Merton's Portfolio Problem under Grezelak-Oosterlee-Van Veeren Model

Abstract: Merton’s Optimal Investment-Consumption Problem is a classic optimization problem in finance. It aims to find the optimal controls for a portfolio with both risky and risk-less assets, inorder to maximize an investor’s utility function. One of the controls is the optimal allocationof wealth invested in a risky asset and the other control is the consumption rate. The problemis solved by using Dynamic Programming and the related Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation.One of the disadvantages of the original problem is the consideration of constant volatility. Inthis thesis, we extend Merton’s problem considering the Grzelak-Oosterlee-Van Veeren modelthat describes the dynamics of a risky asset with stochastic volatility and stochastic interestrate. We derive the related Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman for Merton’s problem considering theGrzelak-Oosterlee-Van Veeren model. We simulate the controls from Merton’s problem intwo different cases, one case where the volatility and interest rate are stochastic, following theGOVV-model. In the other case, the volatility and interest rate are assumed to be constant, asin Merton’s problem. The results obtained from simulations show that the case with stochasticvolatility and interest gave the same results as the case where the volatility and the interest ratewere assumed to be constant.