Definition of Portfolio

Portfolio

A collection of investments, real and/or financial.

Portfolio

A collection of securities and investments held by an investor

Active portfolio strategy

A strategy that uses available information and forecasting techniques to seek a
better performance than a portfolio that is simply diversified broadly. Related: passive portfolio strategy

Complete portfolio

The entire portfolio, including risky and risk-free assets.

Dedicating a portfolio

Related: cash flow matching.

Efficient portfolio

A portfolio that provides the greatest expected return for a given level of risk (i.e. standard
deviation), or equivalently, the lowest risk for a given expected return.
Efficient set Graph representing a set of portfolios that maximize expected return at each level of portfolio
risk.

Excess return on the market portfolio

The difference between the return on the market portfolio and the
riskless rate.

Factor portfolio

A well-diversified portfolio constructed to have a beta of 1.0 on one factor and a beta of
zero on any other factors.

Feasible portfolio

A portfolio that an investor can construct given the assets available.

Feasible set of portfolios

The collection of all feasible portfolios.

Hedged portfolio

A portfolio consisting of the long position in the stock and the short position in the call
option, so as to be riskless and produce a return that equals the risk-free interest rate.

Leveraged portfolio

A portfolio that includes risky assets purchased with funds borrowed.

Leveraged portfolio

A portfolio that includes risky assets purchased with funds borrowed.

Market portfolio

A portfolio consisting of all assets available to investors, with each asset held -in
proportion to its market value relative to the total market value of all assets.

Markowitz efficient portfolio

Also called a mean-variance efficient portfolio, a portfolio that has the highest
expected return at a given level of risk.

Markowitz efficient set of portfolios

The collection of all efficient portfolios, graphically referred to as the
Markowitz efficient frontier.

Mean-variance efficient portfolio

Related: Markowitz efficient portfolio

Minimum-variance portfolio

The portfolio of risky assets with lowest variance.
Minority interest An outside ownership interest in a subsidiary that is consolidated with the parent for
financial reporting purposes.

Modern portfolio theory

Principles underlying the analysis and evaluation of rational portfolio choices
based on risk-return trade-offs and efficient diversification.

Normal portfolio

A customized benchmark that includes all the securities from which a manager normally
chooses, weighted as the manager would weight them in a portfolio.

Optimal portfolio

An efficient portfolio most preferred by an investor because its risk/reward characteristics
approximate the investor's utility function. A portfolio that maximizes an investor's preferences with respect
to return and risk.

Passive portfolio strategy

A strategy that involves minimal expectational input, and instead relies on
diversification to match the performance of some market index. A passive strategy assumes that the
marketplace will reflect all available information in the price paid for securities, and therefore, does not
attempt to find mispriced securities. Related: active portfolio strategy

Passive portfolio

A market index portfolio.

Portfolio insurance

A strategy using a leveraged portfolio in the underlying stock to create a synthetic put
option. The strategy's goal is to ensure that the value of the portfolio does not fall below a certain level.

Portfolio internal rate of return

The rate of return computed by first determining the cash flows for all the
bonds in the portfolio and then finding the interest rate that will make the present value of the cash flows
equal to the market value of the portfolio.

Portfolio opportunity set

The expected return/standard deviation pairs of all portfolios that can be
constructed from a given set of assets.

Portfolio management

Related: Investment management

Portfolio manager

Related: Investment manager

Portfolio separation theorem

An investor's choice of a risky investment portfolio is separate from his
attitude towards risk. Related:Fisher's separation theorem.

Portfolio turnover rate

For an investment company, an annualized rate found by dividing the lesser of
purchases and sales by the average of portfolio assets.

Portfolio variance

Weighted sum of the covariance and variances of the assets in a portfolio.

Replicating portfolio

A portfolio constructed to match an index or benchmark.

Structured portfolio strategy

A strategy in which a portfolio is designed to achieve the performance of some
predetermined liabilities that must be paid out in the future.

