Browse Investment Management Techniques

Investment Management Techniques

A chapter-by-chapter IMT guide covering portfolio management, analysis, risk, managed products, and performance evaluation.

This guide is a supplemental study resource for the Investment Management Techniques course. It is organized as a chapter-by-chapter exam-preparation guide rather than a promotional overview. The focus is on helping students recognize the distinctions, calculations, and scenario-based judgments that tend to matter in IMT questions.

How to Use This Guide

The most effective way to use the guide is to work through it in sequence. Earlier chapters establish the client, risk, and asset-allocation framework that later chapters assume. By the time students reach the valuation, debt, managed-product, taxation, and performance-evaluation sections, the exam expects them to connect ideas across chapters rather than treat each topic in isolation.

Each lesson page is designed to support three tasks:

  • understanding the core concept in plain language
  • applying the concept to an exam-style fact pattern
  • testing recall and judgment with end-of-page quiz questions

Scope of the IMT Guide

The guide follows the broad CSI IMT curriculum structure, including:

  • the portfolio management process and client risk profiling
  • asset allocation and investment-management approaches
  • equity and debt analysis, valuation, and technical analysis
  • conventional and non-conventional managed products
  • international investing and international taxation
  • managing client investment risk
  • impediments to wealth accumulation
  • portfolio monitoring and performance evaluation

Study Priorities

Students often improve fastest when they prioritize recurring exam themes:

  • suitability, objectives, and constraints
  • return versus risk trade-offs
  • valuation logic rather than formula memorization alone
  • after-tax, after-fee, and after-inflation outcomes
  • benchmark selection, attribution, and rebalancing discipline

When a chapter contains formulas, the goal is interpretation as much as calculation. Students should understand what a measure means, what a stronger or weaker result implies, and when the measure is appropriate.

Important Note

IMT® is a program of the Canadian Securities Institute. This guide is a third-party supplemental resource and does not replace official CSI course materials, updates, or exam instructions. As of January 1, 2026, CSI states that this course is no longer acceptable for CIRO Investment Dealer approval, although it may still be relevant in other pathways such as CIM® progression. Students should use official CSI materials as the source of record for the current syllabus and current course status.

