MS in Finance and Graduate Management Program Dual Degree Master's Program

This course introduces the main concepts of data analysis and econometrics applied to financial problems. The course explores data analysis techniques; time series models; multivariate, factor and Bayesian models applied to high frequency trading, volatility forecast, risk management, portfolio optimization, and asset pricing. Students will work with historical databases, conduct their own analysis, and test trading and/or investment strategies based on the techniques reviewed during the class.

Prerequisite: BIA 652 or MGT 700 or FA 541

This course takes a practical approach to managing investments. It covers a wide variety of investment vehicles, from pure equity and debt offerings to complex derivatives and options. Various investment strategies are presented which are focused on the different fundamental approaches and tactics used by leading investors to achieve their financial goals. The course also focuses on investment styles, including momentum, growth, income, distressed, asset allocation and vulture investing. Students participate in real-time simulation experiences to create viable portfolios of stocks, bonds and other investments, tracking their performance against the overall market and the class on a weekly basis.

This course addresses money flows and the cost of credit for major money market institutions, including banks, bank holding companies and the “shadow banking” system. It entails a broad survey of the structure and financial condition of the banking industry. The course provides a theoretical and practical understanding of why these markets exist and who the key players are, how the markets work, the rules governing their operation, and how they are evolving. We will spend considerable time in discussing regulation of the financial markets and financial services industry.

This course is designed to teach students the nature and availability of the financial data available at Stevens. The focus of the course will be on equity, futures, FX, options, swaps, CDS’s, interest rate swaps etc. They will learn to how use a Bloomberg terminal. As part of the course the students will be certified in the 4 areas that Bloomberg offers certification. We will cover the Thomson–Reuters Tick history data and basics of using this data. The course also introduces basics of applied statistics. Bloomberg terminal access will be required for any student taking the course on the web.

The goal of this course is to teach our students Excel usage at a high level, including the built-in data tools and formulas, as well as an introduction to programming with VBA – the Visual Basic for Applications language – within Excel. Excel is used everywhere in finance, and VBA allows practitioners to go beyond standard spreadsheet calculation and modeling. The course focuses on advanced topics such as interacting with databases as well as addons and creating macros to perform complex tasks.

In this course the students will learn the basics of the open source programming language R. The language will be introduced using financial data and applications. Basic statistical knowledge is required to complete the course. The course is designed so that upon completion the students will be able to use R for assignments and research using data particularly in finance.

This course deals with risk management concepts in financial systems. Topics include identifying sources of risk in financial systems, classification of events, probability of undesirable events, risk and uncertainty, risk in games and gambling, risk and insurance, hedging and the use of derivatives, the use of Bayesian analysis to process incomplete information, portfolio beta and diversification, active management of risk/return profile of financial enterprises, propagation of risk, and risk metrics.

This course covers the fundamentals of financial derivatives, including the basic properties and pricing of futures, options and swaps. It also explores trading and hedging strategies involving financial derivatives. Special topics, such as exotic options and credit derivatives, are explored. The course provides the foundation of financial derivatives and lays the ground for a rigorous risk management course and other advanced quantitative courses, such as stochastic finance.

This course addresses the fundamentals of venture capital, which includes the venture capital industry, the structure of venture capital firms and venture capital investments. It addresses in some detail the relationship between venture risk and return, the cost of venture capital, and the valuation of high-growth companies. The course covers a variety of valuation methods as well as analysis of company capital structure.

This course focuses on the main activities of sell-side investment services such as: financial advisory, stocks and bonds structuring and underwriting, project finance and post-sale services such as equity and bond research. The course is aimed at students interested in acquiring skills and tools required for an investment banking career. The course does not cover the merger and acquisition topics (corporate, leveraged and early stage) for which the student should take the Venture Capital course.

This course deals with risk management concepts in financial systems. Topics include identifying sources of risk in financial systems, classification of events, probability of undesirable events, risk and uncertainty, risk in games and gambling, risk and insurance, hedging and the use of derivatives, the use of Bayesian analysis to process incomplete information, portfolio beta and diversification, active management of risk/return profile of financial enterprises, propagation of risk, and risk metrics.

This course covers the fundamentals of financial derivatives, including the basic properties and pricing of futures, options and swaps. It also explores trading and hedging strategies involving financial derivatives. Special topics, such as exotic options and credit derivatives, are explored. The course provides the foundation of financial derivatives and lays the ground for a rigorous risk management course and other advanced quantitative courses, such as stochastic finance.

This course examines topics related to efforts to maintain security over financial systems within the organization. Students examine recent financial systems breaches, and consider common threats and vulnerabilities related to financial systems. Several methods of risk assessment are explored, as well as the creation of risk treatment strategies, including the design of internal technical and process controls. Students analyze relevant financial services industry regulation and discuss organizational compliance requirements. Response planning is examined for information and cybersecurity breaches.

The significant amount of corporate information available requires a systematic and analytical approach to select the most important information and anticipate major events. Statistical learning algorithms facilitate this process understanding, modeling and forecasting the behavior of major corporate variables. This course introduces time series and statistical and graphical models used for inference and prediction. The emphasis of the course is in the learning capability of the algorithms and their application to finance, direct marketing, operations, and biomedicine. Students should have a basic knowledge of probability theory, and linear algebra.

This course will review the fundamental principles of financial planning, professional conduct, education planning, risk management and regulation. The course is aligned with the principal knowledge topics evaluated on the CFP® Certification Examination. The course introduces you to the financial planning process and teaches you how to work with clients to set goals and assess risk tolerance. Learn how to process and analyze information, construct personal financial statements, develop debt management plans, recommend financing strategies, and understand the basic components of a written comprehensive financial plan. The course also covers the regulatory environment, time value of money, and economic concepts.

This course introduces students to the principles of retirement and estate planning as well as current issues in these areas. The course is designed to enable students to understand and be conversant with the basic language of retirement and estate planning, and to understand the pertinent provisions of the US Internal Revenue Code related to these topics.

This course will review the fundamental principles of financial planning, professional conduct, education planning, risk management and regulation. The course is aligned with the principle knowledge topics evaluated on the CFP Certification Examination. The course introduces you to the financial planning process and teaches you how to work with clients to set goals and assess risk tolerance. Learn how to process and analyze information, construct personal financial statements, develop debt management plans, recommend financing strategies and understand the basic components of a written comprehensive financial plan. 

This course integrates the different aspects of the financial planning process and demonstrates how to apply this knowledge to the development of a comprehensive financial plan. Students learn how to solve the main problems related to the financial planning process: cash management, debt management, taxation, insurance, retirement, investment, portfolio optimization and estate planning. At the end of the course, students should be able to construct a plan according to the CFP Board’s Financial Planning Practice Standards and client objectives.

Prerequisites: FIN 550, ACC 555 and FIN 560

Electives available to be taken at SPJIMR toward the GMP Degree