Overcoming The Challenges of Establishing A Student-Managed Fixed Income Fund

Abstract

Student-managed funds (SMFs) offer unique educational opportunities. In a typical SMF, students select common stocks and manage a real portfolio, gaining practical money management experience. Until recently, establishing a fixed income SMF has been unworkable for most academic institutions. Fixed income exchange traded funds (ETFs) are relatively new financial offerings that allow non-institutional investors the ability to trade shares of an entire bond portfolio as a single security. By combining different ETFs into a fund of funds, it is possible for students to implement various bond portfolio management strategies - a valuable learning opportunity previously unavailable to most business students.