A real fund, run by
Marshall MSF students.
Founded in Fall 2025, Trojan SMIF is an MSF-exclusive investment organization operating under the USC Marshall School of Business. We give students the practice, discipline, and governance of a professional asset manager — at the scale of a student portfolio.
Build investors, not watchers.
We develop Marshall MSF students into disciplined investors through fundamental analysis, quantitative methods, and formal risk management — then send them into asset management, IB, and investment roles better prepared than the market expects.
Members run research teams, publish memos, present pitches, and vote on trades. Faculty advisors provide oversight; the Chief Risk Officer enforces policy. Every decision is documented.
Doubles, not home runs.
The Fund's investment philosophy is to compound consistently through high-conviction, defensible positions — not to chase the high-variance bets that make a great anecdote and a poor track record. Every name in the book has a written thesis, a target, and a stop. Every quarter we'd rather be right by a little, again and again, than spectacular and inconsistent.
Diversified, long-only portfolio across US & international equities, fixed income, ETFs, and limited alternatives. No leverage. No short sales. All activity paper-traded.
Blended index — 60% SPY · 14% AGG · 14% SHY · 8% GLD · 4% DBC. Asset-class benchmarks approved per sleeve.
12–18 month default. Thesis-driven overrides require IC approval.
The Fund holds no standalone cash. Dry powder is parked in short-duration U.S. Treasury bills and sits inside the Fixed Income sleeve.
Risk first. Returns follow.
The Risk Management team monitors policy limits continuously. Breaches are reported to the Investment Committee within one business day. A CRO veto requires a two-thirds Investment Committee supermajority to override.
Trojan SMIF Code of Conduct.
Members follow the Trojan SMIF Code of Conduct — a written ethics standard authored and ratified by the Executive Committee. Personal conflicts of interest must be disclosed; the member recuses from related research, voting, and trading.
Internal research, holdings detail, and committee deliberations are confidential and may not be shared outside the Fund without Executive Committee approval.
Request the bylaws →The next chapter.
CFA-OC SMIF Competition, Ethics Challenge, and select intercollegiate invitationals.
Transition from paper to live capital through an alumni-funded tranche under faculty oversight.
Endow scholarships for Marshall MSF students from Fund performance and alumni giving.