Finally, an Inexpensive, Easy to Use Windows-based MVO

EF was originally inspired by the lack of portfolio tools available to small investors. In the July issue we discussed a mean variance optimizer (MVO) available from Wagner Associates for $99. This MVO dealt with two of the major problems of previous optimizers: cost and ease of data entry. Unfortunately, this application requires Excel 7, which only a minority of readers posess.

EF is pleased to announce that this last hurdle has finally been surmounted. David Wilkinson, a Connecticuit physicist, has written a freestanding Windows based application named VisualMvo. The program allows fast and easy data entry, modification, and portfolio file saving operations. The efficient frontier of portfolio risk/return behavior is rapidly displayed, and by scrolling through the frontier the portfolio compositions at each point on it are displayed in real time.

VisualMvo is currently being offered for beta testing to serious evaluators. The software will be provided free of charge, but evaluators will be asked to spend time putting the program through its paces, and to report back to the programmer. If you are interested contact David Wilkinson via email. He may also be reached via snailmail or telephone at:

David Wilkinson
311 Ned's Mountain Road
Ridgefield CT 06877
1 203 778 1632

copyright (c) 1997, William J. Bernstein