Tilted portfolio

An indexing strategy that is linked to active management through the emphasis of a
particular industry sector, selected performance factors such as earnings momentum, dividend yield, priceearnings
ratio, or selected economic factors such as interest rates and inflation.

Weighted average portfolio yield

The weighted average of the yield of all the bonds in a portfolio.

Well diversified portfolio

A portfolio spread out over many securities in such a way that the weight in any
security is small. The risk of a well-diversified portfolio closely approximates the systemic risk of the overall
market, the unsystematic risk of each security having been diversified out of the portfolio.

Zero-beta portfolio

A portfolio constructed to represent the risk-free asset, that is, having a beta of zero.

Zero-investment portfolio

A portfolio of zero net value established by buying and shorting component
securities, usually in the context of an arbitrage strategy.

Portfolio Diversification

See diversification

Portfolio Weight

The percentage of a total portfolio represented by a single specific
security. It is calculated by dividing the value of the investment in a
specific security by the value of the investment in the total portfolio.

market portfolio

portfolio of all assets in the economy. In practice a broad stock market index, such as the Standard & Poor's Composite, is used to represent the market.

Market Portfolio

The total of all investment opportunities available to the investor.

Index Portfolio Rebalancing Service (IPRS)

Index portfolio Rebalancing Service (IPRS) is a comprehensive investment service that can help increase potential returns while reducing volatility. Several portfolios are available, each with its own strategic balance of Index Funds. IPRS maintains your personal asset allocation by monitoring and rebalancing your portfolio semi-annually.

Accretion (of a discount)

In portfolio accounting, a straight-line accumulation of capital gains on discount
bond in anticipation of receipt of par at maturity.

Alpha

A measure of selection risk (also known as residual risk) of a mutual fund in relation to the market. A
positive alpha is the extra return awarded to the investor for taking a risk, instead of accepting the market
return. For example, an alpha of 0.4 means the fund outperformed the market-based return estimate by 0.4%.
An alpha of -0.6 means a fund's monthly return was 0.6% less than would have been predicted from the
change in the market alone. In a Jensen Index, it is factor to represent the portfolio's performance that
diverges from its beta, representing a measure of the manager's performance.

Barbell strategy

A strategy in which the maturities of the securities included in the portfolio are concentrated
at two extremes.

Base probability of loss

The probability of not achieving a portfolio expected return.

Benchmark error

Use of an inappropriate proxy for the true market portfolio.

Bond indexing

Designing a portfolio so that its performance will match the performance of some bond index.

BONDPAR

A system that monitors and evaluates the performance of a fixed-income portfolio , as well as the
individual securities held in the portfolio. BONDPAR decomposes the return into those elements beyond the
manager's control--such as the interest rate environment and client-imposed duration policy constraints--and
those that the management process contributes to, such as interest rate management, sector/quality allocations,
and individual bond selection.

Bullet strategy

A strategy in which a portfolio is constructed so that the maturities of its securities are highly
concentrated at one point on the yield curve.

Buy-and-hold strategy

A passive investment strategy with no active buying and selling of stocks from the
time the portfolio is created until the end of the investment horizon.

Capital allocation

decision Allocation of invested funds between risk-free assets versus the risky portfolio.

Capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

An economic theory that describes the relationship between risk and
expected return, and serves as a model for the pricing of risky securities. The CAPM asserts that the only risk
that is priced by rational investors is systematic risk, because that risk cannot be eliminated by diversification.
The CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio is equal to the rate on a risk-free security
plus a risk premium.

Capital market line (CML)

The line defined by every combination of the risk-free asset and the market portfolio.

Capitalization method

A method of constructing a replicating portfolio in which the manager purchases a
number of the largest-capitalized names in the index stock in proportion to their capitalization.

Cash flow matching

Also called dedicating a portfolio, this is an alternative to multiperiod immunization in
which the manager matches the maturity of each element in the liability stream, working backward from the
last liability to assure all required cash flows.

