PENN STATE BEHREND
281 BURKE CENTER
ERIE PA 16563
Biography
Eric Robbins has spent his entire career working with the stock market and managing the invested assets and the retirement income needs of retirees. Immediately following his undergraduate degree from Asbury University in Kentucky in 1998, he began working full-time at a family-owned wealth management firm. While working full-time, Eric pursued an MBA and graduated in 2005. He then began studies to become a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder, which he successfully completed in 2009.
In the spring semester 2010, Eric began teaching Corporate Finance part-time at Penn State Behrend while still working full-time in wealth management. He decided to follow his passion for educating others by accepting a full-time teaching position for the fall semester of 2013. He now teaches Investments and Retirement Planning both residentially at Penn State Behrend and online through Penn State World Campus. Most recently, Eric earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM Certification. He also continues to consult with the family-owned wealth management firm’s clients on a periodic basis.
Eric leads a campus outreach for Boy Scouts and a spring student trip to visit companies and Penn State Alum in various cities around the country. In 2015, he also became the Administrative Chair of the MBA department.
When Eric is not engaged with his students or working to improve lesson content and projects, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids both at home and while traveling.
Research Interests
Personal Finance Investments Behavioral Finance
Publications
Tax Rate and Social Security Assumption Updates - March, 2024
Four Angles on Mentorship - December, 2023
Planning from A to Z - September, 2023
Helping Clients Prepare for the Potential of a Layoff - June, 2023
The Emotional Side of Advice - March, 2023
Holistic Retirement Planning: From Plan Types to Planning Details (2E) - January 19, 2023
A Second Bite at the Apple (SECURE Act 2.0) - December, 2022
An odd recession - September, 2022
Investments Explained: From Mutual Funds to Equity Valuation (5E) - July 25, 2022
Goals and opportunities as the rate rise cycle begins - June, 2022
Emotional biases that influence investor behavior - March, 2022
Creating tax alpha with an ESG twist - December, 2021
Are All Capture Ratios Created Equal? , The Journal of Index Investing - October, 2021
Collaborator: Jeffrey Coy, Co-Author
Bitcoins and Meme Stocks and Sneakers, oh my! - September, 2021
Social Capital during the Coronavirus Pandemic: The Value of Corporate Benevolence, Applied Economics - September, 2021
Collaborators: Xin Zhao, Co-Author; Michael Filbeck, Co-Author
Investments Explained: From Mutual Funds to Equity Valuation (4E) - September 15, 2021
Holistic Retirement Planning: From Plan Types to Planning Details (1E) - August 17, 2021
Assessing the Generalizable Effect of Immediate Versus Delayed Feedback Across Many College Classes (ManyClasses 1), Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science - July, 2021
Collaborators: Emily Fyfe, Co-Author; Joshua Leeuw, Co-Author; Paulo Carvalho, Co-Author; Robert Goldstone, Co-Author; Janelle Sterman, Co-Author; Benjamin Motz, Co-Author
Is Retirement SECURE or SECURE 2.0? - June, 2021
Proposed Estate and Tax Changes - March, 2021
Mind the Longevity Gap - December, 2020
Fiduciary Evolution - September, 2020
Access through Private Structures (Chapter 29) - September, 2020
Access to Real Estate and Commodities (Chapter 28) - September, 2020
Asset Allocation Processes (Chapter 9) - September, 2020
Complexity and Cross-Border Real Estate (Chapter 40) - September, 2020
Complexity and Structured Products (Chapter 38) - September, 2020
Credit Risk Models (Chapter 7) - September, 2020
Directional Strategies and Methods (Chapter 22) - September, 2020
