Student Investment Fund
What is the Student Investment Fund?Full-time MBA students and select undergraduates, including scholars in the Broad School's Financial Markets Institute, manage the Student Investment Fund (SIF) as members of the college's Security Analysis class. Under the instruction of James Wiggins and using the tools of the Financial Analysis Laboratory, the students master the essentials of portfolio management, stock selection and stock performance evaluation. They continuously monitor the fund and ensure that its stated security selection discipline is maintained.
The Student Investment Fund was created in April 2003 as a sub-account of the MSU Foundation's portfolio. The Foundation initially funded the SIF with $750,000 and has made additional contributions since. These allocations, together with the returns achieved by the students, have grown the fund to a present value of approximately $5 million.
The investment strategies and decisions of the class are reviewed each semester by the Finance Advisory Board. During the board's meetings, students present their analysis of the performance of the total portfolio and their buy and sell recommendations on individual stock holdings. Students gain experience in responding to the board's rapid-fire questioning about the fund's composition, current returns and future earnings outlook.
The student managers have consistently achieved excellent results. From inception through April 2008, the fund's annualized rate of return was 21.81% compared to a 14.74% return for the fund's benchmark index, the Russell 2500 Value Index®.