For Students

• Our Mission
• Curriculum
• Global Research Challenge 

Our Mission

 
MBA Program Development Mission:  
 

1. Work with a faculty member in the Finance area in the Merage School to develop and deliver an overview course in the MBA curriculum on wealth management
2. Offer advice on the curriculum in investment and wealth management.

The Center is dedicated to the mission of educating our MBA students in the area of investment & wealth management. We want to enhance our students educational experience and help them to advance your professional expertise and growth at the same time.  
 
The education that the Center provides is a collaborative effort between UC Irvine’s expert faculty and seasoned professionals dedicated to sharing their experience and knowledge. The concept is to create cutting edge curriculum with the flexibility to teach students topics in real time.  

This year, a number of our board members have partcipated as distinguished lecturers. They are prominently known in the wealth management community and speak to students about their career path, the industry, and ways to achieve success.  They are from a wide array of backgrounds including financial institutions, investment companies, law firms, accounting firms and wealth management companies in Orange County and beyond.  

Our future goal is to expand the wealth management course offerings to undergraduate students.  We look forward to further perpetuating the entrepreneurial spirit at the Merage School and hope that we can make a difference in the lives of Merage MBA students who are interested in the profession.

Curriculum

Faculty

• Todd Richey, CFA
• Camille Jayne
• Surenda Mensingkha

Private Wealth Management -- Course Objective

Private Wealth Management provides an overview of the real world considerations that are needed to connect all the singular functional areas that comprise wealth and personal business management such as tax and estate planning; investment management; life, liability and property/casualty insurance; medical and long term care coverage; and retirement and philanthropy considerations.  Learning how to manage wealth via a unified approach will help insure greater success with the disciplines noted.  The course includes a combination of lectures and case studies designed to confront you with a range of issues associated with various life stages (accumulation, consolidation, and spending/gifting).

The cases and lectures are designed to enhance your understanding of the value of a team approach to wealth management, as well as how each individual and/or family circumstance requires a customized solution.  The course also requires completion of an 11- week project that will allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject and showcase communication and presentation skills during the last week of the course.

Upon completion of the class, students will have a better understanding of the issues associated with “wealth management” for the purpose of better managing client, family, or personal assets.  Peace of mind in a volatile world is also important.

This course is designed to provide a base for further study in wealth management in both your graduate studies, post-graduate certifications and career development.  Examples of certifications could include Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA), Accredited Estate Planner (AEP), Board Certified In Estate Planning (BCE), Insurance Agent, Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), Registered Representative/Broker, Registered Investment Advisor, Trust Officer, and Certified Trust and Financial Adviser (CTFA).  Career opportunities include Financial Advisors, Private Bankers, Investment Advisors, Stock Brokers, Portfolio Managers, Insurance Agents, and various sales positions in financial services.

Class Format

The class will be generally organized around five core subject areas (Adapted from “Private Wealth Management Body of Knowledge” CFA Institute, August 2007):

1.    General Principles and Investment Planning
      a.    Global Trends in Wealth Management and Private Banking
      b.    Institutions Serving the private client
      c.    Strategic Asset Allocation and Investment Policy-Model Overview
 
2.    Analysis of  the Client
      a.    Fact Gathering and Analysis
            i.    The extended family balance sheet
                  1.    Asset Identification
                  2.    Liability Identification
                  3.    Lifestyle requirements and sources of income/Wealth
                  4.    Sources of risk (income, property, personal, aspirational)
                  5.    Analysis of tax situation
                  6.    Liquidity requirements
            ii.    Application of Behavioral Finance to Wealth Management and Investor Psychology
            iii.    Risk Tolerance
            iv.    Investment Objectives and Horizons
 
3.    Wealth Management Planning and Instruments
      a.    Wealth Management Process
            i.    Financial Plan and Annual Review
            ii.    Wealth Transfer
            iii.    Tax and estate Planning
            iv.    Trusts and Insurance (General Overview)
            v.    Life Cycle
      b.    Asset Protection and Risk Management
            i.    Insurance
            ii.    Trusts
      c.    Income Tax Planning
      d.    Education Planning
      e.    Retirement Planning and Employee Benefits
      f.    Wealth Transfer
            i.    Estate Planning
            ii.    Trusts
      g.    Investment Policy Statement and a comprehensive Wealth Management Plan
 
