Portfolio optimisation with jumps: Illustration with a pension accumulation scheme

In this paper, we address portfolio optimisation when stock prices follow general Levy processes in the context of a pension accumulation scheme. The optimal portfolio weights are obtained in quasi-closed form and the optimal consumption in closed form. To solve the optimisation problem, we show how to switch back and forth between the stochastic differential and standard exponentials of the Levy processes. We apply this procedure to both the Variance Gamma process and a Levy process whose arrival rate of jumps exponentially decreases with size. We show through a numerical example that when jumps, and therefore asymmetry and leptokurtosis, are suitably taken into account, then the optimal portfolio share of the risky asset is around half that obtained in the Gaussian framework. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.