In this section

  • The Portfolio Management Process
    Client discovery, objectives, constraints, IPS development, and advisor communication in the portfolio process.
    • Seven Steps in the Portfolio Management Process
      Learn the seven-step portfolio management process and how each step supports suitability, discipline, and ongoing portfolio supervision.
    • Required Client Information
      Understand the client information required by law and regulation for account opening, suitability, anti-money laundering compliance, and ongoing supervision.
    • Learning About Clients
      Learn how advisors gather, test, and interpret client information through interviews, documentation, questionnaires, observation, and follow-up.
    • Investment Objectives and Constraints
      Learn how advisors identify measurable investment objectives, define realistic constraints, and resolve conflicts between them in portfolio design.
    • Crafting an Investment Policy Statement
      Learn how to draft an investment policy statement that translates client facts into a clear operating framework for portfolio management.
    • Advisor Communication Skills
      Learn the communication skills needed to support suitability, trust, difficult conversations, and ongoing portfolio supervision.
  • Understanding a Client's Risk Profile
    How behavioural biases, questionnaires, capacity, and time horizon shape a defensible client risk profile.
  • Asset Allocation and Investment Strategies
    How asset classes, allocation policy, asset location, and equity strategy fit together in portfolio design.
  • Investment Management Today
    How technology, digital advice, factor products, and ESG approaches affect modern portfolio management.
    • Fintech in Investment Management
      How fintech changes portfolio workflows while leaving model, data, and supervision risk in place.
    • Robo-Advisory Services
      How robo-advisory changes delivery while leaving KYC, suitability, and oversight duties intact.
    • Smart Beta ETFs
      How smart beta ETFs create factor tilts and tracking-error trade-offs versus cap-weighted indexing.
    • Responsible Investment
      How responsible-investment approaches differ and why ESG claims must match process and disclosure.
  • Equity Securities
    Equity-security features, market structure, and portfolio trade-offs versus managed products.
  • Analysis of Equity Securities I: Economic and Industry Analysis
    Economic, forecasting, and industry-analysis tools used in equity security selection.
    • Economic Analysis
      Macroeconomic conditions affect equity risk, valuation, sector leadership, and the context for company analysis.
    • Economic Analysis and Investment Strategy
      Macroeconomic views can influence sector weights, asset allocation, risk control, and portfolio positioning.
    • Economic Forecasts
      Economic forecasts rely on assumptions, scenarios, and revision discipline rather than certainty.
    • Key Economic Metrics
      GDP, inflation, rates, labour, confidence, currency, and credit indicators help investors interpret the macro backdrop.
    • Industry Analysis for Equity Investors
      Industry analysis links macro views to competition, life cycle, KPIs, regulation, and company selection.
  • Analysis of Equity Securities II: Company Analysis and Valuation
    Accounting interpretation, company analysis, and equity valuation methods.
    • IFRS and U.S. GAAP in Equity Analysis
      Learn how IFRS and U.S. GAAP affect financial statement comparability, ratio analysis, and cross-border equity valuation in the CSI IMT context.
    • Company Analysis
      Learn how to analyze a company’s business model, competitive position, management, financial profile, and valuation in a CSI IMT exam context.
    • Equity Valuation Models
      Learn the main equity valuation models, the assumptions behind them, and how to choose the strongest method for a given issuer in the CSI IMT exam context.
    • Resource Company Analysis
      Learn how to analyze mining and other resource companies using technical disclosure, commodity sensitivity, financing risk, and jurisdictional analysis in a CSI IMT context.
    • Limits of Accounting Data
      Learn why accounting data is essential but incomplete, including historical measurement, intangibles, estimates, earnings quality, and disclosure limits in the CSI IMT context.
  • Technical Analysis
    Price charts, indicators, sentiment, and the role of technical analysis in portfolio decisions.
    • Basics of Technical Analysis
      Learn the basic assumptions, strengths, limits, and practical logic of technical analysis in the CSI IMT exam context.
    • Chart Analysis
      Interpret chart types, trendlines, support and resistance, candlestick behaviour, and common price patterns in the CSI IMT context.
    • Statistical Analysis
      Interpret moving averages, momentum indicators, oscillators, and volatility-based tools in the CSI IMT context.
    • Sentiment Indicators
      Learn how sentiment indicators are used in technical analysis to assess market psychology, crowding, and possible contrarian opportunities in the CSI IMT context.
    • Intermarket Analysis
      Learn how intermarket analysis uses relationships among equities, bonds, commodities, and currencies to interpret market conditions in the CSI IMT context.
    • Using Technical Analysis
      Learn how technical analysis can be used for timing, risk management, position review, and trade discipline in the CSI IMT context.
    • Technical and Fundamental Analysis
      Learn how technical and fundamental analysis can be used together to improve timing, confirmation, and risk management in the CSI IMT context.
  • Debt Securities
    Why investors use debt securities, how the instruments work, and how they trade.
    • Why Hold Debt Securities
      Debt securities can support income, capital preservation, diversification, liquidity planning, and liability matching.
    • Debt Security Features
