This Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is intended to illustrate the portfolio possibilities frontier for two risky assets. The user can specify different expected return and standard deviation values for the two assets, as well as the correlation between the two assets. This spreadsheet illustrates, in real time, how the frontier changes as the key variables change. There are multiple worksheets within the file. The early spreadsheets focus on the weights for the minimum variance portfolio and the frontier at critical correlation values. The final spreadsheet adds a riskless asset to calculate the weights for the optimal portfolio of risky assets.

This file is intended for use only by students enrolled in Finance courses at Georgia State University. However, if you would like to use this file in another setting, please contact the author of the spreadsheet (Jason Greene) for permission.

Download Instructions

Windows

• Download PORTEX.EXE.
• Execute (i.e., run) the program PORTEX.EXE. This will unzip the Excel excel spreadsheet file PORTEX4.XLS.
• Open the spreadsheet file PORTEX4.XLS from Microsoft Excel version 5.0 or later. It may be best to view this spreadsheet in Excel using "Full Screen" view mode.

Macintosh

• Download PORTEX4.XLS.hqx.
• When prompted, save as PORTEX4.XLS.
• Open the spreadsheet file PORTEX4.XLS from Microsoft Excel version 5.0 or later. It may be best to view this spreadsheet in Excel using "Full Screen" view mode.