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Investment Essentials
This program is designed for bank sales professionals whose business is credit or deposit based and who, by broadening their knowledge of investments, will enhance the relationship and local business activity of their customer and prospect base.
The objective of the program is to enhance the participants’ knowledge of the world of investments and to give them expertise and confidence to discuss investments, markets, and products either in a formal or informal setting with clients or prospects. The participants will become well versed and informed on current and future trends, conditions, and fluctuation that affect investments, will be able to engage their clients and prospects in dialogue so that clients and prospects will feel comfortable meeting with the appropriate professional within the institution.
The program can be custom designed for delivery in the form of a workshop, computer-based training, or print self-study guide.
The outline for this program is as follows:
I. Welcome and Introduction
A. Introduction of instructors and participants
B. Goals for the program
C. Agenda
D. Definition of investments
II. Group Exercise - Five most feared investment questions
III. Financial Instruments
A. Stocks
1. Definition
2. Earnings and dividends
3. Size of company and market cap
4. Why people own them
5. Growth, Blue Chip, Value, Income
6. Total Return and Performance
B. Fixed Income
1. Type of Fixed Income - Government, Corporate, Munis
2. Maturities and duration
3. Quality and rating
4. Yield, trading, and price
5. Relationship of price to interest
6. Taxable and tax exempt
7. Trading and price
8. Ladder maturities
9. Why people buy them/advantages
C. Mutual Funds
1. What they are and how they work
2. Open End versus Closed End
3. Net asset value, cost of ownership, load, value and fees
4. How shares are bought and sold
5. Why people buy them
6. Key types of mutual funds - Money Market, Equity
7. Dollar cost averaging
8. Shareholders Services - Rights of accumulation
9. Performance and ranking
10. Dividends, distributions, and yields
D. Unit Trusts - Definition versus Mutual Funds
E. Commingled Trusts - Definition versus Mutual Funds
F. Annuities - Definition
1. What they are
2. Fixed versus Variable
3. Who buys them and why
4. Cost of ownership
5. Insurance company quality and guarantee
6. Tax treatment
7. Tax benefits
G. Non-Traditional Investments
1. Options
2. Futures
3. Derivatives
4. Limited Partnership
5. Precious metals
IV. Investment Styles
A. Historical performance of investment markets
B. Top Down, Bottom Up
C. Growth
D. Value
E. Small cap
F. Large cap
G. Core
H. Asset Allocation
V. Portfolio Management
A. Theme or Sector Investing
B. Risk and reward
C. Fundamental and technical analysis
D. Beta, standard deviation, and volatility
E. Modern Portfolio Theory, The Random Walk Theory and efficient markets
F. Margin
G. Sources of research information
VI. Measuring Success - Benchmarking Performance
A. Stock Market Indices
1. Standard & Poors 500
2. Dow Jones Averages
3. Russell 1000
B. Bond Markets Indices
1. Lehman Gov./Corp. Bond Index
2. Bond Buyer 20
3. Donoghue’s Taxable Money Market Avg.
4. Morgan Stanley EAFE Index
C. Foreign Indices
1. FTA All Share Index
2. Nikkei-Dow Jones Avg.
3. DAX General Index
4. All Ordinaries
D. Lipper Indices
E. Risk Adjusted Total Return
VII. Investment Markets
A. Exchanges, TC and NADSDAQ
B. Primary and secondary market
VII. The Economy
A. The Federal Reserve and money supply
B. Impact of inflation
C. Economic Indicators
D. Economic Cycles
1. Expansions and recessions
VIII. Providing Investment Advisory
A. Custody
B. Managing Assets
C. Trust and Estates
1. Types of trusts - living, irrevocable, charitable
2. Trust services - custodian, agency, guardianship, discretionary
3. Estate taxes, unified credit, gifts, marital deduction
D. Retirement Plans
1. IRAs
2. SEP-IRAs
3. Defined Benefits
4. Defined Contribution
5. 401 (k)
E. Types of investment providers
1. Full-service brokers
2. Discount brokers
3. Investment advisors
4. Financial planners
5. Banks
6. Insurance companies
7. Direct marketers
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