Finance with Dr. John Elder
LE#7

Before starting these exercises, be sure to work through the examples in the notes and from the chapter!  

Chapt 6 #  2, 3, 5a(i,iii), 5b(i,iii), 6-10, 11.
Complete problem #6, which requires calculation of an efficient frontier, in a spreadsheet.  In particular, use the spreadsheet template that you used for the previous homework to plot a CAL.  If you entered the formulas for E(rp) and SD(rp) correctly, you should only need to change the expected return and standard deviation on the individual assets (stocks and bonds) and the correlation to the values given in the problem.   Again, the efficient frontier can be plotted by a "scatterplot" of the values in the columns for the E(rp) and SD(rp).   (Note:  In order to change the x and y axes on the scatterplot, right click on the background, then click "edit".  

Submit your spreadsheet table and scatterplot of the efficient frontier by printing both on a page to turn in during class.  I should be able to modify and the correlation and std dev and change the shape of the efficient frontier.

OTIS: Make the necessary trades to diversify your portfolio so that the Morningstar X-ray is consistent with your objectives and risk tolerance and print out the X-ray of your updated portfolio.  In a few sentences, describe the trades you conducted to rebalance your portfolio and why they were appropriate.

Hints:
(2) This requires some thought on diversification.  Give it your best shot.
(5ai)  Verify E(rp) = 0.728% per month
(5aiii) Verify SD(rp) = 2.267% per month
(5bi)   E(rp) = 0.645% per month
(5biii) SD(rp) = 2.133% per month
(6)  Do this problem in your spreadsheet, as described above.  Since you are doing this in a spreadsheet, you should easily be able to do increments of 10% (rather than the 20% described in the problem).  The minimum variance portfolio has 31.4% in stocks.  If you plug that value into your spreadsheet, you should be able find the expected return (10.9%) and std deviation (19.9%) on the minimum variance portfolio.
(7) You can simply draw the tangent by hand, if you wish.  The tangency portfolio has 64.7% in stocks and 35.3% in bonds.   (I have given you the actual values for the minimum variance and tangency portfolios because I don't want you to be concerned with the "formulas" required to explicitly identify them.)  You should be able to verify in your spreadsheet that the expected return on the tangency portfolio is 12.88%.  Find the std deviation of the tangency portfolio on your own.
(8)  Verify that the slope of the best CAL is 0.316.
(9)  Calculate the portfolio weights that give the desired return, using the tangency portfolio and T-bills as the two assets.  We did this in the last chapter using the expression for the expected return on a portfolio: E(rp) = wE(ri) + (1-w)E(rj).  Then find the std deviation of the portfolio.
(10)  Calculate the portfolio weights that give the desired return, use the stock and bonds funds as the two assets.  Again, use the expression for the expected return on a portfolio: E(rp) = wE(ri) + (1-w)E(rj).
(11) try on your own.