UIS Student Managed Investment Fund (UIS SMIF)

Why Our Program?

Organization Overview:

UIS Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF, hereafter) was officially launched in the 2021 Fall semester with an initial capital of $30,000 under the leadership of Dean Bhattacharya. It received an additional $5,000 in funding in 2022. SMIF is a premier example of experiential learning espoused by College of Business and Management at the University of Illinois Springfield. Students in select finance classes present investment proposals to the SMIF faculty advisors who act as judges on such proposals. These courses are Investments (FIN 505), Financial Analytics and Budgeting (FIN 515), Applied Behavioral Finance (FIN 517), and Financial Investment Analysis (FIN 443). Furthermore, faculty members teaching Managerial Finance (FIN 502), Financial Markets and Institutions (FIN 513), and Personal Financial Planning (FIN 514) have the discretion to involve their students in the management of SMIF.

Investment Strategy:

SMIF is a long-only equity portfolio benchmarked against S&P 500.

Buying stocks on margin and short selling are not allowed.

Also, no derivatives position can be taken in SMIF.

Students participating in the management of SMIF form teams and submit investment proposals to their professors as part of their coursework.

Professors judge the merits of proposals and transmit the proposed trades to Busey Bank (the custodian bank for SMIF) if the proposals are judged to be sound and compliant with the SMIF bylaws.

If you have any questions about the UIS SMIF, please contact the faculty advisors below:

Minh Tam Tammy Schlosky, Ph.D.

Serkan Karadas, Ph.D., CFA