The overall set of principles or strategies that uide decision making for the Student Managed Investment Fund is growth through reasonably priced investments driven by trends in variables such as interest rates, Federal Reserve policy, inflation, and the state of the overall economy. The performance target is to meet or exceed, net of fees, the comparative indices while maintaining a relatively low risk portfolio structure. The performance target is met by finding those securities providing growth through reasonably priced investments. Additionally, risk management is critical and should be measured and controlled through proper monitoring of active exposures relative to the stated benchmark.

The Student Managers carefully implement the investment strategy by employing the top down philosophy. Members first identify the major economic trends with regards to inflation, interest rates, and Federal Reserve Policy. Taking into consideration conclusions drawn from economic research, the next step in the investigation process is to identify sectors that appear to offer advantages of the economic conditions previously identified. Once the Student Managers have concluded what sectors they believe will outperform the benchmark, they focus on identifying the best companies within those sectors. The Student Managed Investment Fund's investment process focuses on fundamental research to make decisions on which stocks the fund should be holding. Using this fundamental research, the investment team establishes their estimate of a target price for the stock. With this price target, a reasonable price level at which to acquire the security. The appropriate percentage of the holding relative to the entire portfolio is determined based on the investment team's desired exposure in a given industry as well as the desired exposure to the individual security.