Coefficient of determination

A measure of the goodness of fit of the relationship between the dependent and
independent variables in a regression analysis; for instance, the percentage of variation in the return of an
asset explained by the market portfolio return.

Combination matching

Also called horizon matching, a variation of multiperiod immunization and cash
flow matching in which a portfolio is created that is always duration matched and also cash-matched in the
first few years.

Committee, AIMR Performance Presentation Standards Implementation Committee

The Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR)'s Performance Presentation Standards Implementation
Committee is charged with the responsibility to interpret, revise and update the AIMR Performance
Presentation Standards (AIMR-PPS(TM)) for portfolio performance presentations.

Comparison universe

The collection of money managers of similar investment style used for assessing
relative performance of a portfolio manager.

Contingent immunization

An arrangement in which the money manager pursues an active bond portfolio
strategy until an adverse investment experience drives the then-available potential return down to the safetynet
level. When that point is reached, the money manager is obligated to pursue an immunization strategy to
lock in the safety-net level return.

Contract month

The month in which futures contracts may be satisfied by making or accepting a delivery.
Also called value managers, those who assemble portfolios with relatively lower betas, lower price-book and
P/E ratios and higher dividend yields, seeing value where others do not.

Covered call writing strategy

A strategy that involves writing a call option on securities that the investor
owns in his or her portfolio. See covered or hedge option strategies.

Covered interest arbitrage

A portfolio manager invests dollars in an instrument denominated in a foreign
currency and hedges his resulting foreign exchange risk by selling the proceeds of the investment forward for
dollars.

Currency basket

The value of a portfolio of specific amounts of individual currencies, used as the basis for
setting the market value of another currency. It is also referred to as a currency cocktail.

Delta neutral

The value of the portfolio is not affected by changes in the value of the asset on which the
options are written.

Distributions

Payments from fund or corporate cash flow. May include dividends from earnings, capital
gains from sale of portfolio holdings and return of capital. Fund distributions can be made by check or by
investing in additional shares. Funds are required to distribute capital gains (if any) to shareholders at least
once per year. Some Corporations offer Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRP).

Dollar return

The return realized on a portfolio for any evaluation period, including (1) the change in market
value of the portfolio and (2) any distributions made from the portfolio during that period.

Dollar roll

Similar to the reverse repurchase agreement - a simultaneous agreement to sell a security held in a
portfolio with purchase of a similar security at a future date at an agreed-upon price.

Dollar safety margin

The dollar equivalent of the safety cushion for a portfolio in a contingent immunization
strategy.

Dollar-weighted rate of return

Also called the internal rate of return, the interest rate that will make the
present value of the cash flows from all the subperiods in the evaluation period plus the terminal market value
of the portfolio equal to the initial market value of the portfolio.

Duration

A common gauge of the price sensitivity of an asset or portfolio to a change in interest rates.

Dynamic asset allocation

An asset allocation strategy in which the asset mix is mechanistically shifted in
response to -changing market conditions, as in a portfolio insurance strategy, for example.

Dynamic hedging

A strategy that involves rebalancing hedge positions as market conditions change; a
strategy that seeks to insure the value of a portfolio using a synthetic put option.

Efficient diversification

The organizing principle of modern portfolio theory, which maintains that any riskaverse
investor will search for the highest expected return for any level of portfolio risk.

Efficient frontier

The combinations of securities portfolios that maximize expected return for any level of
expected risk, or that minimizes expected risk for any level of expected return.

Exact matching

A bond portfolio management strategy that involves finding the lowest cost portfolio
generating cash inflows exactly equal to cash outflows that are being financed by investment.

Exante return

The expected return of a portfolio based on the expected returns of its component assets and
their weights.

Expense ratio

The percentage of the assets that were spent to run a mutual fund (as of the last annual
statement). This includes expenses such as management and advisory fees, overhead costs and 12b-1
(distribution and advertising ) fees. The expense ratio does not include brokerage costs for trading the
portfolio, although these are reported as a percentage of assets to the SEC by the funds in a Statement of
Additional Information (SAI). the SAI is available to shareholders on request. Neither the expense ratio or the
SAI includes the transaction costs of spreads, normally incurred in unlisted securities and foreign stocks.
These two costs can add significantly to the reported expenses of a fund. The expense ratio is often termed an
Operating Expense Ratio (OER).

