410Course · Professional

Institutional Investing

How pensions, endowments, and sovereigns actually allocate.

The Course

This course closes the School with the institutional layer — how endowments, pensions, and sovereigns actually allocate and govern portfolios at scale.

You will finish with a written Policy Portfolio for a hypothetical family office, defended in oral panel.

Outcomes

01
Describe the endowment model.
02
Read a large institution's annual report.
03
Judge an allocation by its policy portfolio.

Prerequisites

— Courses 401–409 recommended.

Pacing

2 weeks · ~6 hours plus the Capstone.

IModule · ~2 hours.
The endowment model
The institution that changed the field.
The endowment model reshaped institutional investing. Understanding what Swensen actually did is prerequisite to critiquing it.
What You Will Be Able To Do
- — Describe the Yale model.
- — State its assumptions.
- — Judge its applicability to other institutions.
Why here
The model's influence exceeds its actual replicability. Both matter.
1. 01The Yale modelArticle12m
2. 02Reading: Swensen, Pioneering Portfolio Management (excerpts)Reading25m
IIModule · ~4 hours plus the Capstone.
Policy portfolios
The one document that runs the institution.
The Policy Portfolio is the one document that governs the institution. This module produces yours.
What You Will Be Able To Do
- — Read a real policy statement.
- — Set allocation and ranges.
- — Write the Capstone Policy Portfolio.
Why here
The Policy Portfolio is where discipline meets institution.
1. 01Reading a policy statementInteractive20m
2. 02Capstone: A Policy PortfolioCapstone240m

A Note from the Faculty

The Policy Portfolio is the Program's terminal artifact. It certifies you against Professional-tier expectations.