Managed by students, driven by excellence.
The Trojan Student Managed Investment Fund gives USC Marshall Master of Science in Finance students hands-on experience managing a diversified, long-only portfolio across US equities, international equities, fixed income, and alternatives.
Every holding begins as an analyst's memo, and every trade passes a real Investment Committee, with hard risk limits, always.
Who Is a Good Fit for the Fund?
Fundamental research. Real committee decisions. Measured risk.
Every holding in the portfolio began as an analyst's memo: a thesis, a valuation, a risk map. Pitches are debated and voted on by the Investment Committee, with the Chief Risk Officer empowered to veto trades that breach Fund policy.
We operate as a long-only, multi-asset Fund with a 12–18 month horizon, paper-traded against a blended benchmark of 60% SPY, 14% AGG, 14% SHY, 8% GLD, and 4% DBC. Our job isn't just to beat a benchmark. It's to build Marshall students into defensible, thoughtful investors.
Portfolio vs benchmark
Both lines indexed to 100 at inception (Jan 2, 2026), updated through each trading day.
Where the Fund is invested
Sector weights for the long book. Cash is deliberately elevated while the Fund ramps positions in its first full year.
Hard limits, always.
- Position cap
- 5% of NAV
- Sector cap
- 25% of NAV
- Single trade cap
- 3% of NAV
- Dry powder
- UST bills (FI sleeve)
- Stop-loss alert
- −15% position
Help steward the next chapter of the Fund.
Class of 2027 applications are open. Everyone starts as a general analyst and specializes in the spring. Applying takes about five minutes, resume optional.