The lingering impacts of COVID-19. A major war in Europe. Rising inflation. Political instability. The Fed’s interest rate hike campaign. A new bear market.
It’s a complicated world in 2022 that makes investment decisions complex and daunting.
But the Cal State Fullerton College of Business and Economics is committed to educating the community with the knowledge and resources they need to make informed decisions.
On May 24, more than 75 CSUF students, alumni and members of the Southern California business sector gathered at the Newport Beach Country Club to network and pick the brains of Cal State Fullerton investment expert Marcia Lucas, managing director of the business school’s student-run investment firm, Titan Capital Management (TCM); donor and supporter Jeff Van Harte ’80, chairman of Jackson Square Partners; and Pacific Asset Management CEO Dominic Nolan.
“TCM has been the launching point for the careers of so many CSUF students into financial services. Pacific Asset Management was thrilled to sponsor the inaugural luncheon and look forward to future events,” says Nolan.
“Our goals for the conference were to broaden TCM’s visibility with the local investment community and present an investment outlook that would help people think through their current choices,” says Van Harte.
“We challenged traditional ways of constructing an investment portfolio given the post-pandemic changes with central bank intervention, inflation and the Ukraine war. Our view is that these events mark an inflection point change in the investment outlook that requires all investors to adjust their portfolios. The cruise control days are over!”
The May 24 event, title sponsored by Pacific Asset Management, may have been the first of its kind, but it is unlikely to be the last.
“It’s important for the TCM program and CSUF to build community relationships that become virtuous circles of giving back. This enhances the capability of the TCM program and, very importantly, helps our students find great jobs as they start their careers,” says Van Harte.
Lucas says the presentation at the event speaks to the resiliency of Titan investment students.
“Many investors struggle with finding a prudent course forward at the best of times, and today certainly isn’t one of those best times! The goal of any investment program is to achieve the objective despite an uncertain future. To help participants see how this can be done, we showed them historical returns and correlations of a broad set of asset classes under a variety of historical economic scenarios. After explaining the statistics, we asked each table to put together a blend of assets they believe can make it through this post-pandemic environment. We call this an ‘all weather’ portfolio,” she explains.
“Of course, we can’t know in advance how well any asset allocation will work going forward. But we selected the best all weather portfolio, based on historical risk and return, to see how well it does over the coming year. It will be interesting to share the results with participants at next year’s speaker event!”
For More on TCM
By equipping finance students with oversight over a real-world stock and bond portfolio, TCM ensures the best preparation for the next generation of investment professionals while providing funding for pivotal student services from its profits. Read more of our stories on Titan Capital Management and the program’s alumni and impact.