      Issuer, maturity, coupon, collateral, seniority, and options all shape a debt security's risk and return.
    • Key Risk Factors in Debt Securities
      Debt securities face interest-rate, credit, liquidity, inflation, reinvestment, currency, and structural risks.
    • Debt Market Trading
      Debt markets differ from equity markets in issuance, OTC trading, quoting, accrued interest, and settlement.
  • Analysis of Debt Securities I: Valuation, Term Structure, and Pricing
    Present-value methods, yield curves, and pricing mechanics for debt securities.
    • Valuing Debt Securities
      Learn how to value debt securities using discounted cash flow logic, yield measures, and time value of money in the CSI IMT context.
    • Term Structure of Interest Rates
      Learn how to interpret the term structure of interest rates, yield-curve shapes, and major explanatory theories in the CSI IMT context.
    • Debt Pricing
      Learn how yields, coupon rates, accrued interest, price conventions, and market conditions determine debt security prices in the CSI IMT context.
  • Analysis of Debt Securities II: Price Volatility and Investment Strategies
    Bond price volatility, duration, convexity, and fixed-income strategy choices.
    • Bond Price Volatility
      Learn what drives bond price volatility, how interest-rate changes affect debt prices, and why maturity, coupon, credit, and liquidity all matter in CSI IMT.
    • Duration, Convexity, and Price Sensitivity
      Understand Macaulay duration, modified duration, effective duration, and convexity, and use them to estimate how bond prices respond to yield changes.
    • Fixed-Income Strategies for Bond Volatility
      How ladder, bullet, barbell, immunization, passive, and active duration strategies respond to bond-price volatility.
    • Monitoring Bond Volatility
      Learn how advisors monitor bond volatility using duration, stress tests, scenario analysis, rebalancing triggers, and client communication.
  • Analyzing Conventionally Managed Products
    Mutual funds, closed-end funds, wrap programs, overlay management, and after-fee analysis.
    • Conventional Managed Products
      Learn what conventionally managed products are, how they differ from non-conventional products, and which structural features matter most in CSI IMT.
    • Role of Managed Products in Portfolios
      Learn how conventionally managed products support diversification, implementation, rebalancing, and access to professional management in CSI IMT.
    • Mutual Funds
      Learn how mutual funds are structured, priced, disclosed, and evaluated for suitability, cost, and portfolio role in CSI IMT.
    • Closed-End Funds
      Learn how closed-end funds differ from mutual funds, why they trade at premiums or discounts to NAV, and when they may fit a portfolio in CSI IMT.
    • Wrap Products
      Learn how wrap products bundle advice, administration, and portfolio management, and when a wrap structure may or may not suit an investor in CSI IMT.
    • Overlay Management
      Learn how overlay management coordinates multiple sleeves or managers through centralized risk, currency, duration, or asset-allocation adjustments in CSI IMT.
    • Fees and Turnover in Managed Products
      Learn how management fees, trading costs, and turnover reduce investor returns and how to analyze cost drag in CSI IMT.
    • Taxes and Returns on Conventional Products
      Learn how taxes affect distributions, turnover, account location, and after-tax returns for conventionally managed products in CSI IMT.
  • Analyzing Non-Conventional Asset Classes and Their Structures
    Alternative investments, access structures, and portfolio uses across non-conventional asset classes.
    • Alternative Investments
      What alternative investments are, why investors use them, and which structural and liquidity risks matter most in portfolio decisions.
    • Hedge Funds
      Learn how hedge funds are structured, how they pursue absolute-return strategies, and which liquidity, fee, and manager risks matter in CSI IMT.
    • Commodities
      How commodity exposure works, why futures structure matters, and which inflation, cyclical, and roll risks affect portfolio use.
    • Real Estate as an Alternative Asset
      Real-estate return drivers, valuation and liquidity limits, and why property type and leverage change the portfolio role materially.
    • Infrastructure Investing
      How infrastructure generates cash flow, why investors use it, and which regulatory, demand, leverage, and access risks matter most.
    • Private Markets
      How private equity, venture capital, and private debt work, with emphasis on fund structure, capital calls, illiquidity, and manager selection.
    • Collectibles
      How collectibles are valued, why realized prices can differ from appraised values, and which liquidity and authenticity risks matter most.
    • Digital Assets
      How digital assets differ by function, and why custody, platform, valuation, and regulatory risks matter in portfolio analysis.
    • Investing in Alternative Investments
      How direct ownership, pooled funds, listed vehicles, and proxy securities change liquidity, control, cost, and actual exposure in alternative investing.
    • Commodity Producer Hedging
      Why commodity producers hedge revenue exposure and how hedge design still leaves basis, volume, and liquidity risk.
    • Ways to Invest in Real Estate
      Learn the main ways investors access real estate, including direct property, REITs, private funds, and mortgages, and compare them for liquidity, control, and income in CSI IMT.
    • Ways to Invest in Private Markets
      How private funds, direct deals, co-investments, and secondaries differ in diversification, control, fee layering, and illiquidity.
    • Ways to Invest in Digital Assets
      How direct ownership, funds, exchange-traded products, and company proxies differ in custody, liquidity, and tracking quality.
  • International Investing
