Optimal consumption and investment for markets with random coefficients

We consider an optimal investment and consumption problem for a Black-Scholes financial market with stochastic volatility and unknown stock appreciation rate. The volatility parameter is driven by an external economic factor modeled as a diffusion process of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type with unknown drift. We use the dynamical programming approach and find an optimal financial strategy which depends on the drift parameter. To estimate the drift coefficient we observe the economic factor $Y$ in an interval $[0,T_0]$ for fixed $T_0>0$, and use sequential estimation. We show, that the consumption and investment strategy calculated through this sequential procedure is $\delta$-optimal.

This paper examines an optimal investment–consumption problem in a setting where the financial environment is influenced by both stochastic factors and delayed effects. The investor, endowed with Constant Relative Risk Aversion (CRRA) preferences, allocates wealth between a risk-free asset and a single risky asset. The short rate follows a Vasiˇček-type term structure model, while the risky asset price dynamics are driven by a delayed Heston specification whose variance process evolves according to a Cox–Ingersoll–Ross (CIR) diffusion. Delayed dependence in the wealth dynamics is incorporated through two auxiliary variables that summarize past wealth trajectories, enabling us to recast the naturally infinite-dimensional delay problem into a finite-dimensional Markovian framework. Using Bellman’s dynamic programming principle, we derive the associated Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) partial differential equation and demonstrate that it generalizes the classical Merton formulation to simultaneously accommodate delay, stochastic interest rates, stochastic volatility, and consumption. Under CRRA utility, we obtain closed-form expressions for the value function and the optimal feedback controls. Numerical illustrations highlight how delay and market parameters impact optimal portfolio allocation and consumption policies.

We illustrate the classical Markowitz portfolio optimization theory in detail, and we give all essential proofs. Especially we show how to explicitly calculate the efficient border and the market portfolio in the case where short selling is possible without restrictions. In the case without short selling, we will work with Monte Carlo. We also introduce the single-index model as an alternative to estimate parameters needed for portfolio optimization. Then we formulate the optimal investment and consumption problem. We give a heuristic and intuitive introduction to the basic techniques of stochastic optimal control, especially to the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations and to their application. With the help of these concepts, we solve the optimal investment and consumption problem and discuss the results.

Optimal investment, consumption and life insurance purchase with learning about return predictability

sumption in period j, such that either the risk aversion index -u(x)/u'(x), or the risk aversion index -xu'(x)/u'(x), is a positive constant for all x > 0. In a second paper [6], it was further shown that this model, developed with the individual in mind, also gives rise to an induced theory of the firm under risk for the same class of utility functions. In the foregoing model, it was assumed that the individual's horizon was infinite (or known with certainty). In this paper, we consider the same basic model with three modifications. First, we postulate that the individual's, lifetime is a random variable with a known probability distribution. Second, we introduce a utility function intended to represent the individual's bequest motive. Third, we offer the individual the opportunity to purchase insurance on his life. It is found that when some or all of these modifications are made, all of the more important properties possessed by the optimal consumption and investment strategies under a certain horizon are preserved, albeit only under special conditions. In Section 2, the various components of the decision process are constructed. In the earlier model, the individual's objective was assumed to be the maximization of expected utility from consumption over time. Here, we postulate, more generally, that his objective is to maximize expected utility from consumption as long as he lives and from the bequest left upon his death. As before, the individual's resources are assumed to consist of an initial capital position (which may be negative) and a non-capital income stream. The latter, which may possess any time-shape, is assumed to be known with certainty and to terminate upon his death. In addition to insurance available at a fair' rate, the individual faces both financial opportunities (borrowing and lending) and an arbitrary number of productive investment opportunities. The interest rate is presumed to be known but may have any time-shape. The returns from the productive opportunities are assumed to be random variables, whose probability distributions may differ from period to period but are assumed to satisfy the no-easy-money condition. While no limit is placed on borrowing, the individual is required to be solvent at the time of his death with

Retirees meet a number of problems as they are growing older which needs persistent attention. Hence, without a doubt, the outcomes of the financial markets influence the choices that people make when nearing retirement. In our model, the stock price dynamics follow Geometric Brownian motion (GBM) and our goal was to optimize the expected discounted utility of consumption and terminal wealth whilst considering health expenses. The investment return process comprises risk free asset and risky assets, and the health expenses. We choose power utility functions where comprehensive solutions for Hyperbolic Absolute Risk Aversion (HARA) utility functions are obtained and optimal investment, consumption and health expenditure strategies are derived by applying dynamic programming and variable change technique on the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations. In our numerical results it showed various effects of some economic and market parameters on the optimal investment, consumption and health expense strategies. The inflation price market risk governs the amount invested in stock, bond and also how much to be put in health to sustain a given period of the retiree's lifetime. As the health welfare rate R increases, the proportion of wealth invested in the stock increases. We also investigated the effects of the high correlation coefficients and low correlation coefficients on consumption and income rate respectively. As the constant variance discounting coefficient increases, seasoned enterprise annuity retirees decrease their allocation to the risky assets. Finally, a numerical example is presented to depict the effects of financial parameters on the optimal investment strategy with health expenditure.