First-pass regression

A time series regression to estimate the betas of securities portfolios.

Fisher's separation theorem

The firm's choice of investments is separate from its owner's attitudes towards
investments. Also refered to as portfolio separation theorem.

Geometric mean return

Also called the time weighted rate of return, a measure of the compounded rate of
growth of the initial portfolio market value during the evaluation period, assuming that all cash distributions
are reinvested in the portfolio. It is computed by taking the geometric average of the portfolio subperiod
returns.

Graham-Harvey Measure 1

Performance measure invented by John Graham and Campbell Harvey. The
idea is to lever a fund's portfolio to exactly match the volatility of the S and P 500. The difference between the
fund's levered return and the S&P 500 return is the performance measure.

Graham-Harvey Measure 2

Performance measure invented by John Graham and Campbell Harvey. The
idea is to lever the S&P 500 portfolio to exactly match the volatility of the fund. The difference between the
fund's return and the levered S&P 500 return is the performance measure.

Hedge ratio (delta)

The ratio of volatility of the portfolio to be hedged and the return of the volatility of the
hedging instrument.

Hedging

A strategy designed to reduce investment risk using call options, put options, short selling, or futures
contracts. A hedge can help lock in existing profits. Its purpose is to reduce the volatility of a portfolio, by
reducing the risk of loss.

Homogenous expectations assumption

An assumption of Markowitz portfolio construction that investors
have the same expectations with respect to the inputs that are used to derive efficient portfolios: asset returns,
variances, and covariances.

Idiosyncratic Risk

Unsystematic risk or risk that is uncorrelated to the overall market risk. In other words,
the risk that is firm specific and can be diversified through holding a portfolio of stocks.

Immunization strategy

A bond portfolio strategy whose goal is to eliminate the portfolio's risk against a
general change in the rate of interest through the use of duration.

Indexing

A passive instrument strategy consisting of the construction of a portfolio of stocks designed to
track the total return performance of an index of stocks.

Indifference curve

The graphical expression of a utility function, where the horizontal axis measures risk and
the vertical axis measures expected return. The curve connects all portfolios with the same utilities according
to g and s .

Investment income

The revenue from a portfolio of invested assets.
Investment management Also called portfolio management and money management, the process of
managing money.

Investment manager

Also called a portfolio manager and money manager, the individual who manages a
portfolio of investments.

Investment trust

A closed-end fund regulated by the Investment Company Act of 1940. These funds have a
fixed number of shares which are traded on the secondary markets similarly to corporate stocks. The market
price may exceed the net asset value per share, in which case it is considered at a "premium." When the
market price falls below the NAV/share, it is at a "discount." Many closed-end funds are of a specialized
nature, with the portfolio representing a particular industry, country, etc. These funds are usually listed on US
and foreign exchanges.

Ladder strategy

A bond portfolio strategy in which the portfolio is constructed to have approximately equal
amounts invested in every maturity within a given range.

Low price-earnings ratio effect

The tendency of portfolios of stocks with a low price-earnings ratio to
outperform portfolios consisting of stocks with a high price-earnings ratio.

Magic of diversification

The effective reduction of risk (variance) of a portfolio, achieved without reduction
to expected returns through the combination of assets with low or negative correlations (covariances).
Related: Markowitz diversification

Market model

This relationship is sometimes called the single-index model. The market model says that the
return on a security depends on the return on the market portfolio and the extent of the security's
responsiveness as measured, by beta. In addition, the return will also depend on conditions that are unique to
the firm. Graphically, the market model can be depicted as a line fitted to a plot of asset returns against
returns on the market portfolio.

Market price of risk

A measure of the extra return, or risk premium, that investors demand to bear risk. The
reward-to-risk ratio of the market portfolio.

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