4.    Portfolio Management for the Taxable Investor
      a.    Asset Allocation for the taxable investor
            i.    Role of Asset Classes including Alternative Assets
            ii.    Incorporating Capital Market Expectations
            iii.    Advanced techniques for asset allocation including Human Capital and Insurance
      b.    Portfolio Construction and Strategy
            i.    Tax Management Strategies
            ii.    Structuring Tax Efficient Portfolios
      c.    Implementation, Monitoring and Rebalancing
      d.    Performance Evaluation
 
5.    Ethics and Professional Responsibility

Group and Class Participation

This course emphasizes lectures, case-study based learning, and group presentations. In the Wealth Management field, the ability to work as a team with the client’s other advisors is critical. Students may research/take on different professional areas of expertise – then work with classmates to design the best wealth management plan for your client, including presenting those ideas and solutions to clients that may not have any depth of understanding of the field. 

Course Schedule

Global Reasearch Challenge

Global Research Challenge-Fall 2009/2010

The CFA Society of Orange County (“CFAOC”), in conjunction with The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, and the Center for Investment and Wealth Management (“CIWM”) is hosting a team of five MBA students from UCI as they participate in the CFA Institute Global Investment Research Challenge.  The Challenge is an annual event that gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally, and globally for a real world competition.  

These five students will research, analyze, and report on Corinthian College, Inc. Their final research report will be reviewed and judged by a panel of industry professionals and they will also present their research and findings to the judges in a live competition to be held in January 2010.  The regional champions will continue on to participate in competitions with teams from across the Americas, Asia, and Europe and then to the global finale.

For more information on the Challenge, please refer to CFAOC.org or CFAinstitute.org.

Short biographies of the five participants follow:

Daisy (Yuanyuan) Dai, is an MBA candidate at The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, focusing on Finance. She has internship experience in both corporate finance and investment banking. Daisy is also a CFA Level 2 candidate, committed to a career related to financial analysis. Prior to returning to school, she worked in the Central Government of China, primarily in the area of international business exchange.  She holds a Bachelor degree in English from Shanghai international Studies University and a minor in Finance from Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Daisy speaks fluent Mandarin and holds a national certificate of English-Chinese Interpretation and Translation in China.

Spencer Green is a second year full-time MBA student at The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, focused on strategy and finance.  Most recently, he worked in marketing analytics and forecasting for DirecTV. Prior to business school, he worked in almost every facet of the hedge fund and investment management industry including research assistant, trader, and operations analyst. Spencer also worked as a customer experience strategy consultant for Alibris.com, a competitor of Amazon.com.  He is interested in combining his investment experience with strategy curriculum taken in the MBA program to work in private equity/corporate valuation with a particular interest in distressed investments and restructuring opportunities.  Spencer graduated from Willamette University, double majoring in History and Political Science.

Devon Helms is currently a second year MBA candidate at The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, and is focusing his studies on corporate finance. Before returning to the academic world to pursue his MBA, Devon was a business operations and technology consultant. He has been involved in hundreds of engagements, analyzing and improving his customers business processes. After his studies are complete, Devon wants to continue to help clients improve the performance of their businesses through business process and financial analysis. In his free time, Devon is an avid marathon runner, rock climber, and SCUBA diver. He lives in Lakewood with his lovely wife, Shana, and his 8 year old Siberian Husky and faithful running partner, Frosty.

Kenny Lin is a second year Full Time MBA candidate at The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine. He decided to attend business school to transition into a new career and will concentrate his studies on Finance. Kenny is actively involved on campus and serves as the President of the Financial Management Association and also as a Student Ambassador.  This summer, Kenny interned as a Summer Analyst with MAP Alternative Asset Management, a fund of hedge funds, in Newport Beach, CA. In this role, Kenny supported the due diligence process in identifying and analyzing prospective hedge fund investments. Kenny is a CFA Level 1 candidate.  Prior to attending Merage, Kenny earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego and a M.S in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.  Kenny worked as a Lead Product Engineer for Northrop Grumman, Space Technology in Redondo Beach, CA. His responsibilities included managing a cross-functional team to design and manufacture electronic packages for satellite applications.

Alan Tang worked in Qualcomm, San Diego as a summer intern. Prior to joining The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, Alan worked at Philip in China and Europe for 3 years. He honed his quantitative and analytical skills by solving challenging problems and excelling at academic course work. Here at school, he is very interested in Finance and takes initiatives to learn more about the subject. Alan is VP Finance for the student association and he is a CFA Level 2 candidate. After business school, Alan would like to work in a Finance/Investment role.