Mean-Variance Optimization and the Total Portfolio Approach

Free CAIA Level II lesson in Asset Allocation. 40 min read, ~6,006 words.

MVO maximizes mean-variance utility, where is risk aversion. Closed-form weights scale with; as rises, risky weights fall. MVO is an "error maximizer" that ignores skewness and kurtosis and inflates smoothed illiquid weights. Adjustments: a liquidity penalty, factor-exposure caps, plus resampling, shrinkage, Black-Litterman, and weight constraints. The Total Portfolio Approach (TPA)...

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