    Global diversification, market access, international benchmarks, and cross-border investing risks.
    • International Diversification
      Learn why international investing can improve diversification, how home bias limits portfolios, and why correlation, currency, and crisis behaviour matter in CSI IMT.
    • Global Equity Market Size
      Learn how the global equity market is organized across regions, sectors, and market-cap tiers, and why market size and concentration matter in CSI IMT.
    • International Equity Benchmarks
      Learn the purpose, composition, and limits of major global equity benchmarks such as MSCI, FTSE, and S&P international indexes in CSI IMT.
    • Advantages of International Investing
      Learn the main advantages of international investing, including diversification, broader sector access, valuation opportunity, and currency exposure in CSI IMT.
    • Risks of International Investing
      Learn the main risks of international investing, including currency, political, legal, tax, liquidity, and market-structure risk in CSI IMT.
    • Foreign Investment Vehicles
      How direct holdings, depositary receipts, funds, ETFs, and proxy exposures differ in liquidity, precision, currency handling, and cost.
    • Skills for International Investing
      Learn the research, analytical, regulatory, communication, and risk-management skills needed to invest effectively across foreign markets in CSI IMT.
    • International Asset Allocation Models
      How international allocation models organize risk, and where currency, country risk, and implementation limits require judgment beyond the model.
    • Emerging and Frontier Market Investing
      Growth potential, market-structure risk, and access issues that distinguish emerging and frontier market investing from developed-market exposure.
    • ESG in International Investing
      Learn how environmental, social, and governance factors are analyzed across countries, and why disclosure quality, comparability, and greenwashing risk matter.
    • Free Trade Agreements and Global Institutions
      How trade rules and global institutions shape market access, country risk, and cross-border investment conditions.
    • Cultural and Ethical Issues in International Markets
      Learn how culture, governance norms, ethical standards, and local business practices can affect due diligence, portfolio decisions, and client communication.
  • International Taxation
    Double taxation, taxing jurisdiction, and source-versus-residence rules in international investing.
    • International Tax Conflicts and Double Taxation
      Why double taxation arises in cross-border investing, and how treaties, foreign tax credits, and allocation rules are used to reduce overlap.
    • Sources of International Tax Law
      The main legal sources behind cross-border tax outcomes, including domestic law, treaties, guidance, and court interpretation.
    • Jurisdiction to Tax
      How countries claim taxing rights through residence and source, and why dual residence and treaty tie-breakers matter in cross-border analysis.
    • Source Country Taxation
      How source countries tax non-resident income, why withholding reduces cash received, and how treaties modify but do not eliminate source tax.
    • Residence Country Taxation
      How residence creates worldwide tax exposure, and why foreign tax credits, reporting, and continued ties matter for cross-border investors.
    • Transfer Pricing and Permanent Establishments
      The role of transfer pricing, arm's-length pricing, and permanent establishments in allocating cross-border business profits.
  • Managing Your Client's Investment Risk
    Investment risk, diversification, and derivative tools used to reduce portfolio risk.
    • Investment Risks
      Main categories of investment risk, how they interact in portfolios, and which tools can and cannot reduce them.
    • Measuring Investment Risk
      What the main risk measures mean, where they are useful, and why no single statistic is enough on its own.
    • Diversification and Risk Reduction
      How diversification reduces issuer-specific risk, why correlation matters, and where diversification has clear limits.
    • Options and Risk Reduction
      How protective puts, covered calls, and collars reshape downside and upside trade-offs in portfolio risk management.
    • Futures and Risk Reduction
      How futures can hedge market, commodity, or rate exposure, and why basis risk, hedge sizing, and margin discipline still matter.
    • Contracts for Difference and Risk Reduction
      How CFDs can offset price exposure, and why leverage, margin, counterparty risk, and retail suitability can still make them dangerous.
  • Impediments to Wealth Accumulation
    Taxes, inflation, costs, and other long-term obstacles to building wealth.
    • Burdens of Wealth Accumulation
      Learn why rising wealth can create tax, estate, behavioural, fraud, and governance challenges, and how advisors should address them in exam-style scenarios.
    • Tax-Minimization Strategies
      Learn how asset location, realization timing, loss harvesting, household planning, and cross-border awareness can reduce tax drag in exam-style portfolio scenarios.
    • Tax-Efficient Investments for Long-Term Wealth
      Learn which investments tend to be more tax efficient, why dividend and capital-gain treatment matters, and how to compare tax-aware choices in exam scenarios.
    • Inflation-Sensitive Assets
      Learn how inflation affects real wealth and how real return bonds, commodities, real estate, and infrastructure may help protect purchasing power.
    • Cost-Efficient Investments
      Learn how fees, turnover, product structure, and advisor compensation affect compounding, and how to identify more cost-efficient investment choices.
  • Portfolio Monitoring and Performance Evaluation
    Monitoring, evaluation, rebalancing, reporting, and client communication after implementation.
Revised on Friday, April 24, 2026