Optimal Investment

An Explicit Solution for the Problem of Optimal Investment with Random Endowment ArXiv ID: 2506.20506 “View on arXiv” Authors: Michael Donisch, Christoph Knochenhauer Abstract We consider the problem of optimal investment with random endowment in a Black–Scholes market for an agent with constant relative risk aversion. Using duality arguments, we derive an explicit expression for the optimal trading strategy, which can be decomposed into the optimal strategy in the absence of a random endowment and an additive shift term whose magnitude depends linearly on the endowment-to-wealth ratio and exponentially on time to maturity. ...

Optimal Investment under the Influence of Decision-changing Imitation ArXiv ID: 2409.10933 “View on arXiv” Authors: Unknown Abstract Decision-changing imitation is a prevalent phenomenon in financial markets, where investors imitate others’ decision-changing rates when making their own investment decisions. In this work, we study the optimal investment problem under the influence of decision-changing imitation involving one leading expert and one retail investor whose decisions are unilaterally influenced by the leading expert. In the objective functional of the optimal investment problem, we propose the integral disparity to quantify the distance between the two investors’ decision-changing rates. Due to the underdetermination of the optimal investment problem, we first derive its general solution using the variational method and find the retail investor’s optimal decisions under two special cases of the boundary conditions. We theoretically analyze the asymptotic properties of the optimal decision as the influence of decision-changing imitation approaches infinity, and investigate the impact of decision-changing imitation on the optimal decision. Our analysis is validated using numerical experiments on real stock data. This study is essential to comprehend decision-changing imitation and devise effective mechanisms to guide investors’ decisions. ...

Optimal consumption under loss-averse multiplicative habit-formation preferences ArXiv ID: 2406.20063 “View on arXiv” Authors: Unknown Abstract This paper studies a loss-averse version of the multiplicative habit formation preference and the corresponding optimal investment and consumption strategies over an infinite horizon. The agent’s consumption preference is depicted by a general S-shaped utility function of her consumption-to-habit ratio. By considering the concave envelope of the S-shaped utility and the associated dual value function, we provide a thorough analysis of the HJB equation for the concavified problem via studying a related nonlinear free boundary problem. Based on established properties of the solution to this free boundary problem, we obtain the optimal consumption and investment policies in feedback form. Some new and technical verification arguments are developed to cope with generality of the utility function. The equivalence between the original problem and the concavified problem readily follows from the structure of the feedback controls. We also discuss some quantitative properties of the optimal policies, complemented by illustrative numerical examples and their financial implications. ...

Optimal Investment with Herd Behaviour Using Rational Decision Decomposition ArXiv ID: 2401.07183 “View on arXiv” Authors: Unknown Abstract In this paper, we study the optimal investment problem considering the herd behaviour between two agents, including one leading expert and one following agent whose decisions are influenced by those of the leading expert. In the objective functional of the optimal investment problem, we introduce the average deviation term to measure the distance between the two agents’ decisions and use the variational method to find its analytical solution. To theoretically analyze the impact of the following agent’s herd behaviour on his/her decision, we decompose his/her optimal decision into a convex linear combination of the two agents’ rational decisions, which we call the rational decision decomposition. Furthermore, we define the weight function in the rational decision decomposition as the following agent’s investment opinion to measure the preference of his/her own rational decision over that of the leading expert. We use the investment opinion to quantitatively analyze the impact of the herd behaviour, the following agent’s initial wealth, the excess return, and the volatility of the risky asset on the optimal decision. We validate our analyses through numerical experiments on real stock data. This study is crucial to understanding investors’ herd behaviour in decision-making and designing effective mechanisms to guide their decisions. ...