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assume you prefer a portfolio with an expected standard deviation of 25%. you can invest in the market and at the same time invest/borrow money at the risk-free rate. the expected return on the market portfolio is 15% with a standard deviation of 20%. the current risk-free rate is 5%. if you want to invest $1,000 of your own money, how much do you borrow/invest at the risk-free rate to achieve a portfolio standard deviation of 25%?

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Final answer:

To achieve a portfolio with a 25% standard deviation, you would invest your $1,000 and borrow an additional $250 to invest in the market portfolio, giving you a total market investment of $1,250, which is 125% of your own money. This leveraged position allows you to reach the preferred level of risk.

Step-by-step explanation:

To achieve a portfolio standard deviation of 25% when you prefer a portfolio with an expected standard deviation of 25%, can invest in the market with an expected return of 15% and a standard deviation of 20%, and can borrow or invest money at the risk-free rate of 5%, we can use the concept of combining a risk-free asset with a risky asset to find the appropriate portfolio weights.

Let's denote the percentage of your portfolio to be invested in the market as y and the rest, 1 - y, would be the percentage either borrowed or invested at the risk-free rate.

According to the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the expected standard deviation of a portfolio that combines the market and a risk-free asset is y times the market's standard deviation.

To solve for y, we set up the equation:

0.25 = y * 0.20

This implies that:

y = 0.25 / 0.20 = 1.25

Since y exceeds 1, it means you need to borrow funds such that your total investment in the market is $1,250 (125% of your own money). The amount borrowed would be $1,250 - $1,000 = $250. Yo

u will invest $1,000 of your own money and borrow $250 to invest at the market rate to achieve the desired portfolio standard deviation of 25%.

User Vitaliy Yanchuk
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