Professor:

Timothy R. Mayes, Ph.D.

Office:

WC 247 F

e-mail

mayest2@comcast.net or
mayest@mscd.edu

Phone:

303-556-3776 (office)

Class home page:
Book home page:

http://clem.mscd.edu/~mayest/
http://hearth.swlearning.com/

Office
Hours:

Mon 12:00 to 1:00
Tues 1:30 to 2:30
Wed 4:00 to 5:30
Thurs 4:00 to 5:30

Available by
Appointment Only:

Mon 11:00 to 12:00
Tues 12:00 to 1:00
Wed 2:00 to 4:00
Thurs 3:00 to 4:00

Prerequisites:

FIN 3300 and junior or senior standing. Prerequisites will be enforced , so you must also have all of your MTH courses. In addition it is suggested that you have completed at least one course in statistics.

Textbook:

Contemporary Investments: Security and Portfolio Analysis, 4 th ed. by Hearth & Zaima.

A subscription to the Wall Street Journal or Barron’s will also be helpful.

Calculator

A financial calculator that can handle uneven cash flow streams is required. Any of the financial calculators from HP or TI will work fine. I have tutorials available for these calculators at: http://clem.mscd.edu/~mayest/calculators/calculator_tutorials_index.htm.

Purpose:

FIN 3600 is designed to acquaint students with the types of investment products, tools, and techniques that are available to help the individual investor meet his/her goals. The topics covered will include: investment alternatives, organization and regulation of securities markets, securities valuation, portfolio theory and management, etc.

Format:

An interactive lecture format is used, and success in this course will depend on your studying the material before each class meeting. Class attendance is mandatory as some material not covered in the text will be presented. Homework is not collected, but students not attempting the end-of-chapter problems have historically done very poorly on exams. I will devote a portion of some class periods to working problems. Students are encouraged to ask questions at any opportunity.

Exams and Grading:

Each of the three exams will consist of several (usually 40 to 50) multiple-choice questions and, perhaps, a problem section where you must show your work. Exams are curved such that the average grade is 75%. However, any scores below 50% are excluded from the calculation of the curve. Make-up exams will not be given, except in extreme circumstances and with prior notice.

In addition to exams, students will receive grades for the Stock-Trak investment simulation project (5 February to 27 April), and for class participation. A Stock-Trak final report is due on Thursday, 3 May.

Week of

Chapters

Weight

Grades:

27 February

Exam 1: Ch. 1-3, 5, 6

30%

10 April

Exam 2: Ch. 8, 11, 12, 7

30%

9/10 May

Exam 3 (final): Ch. 14, 9, 15-17 and cumulative

30%

Stock-Trak and Participation

10%

Total

100%