to make a proper decision when hiring a fund manager. We will learn how to evaluate his or her performance, and to select the right one depending on our investment objectives. Then, we cover the functioning of an asset management firm. We will learn the different career paths within an asset management firm. We will also cover the different stages of the life cycle of an investment product, including the role of each department within the firm and the impact of regulations on their design.
