I don't know how's your knowledge about Western World Pension scheme. If I may assume that you have an adequate knowledge into them then why not look into something on the lines of 'different asset classes as long term hedge against pension liabilities'?
I have been doing an ad-hoc research lately and found really interesting charateristics for various asset classes that I studied. I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to share my report due to some confidential information that I had to look into and the contract that I had to sign with few partnerships who I met during carrying out this research.
I'm sure alot of data and information is readily available on net.
Alternatively, how about Islamic banking and its scope? Now even an Islamic Bond is traded on western Fixed Income markets - quite an achievement.
How about looking into future of Pakistan's economic position? Mr. PM recently acknowledged that these guys have already started to recieve statistics about the economics policies that undertook.
Another one may be, the future of eurozone or infact whole economic position. Would the contraction in Japanese, German and other Eurozone Economies force us towards a global slow down?
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial" id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by hira</i>
<br />hi its hira,
the purpose of writting is to get your helps and opinion in selecting my final project
actually i m in 6 semseter of BBA(major in finance) and i have to write a thesis of pages more then 50pages. i already have selected following topic please guide me as the best of your knowledge, which one should i choose.
1) islamic banking
2) privertization of natural resourses.
3) instrument for islamic financing.
4) microfinancing.
5) index funds.
or please suggest me any other topic which you feel good for that purpose... if any MBA & BBA student like to share his topic with me i m very thankful for that..
hopefully you guz respond to my request very soon... inshallah i have very short time bcoz i have to submit the topic on wednesday.
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hello there.....
look HIRA....
you have to choose the most popular,innovative,current,clear
and all in all.... not chosen by many....
so, try KEEP AN EYE, on what your most mates choose??....
see below... TO START THINKING...
<b>ISLAMIC BANKING</b> is a contruversal issue....
(rejected)as openions very and is still UNSOLVED for MAJORITY.
<b>Privatization of Resources</b>, is not much see in PAKISTAN...
but, maybee... expected....(perhaps, beginning with SUI)
see if its expected or in process....
<b>instruments</b> can be some topic....
microfinancing, as started in PAK and i believe, will grow...with time... see what the current GOVT's policy and Targets are...
how much are achieved...etc
<b>index funds</b>....
how good can you see in the market in current time..?
Out of those, i'd go with #5, and i'd structure it like this
Talk about the efficient market hypothesis (EMH)... then break it down into short-term horizons vs. long-term horizons. the emh always holds for the long-term, but not always in the short-term. people who don't believe in the EMH generally invest with short-term horizons, believing that they will be able to accurately time their investments to beat the market, and profit.
For that bit, stock market timing, look for a paper written by robert h. jeffry called "the folly of stock market timing", written in the harvard business review (july-august 1984). it gives a detailed analysis of how that investment strategy rarely works, and when you look at the cumulative picture - all the returns are at or below the market's (i.e. the indices') returns.
I'd also say a little about the cost structure and risk in stocks vs. mutual funds vs. indices. Mutual funds sometimes have maintenance fees that neither stocks nor indices have - another incentive to put your money in the index.
just a couple ideas off the top of my head.
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If I could... Then I would... Turn back time!!
<b>Hedging of pension funds</b> that's way too narrow of a topic. you could expand it to Pension Fund Management Strategies. One of those strategies, a relatively recent one, is to place some of the assets under management in a Hedge Fund. Pension funds have very strict investing policies, they can't take on a lot of risk.
There are also some other methods of managing occupational pension schemes
1. Purchase an 'off-the-shelf' policy from an insurance company, so that the trustees simply hand over the contributions to an insurance company, and the insurance company's actuary will advise on the level of contributions relative to the benefits promised.
2. The trustees may decide to participate in a non-discretionary fund run by an insurance company (called insured fund management, though it is unlikely that the insurance company will provide any guaranteed return) or other financial institution. Under this scheme the fund is managed independently of the trustees, through a 'pooled fund' operated by the insurance company. Pooled investment management is usually adopted by small funds, with the resources of a group of funds being placed in the same investment fund. The pension fund trades in the units of the investment fund, where the value of the units reflects the value of the underlying assets. Pooled funds operate through two types of legal entity exempt unit trusts and managed pension funds.
3. The trustees may manage the fund themselves indirectly by delegating the task to one or more financial intermediaries (called segregated or self-insured fund management), who would typically design a tailor-made investment mandate agreed between the trustees and the financial institution. Segregated management is usually adopted by medium-sized funds where there is some attempt to match the assets in which the fund is invested to the fund's liabilities. The trustees may decide to employ one financial institution to manage the bond portfolio, another to manage the equity portfolio etc.
4. The trustees may manage the fund themselves directly (in-house fund management) by appointing one or more investment managers, who are employed by the fund.
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If I could... Then I would... Turn back time!!
Assalam o Alaikum Hira !
Hey y donn u try "Achieving of 8% GDP" as this is a fresh topic tht most of da students r unaware of n might not pick up
Rest is upon U [)] .....
Purchase an 'off-the-shelf' policy from an insurance company, so that the trustees simply hand over the contributions to an insurance company, and the insurance company's actuary will advise on the level of contributions relative to the benefits promised.
It adds unnecessary cost to the pension trustees. Also, insurannce actuarial valuations are usually different than that of pension actuaries. Although, the IAA is trying to adopt similar approaches that of Accounting bodies to maintain the consistencies in valuations.
I would say its a good strategy but people would adapt it for DC schemes not for DB.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial" id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by hira</i>
<br />hi DT will you help me on that topic HEDGNG OF PENSION FUND
give your opnion on that.. waiting 4 your reply
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Hira,
I started my research by looking into different asset classes past performances. Some of the classes that I used were UK equities, International hedged equities, gold, convertibles, non-traditional investments etc.
I think alot of data is readily available on net. Just look into various places.
My conclusion however was that for long term liabilities, equities are best, especially if there is some mean reverting statistical significance.
For smaller term horizon liabilities, bonds should be okey.
Gold exposure helps if your fund is under-funded. Otherwise, alot of volatility in Gold doesnt add much diversification.
