- Level Foundation
- Duration 9 hours
- Course by University of Geneva
-
Offered by
About
In this course, you will dive into the concepts of rationality and irrationality and understand how they impact our investment decisions and what the consequences can be at the market level. You will first explore the different biases that we, as humans, are subjected to when facing investment decisions and how they may impact the outcomes of these decisions. Moreover, you will see how emotions and ethical concerns such as honesty and trust influence market participants. When they are considered as a group rather than individually, you will discover how rationality and irrationality can drive asset prices to and away from their fair value. Finally, you will be presented with different portfolio construction methodologies and investment styles that make up the landscape of today's portfolio management industry. At key points throughout the course, you will benefit from the practical knowledge of experts from our corporate partner, UBS, in how to build and manage clients' portfolios.Modules
Introduction
1
Discussions
- What about you?
4
Videos
- Why you should choose this course
- An example: buying is easy, but when is it a good time to sell? - Buying
- An example: buying is easy, but when is it a good time to sell? - Holding
- An example: buying is easy, but when is it a good time to sell? - Selling
1
Readings
- Course syllabus
Useful things to know before this course
1
Assignment
- Practice quiz on the relevant content of Course 1 (Understanding Financial Markets)
1
Videos
- The key things you need to know to define your investment profile - UBS guest speaker
1
Readings
- Glossary
Rational investment decisions
2
Assignment
- Guess 2/3 of the average
- Graded quiz on the content of Week 1
2
Videos
- What you will learn in this Module
- Rational decision making
Cognitive biases
1
Peer Review
- Cognitive biases
7
Videos
- How our brain may misinterpret information
- The basic steps in investment
- Biases when choosing which assets to look at
- Biases when processing financial information
- Biases when rebalancing you portfolio
- Biases when evaluating performance
- Wrap up
The impact of emotions on investment decisions
4
Videos
- How our emotions impact our investment decisions
- Why we trade
- What can we learn from this?
- The role of media in financial markets
Other influences on investment decisions
1
Assignment
- Graded quiz on the content of Week 2
1
Discussions
- How would you enforce trust?
4
Videos
- Honesty and trust in investment decision making - Study design
- Honesty and trust in investment decision making - Study results
- Impact Investing - UBS guest speaker
- Are emotions always a bad thing in investing?
Market efficiency
1
Assignment
- Graded quiz on market efficiency
1
Discussions
- Do you think markets are efficient?
5
Videos
- What you will learn in this Module
- Defining market efficiency
- Testing for the efficient market hypothesis: Weak form
- Testing for the efficient market hypothesis: Semi strong form
- Testing for the efficient market hypothesis: Strong form
Origins of financial bubbles and crises
1
Assignment
- Graded quiz on the origins of financial bubbles and crises
10
Videos
- Overview of different origins of financial crises
- A first example for the development and fallout of a real crisis: the VW scandal
- A second example for the development and fallout of a real crisis: oil shocks - 1970s
- A second example for the development and fallout of a real crisis: oil shocks - 2000s
- A first example of an anticipation crisis: 1987 - The "Fed Model"
- A first example of an anticipation crisis: 1987 - The crash
- A second example of an anticipation crisis: 2000
- The perfect storm: the global financial crisis - Global imbalances
- The perfect storm: the global financial crisis - Policy errors
- The perfect storm: the global financial crisis - Lax regulation
Central banks and financial stability
3
Videos
- How do central banks deal with the issue of financial (in)stability? - Course 1 recap
- How do central banks deal with the issue of financial (in)stability? - Asset prices
- An interview with Prof. Jean-Pierre Danthine
Portfolio construction
1
Assignment
- Graded quiz on portfolio construction
5
Videos
- What you will learn in this Module
- Building a portfolio the top-down way – Definition
- Building a portfolio the top-down way – Use
- Building a portfolio the top-down way – Importance
- Portfolio construction via bottom-up - UBS guest speaker
Investment styles
1
Assignment
- Graded quiz on investment styles
2
Discussions
- Give it a try: Momentum
- Give it a try: Contrarian
6
Videos
- Value versus growth
- Fundamental or quantitative driven style? - UBS guest speaker
- Contrarian versus momentum - Momentum
- Contrarian versus momentum - Contrarian
- Core & satellite
- Thematic investing - UBS guest speaker
Auto Summary
"Meeting Investors' Goals" is a foundational course in Business & Management, offered by Coursera and featuring expertise from UBS. This 540-minute course delves into rationality and irrationality in investment decisions, biases, emotions, and ethical concerns in market behavior. Learners will explore portfolio construction methodologies and investment styles. Subscription options include Starter, Professional, and Paid. Ideal for those seeking to understand market dynamics and portfolio management.

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