A Unified Formula of the Optimal Portfolio for Piecewise Hyperbolic Absolute Risk Aversion Utilities

Abstract

We propose a general family of piecewise hyperbolic absolute risk aversion (PHARA) utility, including many non-standard utilities as examples. A typical application is the composition of an HARA preference and a piecewise linear payoff in hedge fund management. We derive a unified closed-form formula of the optimal portfolio, which is a four-term division. The formula has clear economic meanings, reflecting the behavior of risk aversion, risk seeking, loss aversion and first-order risk aversion. One main finding is that risk-taking behaviors are greatly increased by non-concavity and reduced by non-differentiability.