Student Managed Investment Fund

The Miami University Student Managed Investment Fund offers students the opportunity to participate in a hands-on, experiential learning environment. In this course, students are responsible for managing a significant amount of actual funds from the Miami University Endowment. The students act as equity analysts and are placed on one of the sector teams, through which they are responsible for allocating the fund's assets into various equity holdings. There is also a Managing Team for the class that students can participate in for leadership opportunities. Students make all decisions involving trading and risk and can take on a role in managing the business side of the Fund as well (financial modeling, sales/marketing, website development, etc.).

This course allows students to work alongside other talented and highly motivated individuals as a team to create an investment portfolio composed of U.S. equities. Students also gain a competitive advantage for internship and full-time employment opportunities by leveraging the real-world experience gained through this course. The fund has a strong network of prior members, some of whom accepted positions with Goldman Sachs and William Blair.

Students who are interested in a career involving financial markets as Portfolio Managers (mutual funds or hedge funds), Equity Analysts (buy-side or sell-side), Investment Advisors, Investment Bankers, or any other related careers are encouraged to apply and be a part of the Student Managed Investment Fund.

Class Structure

• FIN481 SMIF is a membership-only class normally composed of 25-35 students. The class will have several analyst teams as well as a managing team that is responsible for various roles and responsibilities. Students will work with their faculty advisor(s), as well as the Investment Advisory Board, which consists of investment professionals from the local business community.
• The analyst teams will be responsible for performing quantitative and qualitative research on potential investments for the fund. Each member of the analyst team will be assigned to an industry(s) sector team. Sector teams will follow and research specific firms that are either currently held within the portfolio or firms the teams feel would be appropriate potential additions.  Stock recommendations will be presented to the entire class for a majority vote (60+%). The in-class presentations determine which recommendations proceed to the SMIF Investment presentation session for final approval.
• The management team will be responsible for monitoring appropriate risk measures for the fund, ensuring that the portfolio composition is consistent with specified asset allocations, and permitted investments as indicated in the fund’s IPS, and informing and advising the analyst teams when corrective actions are needed. Ideally, the Management Team will consist of one member from each sector team. The Management Team will report to the University’s Treasury Services Office and the Investment Advisory Board at the end of each academic semester. All trading orders will be submitted in an email request by the Management Team, through the faculty advisor, to the University’s Treasury Services Office for approval and execution. The Management Team will be responsible for maintaining all the records of the fund. In addition, they will be responsible for enhancing the publicity of the fund through contacts with the media and the fund’s website.

Application Guidelines

• FIN401 is a prerequisite
• Applications are open to Juniors and Seniors
• To apply, please complete FIN 481 - Student Managed Investment Fund Application before the application deadline. This way if you are approved we can get it on your schedule during or before registration. Please reach out to Andrea Tucker with any questions or if there are issues with the application link.