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This guide is derived from the author's notes for the two-day course of the same name that he presents for the Securities and Investment Institute.
It is neither a transcript of the course, nor a fully comprehensive work of reference. Rather, it is intended as an introductory text for those new to or unfamiliar with investments and asset management. It provides a broad and practical description of investment funds and fund management from a number of perspectives and aims to stimulate further, more detailed study.
Starting with the general economic background and rationale for the existence of funds, it moves through a description of the features and characteristics of different types of funds, and the associated regulatory and investor protection mechanisms, to the process of establishing a fund.
It then addresses the topic from the perspective of the portfolio manager, by providing an overview of the principal investment strategies and styles deployed in the construction of portfolios, and of their administration, before covering investor administration and, finally, the mathematics and methods of performance measurement.
Your own understanding of fund management after reading this guide will depend upon your interest and aspirations, your appetite for and approach to learning, and, of course, your expectations of the guide, which, please note, is an introduction to the subject; it will not make you an expert!
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