This study uses barbell strategies on the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 to explore if funds invested primarily in fixed income assets with a portion of the investment placed in in-the-money call options can participate in upside potential, while also reducing risk. This study examines call options on the underlying indexes as well as their leveraged, 2x and 3x, counterparts. The barbell strategy studied, 88% in fixed income bonds and 12% in call options, does not have a higher return than the underlying index, and adds additional risk. However, a weighted portfolio with combinations of a risk-free asset and leveraged ETF does provide a higher return on investment, with a decreased risk as compared to the underlying index.

This study explores five elements pertaining to sound financial management in institutions of higher education as related to Government negotiated research contracting. The research tested the feasibility of five hypotheses presented as elements to be investigated in the study. Responses to a mail questionnaire were analyzed and final audit reports were examined. The data obtained were used as evidence to support the contention that sound financial management in universities as related to research negotiated contracting is important and can be improved through these five elements: 1. Financial management aids in developing the climate in which research can best be performed. It has been shown that research is performed in almost all the institutions of higher education. However, it is believed that the institutions would greatly enhance and improve the climate if they utilize management advisory services and provides staff training for their financial management personnel. 2. Universities and Government have a common interest in assuring the conservation of public funds. This can be accomplished by the universities having the capability of furnishing the Government with timely and accurate financial reports, accounting for the stewardship of the research funds, and by maintaining the financial accounts in such a manner as to readily reflect the segregated costs applicable to each research project. It would be a great improvement to the common interest of the university and the Government if all universities had their accounting firm review and approve their indirect cost proposals. The Government should then be able to accept the proposal if certified by the university's accounting firm to be reliable enough to use for negotiating the indirect cost rate without an audit by Government auditors. 3. Government financial policies and regulations, as they pertain to universities, are provided to encourage maximum realization of research. The representatives of universities and Government have worked together and made great progress in formulating procedures and methods for improving the financial aspects of research contracting. Some of the methods and procedures which provide evidence of the mutual endeavor are; (1) the use allowance in lieu of depreciation is acceptable under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-21 and the American Council on Education; (2) the procedure for testing title of research property is clearly established by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-101which aids in administering and closing the research contract without undue delay; and (3) the policy of one Government agency performing audit of direct and indirect costs, as well as negotiating indirect cost rates for a single university (OMB Circular A-88) greatly improves the uniformity of mutually accepted cost principles by universities and Government. 4. Mutual financial responsibility of universities and Government as related to research contracts is essential. Personnel of both contractual entities are making a concerted effort to recover indirect costs of university research through an equitable method and to provide a method of advancing funds through the letter-of-credit which alleviates the need of the university to use its own funds. It is believed that more emphasis should be placed on the review or research cost budgets by the financial management of the university. 5. Audit functions of Government audit agencies regarding the auditing of research contracts at universities could be performed by the institution's external auditors. Most universities have their accounting records audited by either independent accounting firms or by state or some independent audit group. These auditors are external auditors and have a professional integrity to maintain, therefore the audit performed by them and the financial reports issued should be acceptable to any interested party provided the reports contain an unqualified auditor’s opinion. The finalization of the research contracts could be handled more expeditiously if the Government would accept the verification by external university auditors of the total costs incurred under cost-reimbursement contracts. This paper emphasizes the importance of sound financial management in educational institutions as related to Government research contracting and how it can be improved. The research has validated these essential factors.

In the United States, total small business outstanding loans declined by 2.5 % in 2013, compared to a 10.4% increase in 2012. Scholars and business practitioners have indicated that small business entrepreneurs experience constraints in accessing capital to grow their businesses. Many small firm owners lack the financial strategies for gaining access to capital to sustain their businesses. Building on system functionality theory, the purpose of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the financial strategies among 3 purposefully-selected small business owners in Washington DC metro area who successfully overcame the financial constraints. Six themes emerged from the thematic analysis of interview data: credit cards, family and friends, own financing, bank financing, crowdfunding, and government grants and loans. These small firm owners preferred to use their own financing or to borrow from family and friends rather than lending from the banks because of borrowing constraints. Some of the lending limitations included high-interest rates, lack of collateral, provision of a robust business plan, and availability of good financial records. The findings from this study may contribute to social change by providing business owners with more knowledge on financial strategies to use in accessing capital to sustain their businesses. With the improvement in business profitability, business owners will contribute to the economic growth of the local community through the provision of employment opportunities and social amenities.

Retirement security for Americans is one of the most critical public policy and personal financial issues and will be for decades in the future. Individuals that retire today can live an additional 30 or even 40 years with less secure income as corporations shift to defined contribution plans to fund retirement. Based on the life cycle savings hypothesis, immediate annuities should be appealing to retirees because they insure against the risks of outliving retirement assets by converting funds into a lifelong stream of income. However, research has found that retirees are reluctant to annuitize their wealth. This study examined the attitudes of Utah State University employees toward annuitization of retirement assets and explored the relationship between employee characteristics and their attitudes toward immediate annuities. Data for this study were collected through an online questionnaire emailed to Utah State University employees who participate in a defined contribution plan. The survey gathered information on retirement portfolio losses, expected longevity, financial confidence, familiarity with annuities, and attitudes toward immediate annuities. A total of 744 individuals answered the survey for a response rate of 43.2%. Based on the results of independent t tests, there were statistically significant differences between the attitudes of women and men toward immediate annuities. Women held more positive attitudes toward immediate annuities than men, and women who had taken a retirement planning class had more positive attitudes than women who had not attended a retirement class. In contrast, men who had attended a retirement class expressed less positive attitudes toward immediate annuities than men who had not. Male overconfidence in their investment knowledge and skills may explain this finding. A Pearson correlation coefficient revealed a negative correlation between risk aversion and attitudes toward annuities. As investment risk tolerance decreases, attitudes toward immediate annuities become more positive. An analysis of variance found that individuals with longer than average life expectancies had more positive attitudes toward immediate annuities than subjects with shorter than average life expectancies. Surprisingly, individuals who claimed to be most familiar with immediate annuities showed the least positive attitudes toward annuities. Income and assets, marital status, and financial confidence were not statistically significantly related to attitudes toward annuities. Implications for consumers, financial professionals, educators, and policymakers were drawn from the results of the study.