Diversified Access to Hedge Funds (Chapter 27) - September, 2020
Hedging, Rebalancing, and Monitoring (Chapter 19) - September, 2020
Insurance-Linked Products (Chapter 39) - September, 2020
Modeling Overview and Interest Rates (Chapter 6) - September, 2020
Multifactor Equity Pricing Models (Chapter 8) - September, 2020
Other Asset Allocation Approaches (Chapter 10) - September, 2020
Relative Value Methods (Chapter 24) - September, 2020
Valuation for Private Real Estate Assets (Chapter 25) - September, 2020
Investments Explained: From Mutual Funds to Equity Valuation (3E) - July 14, 2020
Communicating with Clients through a Cloud of Noise and Emotions - June, 2020
What to Do When No One Wants to Take a Hike - March, 2020
Foundations of Financial Economics (Topic 5) - January, 2020
Introduction to Structuring (Topic 23) - January, 2020
Private Credit and Distressed Credit (Topic 22) - January, 2020
Alpha, Beta, and Hypothesis Testing (Topic 8) - January, 2020
Equity Hedge Funds (Topic 18) - January, 2020
Event-Driven Hedge Funds (Topic 16) - January, 2020
Funds of Hedge Funds (Topic 18) - January, 2020
Macro and Managed Futures Funds (Topic 15) - January, 2020
Measures of Risk and Performance (Topic 7) - January, 2020
Relative Value Funds (Topic 17) - January, 2020
Structure of the Hedge Fund Industry (Topic 14) - January, 2020
The Low-Cost Revolution - November, 2019
What will the SECURE Act Make More Secure? - July, 2019
Understanding the Role of Share Buybacks - April, 2019
Fintech (Topic 79) - April, 2019
The Retirement Planning Landscape: 2nd Edition - January 1, 2019
Brexit in Laymen's Terms - January, 2019
Financial Market Trading Simulations: Are They Effective?, Journal of Financial Education - December, 2018
Collaborator: Timothy Krause, Co-Author
Reasons for Increased Market Volatility - October, 2018
No Scholarship for Retirement - July, 2018
Investments Explained: From Mutual Funds to Equity Valuation (2E) - July 17, 2018
REITs in a Rising Interest Rate Environment - April, 2018
Dow 30,000 - January, 2018
Big Data: New Tricks for Econometrics - January, 2018
Counterparty Risk Intermediation - January, 2018
Cautious Optimism - December 30, 2017
The New Conflict of Interest Rule - September 30, 2017
The Retirement Planning Landscape - July 7, 2017
Social Advisors - June 30, 2017
Intergenerational Wealth Transfer - March 31, 2017
Alpha and the Low-Risk Anomaly - January, 2017
Bitcoin: Economics, Technology, and Governance - January, 2017
Central Banks and Negative Rates - January, 2017
Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds - January, 2017
Negative Interest Rates and their Impact - December 1, 2016
Family Offices - October, 2016
Pension Fund Portfolio Management - October, 2016
Sovereign Wealth Funds - October, 2016
Low Volatility Investing - September 1, 2016
Are Stocks Currently Overvalued? - June, 2016
Essentials of Retirement Planning: A Holistic Review of Personal Retirement Planning Issues and Employer-Sponsored Plans, 3rd Edition - April, 2016
Robo Advisors: Friend or Foe? - March, 2016
Stress Testing Convergence - January, 2016
Credit Transfer Markets - January, 2016
Fundamental Review of the Trading Book - January, 2016
The Next Innovation: NextShares - December 1, 2015
Gendernomics: Let's Learn from Each Other - September 1, 2015
Essentials of Retirement Planning: A Holistic Review of Personal Retirement Planning Issues and Employer-Sponsored Plans, 2nd Edition - June 1, 2015
Smart Beta: Is it as Smart as it Sounds? - March 1, 2015
Modeling Cycles: MA, AR, and ARMA Models - January 15, 2015
Essentials of Retirement Planning: A Holistic Review of Personal Retirement Planning Issues and Employer-Sponsored Plans - August, 2014
Back Door Roth IRA Contributions
Could Master Limited Partnerships Help Solve Retirees' Income Needs?
Institutional Wealth Management - January 15, 2013
Education
MBA, Gannon University
BA, Accounting, Asbury University