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CSULB BIG Students Win 2024 CFAOCF RFP Competition
Beach Investment Group celebrates 30 years of growth
BIG Kids Takeover New York! 2023
Q-GAME Forum 2023
1st PLACE at the 2021 CFAOC RFP Competition
2nd Place at the 2020 CFAOC RFP Competition
B.I.G. Earns 2nd Place at the 2019 CFAOC RFP Competition
Beach Investment Group (B.I.G.)
This is a team of CSULB College of Business students who are interested in finance, the practice of portfolio management, asset allocation, accounting, economics, business strategy, and statistics. These students can make investment decisions, also engage in econometric modeling, research of specific economic sectors, and the study of corporate cultures, and performance histories. Leadership skills and group dynamics are practiced by working together closely to plan investment strategies and by presenting their results.
"What BIG has done for me is cultivate a desire to pursue a career in asset pricing and quantitative analysis. Without the experience I gained as an analyst from BIG, I would not have the passion and body of knowledge I have now for portfolio theory and investment analysis. " - Raymond Leiva, Alumni, BIG Class of 2019
The students of the Beach Investment Group are responsible for managing over half a million dollars’ worth of portfolios on behalf of three non-profit clients:
- CSULB Research Foundation (the Seegers Fund),
- Forty-Niner Shops, Inc. (the 49er SMIF Fund), and
- CFA Society of Orange County (the CFAOC SMIF Portfolio).
- Associate Student Inc. (ASI)
These portfolios are invested in a mix of fixed income and equity securities, and a mix of value and momentum equity holdings.
Beach Investment Group (B.I.G.), formerly known as the Student-Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) Program, was launched in Fall 1995 with a single portfolio worth $50,000 and a goal to provide its participant students, including both undergraduate and master’s students, and both Finance and non-Finance majors, “with real-world experience in applying the skills and concepts of security analysis and portfolio management that have been taught in the classroom toward the management of a real-money portfolio”. The program has continued to grow since its founding, and the students of Beach Investment Group are now entrusted with managing over half a million dollars, spread across three separate portfolios.
The application process for students interested in participating in B.I.G. starts in the late spring semester with the completion and submission of an online application form. This is followed during the summer with a series of B.I.G. “summer boot camp” sessions and concludes with final candidate interviews after which the incoming year’s new class is chosen.
The selected students will receive course credit for their activities through FIN 499A/B or FIN 699A/B.
B.I.G. Portfolio Managers seek the opportunity to apply their knowledge of finance to gain career-advancing experience in professional portfolio management using real dollars in real-time to learn the lessons that cannot be learned from strictly academic endeavors.
Some of the concrete skills and experiences students can expect in BIG include:
Presentations - BIG teams must develop high-quality, research-informed, professional presentations for competitions and events throughout the academic year. Additionally, students will often present to peers weekly on economic updates and buy/sell recommendations. BIG provides opportunities to improve public speaking and presentation skills.
Security Analysis & Trading - With the goal of exceeding benchmark expectations and following ESG guidelines, BIG students gain real-time experience analyzing and recommending securities in the market, as well as carrying out corporate voting procedures to pass proposed actions.
Leadership Roles - BIG's corporate structure includes one President, one Executive Vice President, and several Vice President/Team Leads. BIG relies on high-level, team-first leadership and provides opportunities for students to grow via executive roles.
Marketing & Development - Students interested in marketing and business development are able to take on social media, grassroots, and networking marketing efforts to increase BIG exposure and student applications. BIG includes one Marketing & Development Director.
Bloomberg Terminals - A key tool used by the students of BIG are the Bloomberg terminals of the College's Bloomberg Lab
These are some examples of past BIG trade reports, deliverables, and request for proposals.
Beach Investment Group (B.I.G.)
- Example of a Trade Proposal Report (pdf)
- CFAOC-2019 RFP Response For Investment Management Services (pdf)
Student Managed Investment Fund (S.M.I.F.)
BIG Portfolio
At the end of 2010, a third portfolio, the “49er SMIF Fund,” was provided by CSULB’s Forty-Niner Shops. The Forty-Niner Shops is the non-profit corporation that runs CSULB’s bookstore and on-campus concessions, and its mission is “to enhance and support the educational process of California State University, Long Beach.” Its board of directors spurred on by board member and COB alumnus Alvaro Castillo, believed that allowing SMIF students to manage a portion of the Forty-Niner Shops’ capital investment portfolio would help fulfill this mission. As a result, the 49er SMIF Fund was launched on December 31, 2010, with an initial value of $100,000. Under the careful and responsible stewardship of succeeding classes of SMIF students, the 49er SMIF Fund grew steadily over the following years. Spring 2018 semester with a meeting with the Forty-Niner Shops’ full board of directors. The board approved a number of changes to their Memorandum of Understanding with the SMIF Program that will expand Forty-Niner Shops’ commitment to SMIF and help SMIF maintain its position as one of the premier SMIF-type programs within the country.
CFAOC SMIF Portfolio & RFP Competition
A major real-world component of the B.I.G. experience for recent B.I.G. classes has been their participation in the Annual Portfolio Management Request-for-Proposal (RFP) Competition conducted by the CFA Society of Orange County Foundation (CFAOCF), which allows student teams from local universities to experience first-hand the process that fund managers must go through in order to be allowed to manage institutional funds. Based on the outcome of this Competition, portfolios of different sizes will be awarded to the various student teams to manage over the course of the following calendar year, with the results of their efforts being reported to the CFAOC’s Investment Policy Committee.
The Weldon W. Seegers Memorial Portfolio Fund aka Seegers Fund was started in 1995 with only about $50,000. Along with being a stockbroker for 43 years, Wesley was a Finance professor at Cal State Long Beach for nearly 20 years.
This was the first portfolio that began the Student Managed Investment Fund program. The students of BIG now manage around $220,000 for this portfolio. This is an all-equities portfolio that holds no fixed income. The equities are grouped by Quality, Value and Momentum stocks.
"What BIG has done for me is cultivate a desire to pursue a career in asset pricing and quantitative analysis. Without the experience I gained as an analyst from BIG, I would not have the passion and body of knowledge I have now for portfolio theory and investment analysis. " - Raymond Leiva, Alumni, BIG Class of 2019
“BIG demonstrated to me what it's like to go from zero to hero. From knowing nothing about investments to answering tough questions from the CFAOC board. BIG was the most challenging yet rewarding experience in my college career. You simply get out what you put in, the more time and effort you put into your research, strategy, and planning, the more you learn and can use in the real world. I owe a lot of my personal success to this program and the experiences I will remember forever. From competing against other Universities for a real dollar portfolio to visiting the Bloomberg Headquarter in New York City.”
- Kevin Pichardo, BIG Alumni 2017
“BIG has been a stepping stone for my career. In fact, I got my first internship because of the program. From learning how to operate Bloomberg Terminal to conducting fundamental analysis and developing financial models, BIG has provided me with the necessary skills for a finance professional to thrive in this field.”
- Manya Bhutani, BIG Alumni 2022
“BIG created an environment that allowed for my growth as a financial analyst. I was able to learn more about active portfolio management than I would have in any other class. Not only did BIG give me hands on portfolio management experience, but it opened my eyes to the world of finance.”
- Bridgett England, BIG Alumni 2022 (Morgan Stanley)
