In this paper we deal with the utility maximization problem with a general utility function. We derive a new approach in which we reduce the utility maximization problem with general utility to the study of a fully-coupled Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equation (FBSDE).

Multi-dimensional backward stochastic Riccati differential equations (BSRDEs in short) are studied. A closed property for solutions of BSRDEs with respect to their coefficients is stated and is proved for general BSRDEs, which is used to obtain the existence of a global adapted solution to some...

The optimal control problem is considered for linear stochastic systems with a singular cost. A new uniformly convex structure is formulated, and its consequences on the existence and uniqueness of optimal controls and on the uniform convexity of the value function are proved. In particular, the...