The Wealth Allocation Framework: Integrating Modern Portfolio Theory with Behavioral Finance

Topic: 
The Wealth Allocation Framework: Integrating Modern Portfolio Theory with Behavioral Finance
Date & Time: 
Thursday, February 9, 2017 - 16:00 to 17:30
Speaker: 
Dr. Ashvin B. Chhabra
Location: 
Room 1505, NYU Shanghai

The tenets of Modern Portfolio Theory, starting from the work of Markowitz and Sharpe, are well understood and lead to well-diversified market portfolios. However these tenets are at best only partially followed by investors – be they individual investors or professional money managers. The burgeoning field of Behavioral Finance has compiled a long-list of investment errors - apparently arising from the hard-wiring of the human brain to risk and reward.  Yet generation upon generation of investors seem to be unable to avoid these errors despite prior knowledge of them! In his talk, Ashvin Chhabra will present a unifying, albeit heuristic, investing framework, whose structure is designed to integrate the findings from Modern Portfolio Theory and Behavioral Finance.

Dr. Ashvin B. Chhabra is President of Euclidean Capital. Euclidan Capital is responsible for the management of investments for James H. Simons & Marilyn Simons and their associated foundations. The Simons Foundation is dedicated to advancing research in basic science and mathematics. It is currently one of America’s two or three largest private funders of these areas. Other major initiatives include the Autism research initiative to improve understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders, as well as Math for America whose mission is to upgrade the quality of math and science teachers in our public schools. 

Dr. Chhabra was Chief Investment Officer and head of investment management and guidance at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management from 2013-2015. He was the Chief Investment Officer at the Institute for Advanced Study from 2007-2013 and Managing Director and head of wealth management strategies and analytics for Merrill Lynch’s Global Private Client Group from 2001-2007. Prior to that, he was head of quantitative research at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. 

Dr. Chhabra is the immediate past chair of the Board of Regents for the Financial Analysts Seminar of CFA Institute. He is also member of the international advisory board of EDHEC-Risk Institute, the Board of Trustees of the Stony Brook Foundation, and the investment committee of the Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Chhabra has lectured at Yale University, Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia Business School, Baruch College CUNY, and the University of Chicago. He holds a PhD in applied physics from Yale University in the field of non-linear dynamics (Chaos theory).

Ashvin Chhabra is also the author of The Aspirational Investor, published by Harper Collins in 2015. He is widely recognized as one of the founders of goals based wealth management and for his seminal work “Beyond Markowitz” which integrates Modern Portfolio Theory with Behavioral Finance and proposes a novel Wealth Allocation framework. 

Introduction and moderation by Heini Shi, Professor of Practice in Management.

Location & Details: 


This talk is open to public, please click here to RSVP.