Optimal investment, consumption and retirement choice problem with disutility and subsistence consumption constraints

We study a finite-horizon optimal consumption and investment problem in a complete continuous-time market where consumption is restricted within fixed upper and lower bounds. Assuming constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) preferences, we employ the dual-martingale approach to reformulate the problem and derive closed-form integral representations for the dual value function and its derivatives. These results yield explicit feedback formulas for the optimal consumption, portfolio allocation, and wealth processes. We establish the duality theorem linking the primal and dual value functions and verify the regularity and convexity properties of the dual solution. Our results show that the upper and lower consumption bounds transform the linear Merton rule into a piecewise policy: consumption equals L when wealth is low, follows the unconstrained Merton ratio in the interior region, and is capped at H when wealth is high.

We revisit the optimal investment and consumption model of Davis and Norman [Math. Oper. Res., 15 (1990), pp. 676--713] and Shreve and Soner [Ann. Appl. Probab., 4 (1994), pp. 609--692], following a shadow-price approach similar to that of Kallsen and Muhle-Karbe [Ann. Appl. Probab., 20 (2010), pp. 1341--1358]. Making use of the completeness of the model without transaction costs, we reformulate and reduce the Hamilton--Jacobi--Bellman equation for this singular stochastic control problem to a nonstandard free-boundary problem for a first-order ODE with an integral constraint. Having shown that the free boundary problem has a smooth solution, we use it to construct the solution of the original optimal investment/consumption problem in a self-contained manner and without any recourse to the dynamic programming principle. Furthermore, we provide an explicit characterization of model parameters for which the value function is finite.

We analyse an optimal portfolio and consumption problem with stochastic factor and delay over a finite time horizon. The financial market includes a risk-free asset, a risky asset and a stochastic factor. The price process of the risky asset is modelled as a stochastic differential delay equation whose coefficients vary according to the stochastic factor; the drift also depends on its historical performance. Employing the stochastic dynamic programming approach, we establish the associated Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation. Then we solve the optimal investment and consumption strategies for the power utility function. We also consider a special case in which the price process of the stochastic factor degenerates into a Cox–Ingersoll–Ross model. Finally, the effects of the delay variable on the optimal strategies are discussed and some numerical examples are presented to illustrate the results. doi:10.1017/S1446181119000014

In this paper, the optimal investment and reinsurance problem is investigated for a class of the jump-diffusion risk model. Here, the insurer can purchase excess-of-loss reinsurance and invest his or her surplus into a financial market consisting of one risk-free asset and one risk asset whose price is modeled by constant elasticity of variance (CEV) model, the net profit condition and the criterion of maximizing the expected exponential utility of terminal wealth are considered in the CEV financial market. By using stochastic control theory to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation, and the explicit form of the optimal policies and value functions can be obtained. Finally, numerical examples are presented to show the impacts of model parameters on the optimal strategies.

A note on optimal investment–consumption–insurance in a Lévy market

This thesis consists of three essays in financial economics, more precisely in the field of asset pricing and optimal portfolio choice. The first essay studies the asset pricing implications of heterogeneity in preferences coupled with long run risk in a dynamic general equilibrium pure exchange economy. It is concerned with the understanding of how risk sharing among different types of agents affects the assets returns moments in equilibrium and moreover, how these agents reacts dynamically to the long run risk that they perceive. The second and third essay approach the question of optimal portfolio with stochastic opportunity sets. The second essay proposes an approximation methodology for deriving approximate closed form solutions of dynamic optimal portfolio allocation problems. The third essay examines the optimal consumption, portfolio rule and life insurance purchase problem of a wage earner having uncertain lifetime when the market price of risk follows a mean-reverting stochastic process.

Optimal portfolios with regime switching and value-at-risk constraint

Verification Theorems for Models of Optimal Consumption and Investment with Annuitization