U.S. money market securities have been found to exhibit behavior consistent with preferred habitat for liquidity around year-ends (Griffiths and Winters (1997, 2004)). In particular, repurchase agreement and commercial paper yields tend to increase when the security begins to mature across the end of the year, and return to normal levels after the year-end obligations have been paid but before the calendar year-end. The competing hypothesis, window dressing by financial intermediaries around disclosure dates, requires that the increase in yields be sustained until after the turn of the year. This study is aimed at finding whether the behavior of international money markets around year-ends and quarter-ends is more consistent with preferred habitat for liquidity or window dressing. This is done by analyzing changes in LIBOR for different currencies around quarter-ends. A second part of the study considers the effect of preferred habitat on the term structure of short-term interest rates. The expectations hypothesis of the term structure posits that future expected interest rates are implied by the current term structure. Empirical research suggests that the expectations hypothesis often does not hold, especially at the short end of the term structure. Preferred habitat for liquidity in short-term rates may be one of the reasons for the failure of expectations. The same LIBOR data set is used to test for the expectations in the presence of preferred habitat for liquidity. The empirical results of this study suggest that preferred habitat for liquidity in the short-term rates around quarter-ends and year-ends is not responsible for the failure of the expectations hypothesis in the data.

The objective of this study is to establish whether companies that utilise their resources more efficiently present specific characteristics in their financial profile, and whether on the basis of these characteristics a classification model can be constructed that includes, alongside resource utilisation measures, predictors related to other financial dimensions calculated from published information. The- research proceeds by examining the factors influencing companies' performance, and the reliabilty of published accounts. Discriminant analysis is chosen as the most appropriate technique of analysis. Its applications in the field of financial analysis are discussed -and an examination of the discriminant analysis technique is undertaken. For reasons of comparability and access to a large quantity of information, the analytical part of the study is based on data extracted from a computer readable tape provided by Extel Statistical Services Ltd. It starts by describing the financial variables to be used later on in the study, and proposing a classification framework that would be of assistance in identifying the financial dimensions of importance in relation to the problem under investigation. A discriminant model that correctly classifies 85 per cent of the companies is then constructed. It includes, besides measures of resources utilisation, measures of financial levarage, working capital management, cash position and stability of past performance. The-part of the analysis on the identification of potential well performing companies indicates that, although specific characteristics can be noticed up to five year before, it is only possible to construct a classification model with sufficient accuracy one year before a high level of performance is actually reached. Finally, an index of financial performance based on normal approximations of the z-score distributions from the model used to identify well performing companies is suggested and an assessment of the structural change experienced by companies rising from a less well to a well performaing status is presented. / Algerian Ministere de l'Hydraulique

A prominent problem for college students today is the rising levels of debt associated with attending college. College students are graduating with more educational debt than ever before. In addition, the use of high-interest credit cards compounds the educational debt they already face by significant amounts. This significant debt has been linked to adverse effects post-graduation in terms of employment, savings and making major purchases. To assist college students with this growing concern, it is necessary to understand their practices, attitudes toward and knowledge of financial management. This study addressed three dimensions of financial management: practices, attitudes and knowledge. I administered a pencil and paper survey to a convenience sample at a large research university in the mid-Atlantic region. The instrument consisted of three scales. The first section measured financial management practices by gathering data about ownership of credit cards and types of debt and the practices that led to these debts. The second section measured participants' attitudes toward financial management in terms of their comfort with money management practices. In the last section, items tested the participants' knowledge of personal financial management. The study found that college students continue to assume large amounts of debt during their undergraduate years. Further minorities, women and students from low SES tend to have higher levels of debt. In addition, college students report relatively positive attitudes toward finances, however lack positive attitudes and practices related to future events. Finally, all college students continue to score poorly on measures of knowledge about financial management. / Master of Arts

Yes

The various components of financial structure management are usually discussed in isolation with little concern for the other components. A unified model of financial structure management bridging these components has not yet been developed. This dissertation seeks to establish such an underpinning by combining Miller and Orr's cash management model with contemporary corporate finance theory, and is able to address a wide range of questions while retaining a comprehensible format. I simulate the proposed strategy to show the consequences of implementation, and to provide hypotheses about the behavior of financial variables characterizing the firm as a result of implementing this strategy. / Ph. D.

Debt levels are rising significantly in America. More and more people are accumulating debt in the forms of mortgages, student loans, credit cards, and car loans. Basic financial principles such as saving, budgeting, investing, and paying bills are not being utilized consistently by the average individual. This is because of financial illiteracy. The vast majority of Americans do not have the basic knowledge and understanding of these financial concepts to adequately put them into practice in their daily lives. This study focuses on the levels of college students’ financial literacy, how that pertains to the rising debt crisis, and explores potential solutions to these problems.