Question

You invest 60% of your financial assets in Standard & Poor’s Depository Receipts with an expected return of 10% and a standard deviation of 20% and 40% of your financial assets in MSCI EAFE Index Fund with an expected return of 12% and a standard deviation of 30%. The correlation between the two investments is 35%. What are the expected return and the standard deviation of your portfolio?

Answer 1

Answer:

Expected Return = 10.80%

Standard Deviation = 19.72%

Explanation:

Amount invested in Standard & Poor’s Depository Receipts = 60%

Expected return of Standard & Poor’s Depository Receipts = 10%

standard deviation of Standard & Poor’s Depository Receipts = 20%

Amount invested in MSCI EAFE Index Fund = 40%

Expected return of MSCI EAFE Index Fund = 12%

Standard deviation of MSCI EAFE Index Fund = 30%

Correlation between the two investments = 35%

Now,

Expected Return = ∑(Amount invested × Expected rate of return)

= 0.60 × 0.10 + 0.40 × 0.12

or

= 10.80%

Standard Deviation = √(∑(Amount invested × Standard deviation))²

= √[(0.60)²(0.20)² + (0.40)²(0.30)² + 2(0.60)(0.40)(0.20)(030)(0.35)]

or

Standard Deviation = 19.72%