Maximal squared Sharpe ratio value bound ($|b_t|\le b_{+}⟹J(w)\le V_{+}(w)$)

For $0<R<1$, common constant interest and volatility, and observed excess drift bounded in absolute value by $b_{+}>0$, let $V_{+}$ be the finite Merton consumption-investment problem value for excess drift $b_{+}$. In its Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, optimizing the stock holding contributes $-b^2(V_{+}^{\prime }{)}^2/(2{\sigma }^2{V}_{+}^{\prime \prime })$. Since $V_{+}^{\prime \prime }<0$, this contribution increases with $b^2$. Thus every admissible policy makes accumulated discounted CRRA utility plus discounted $V_{+}$ a nonnegative local supermartingale, hence a supermartingale. Dropping its nonnegative terminal term and using the monotone convergence theorem proves the value bound. The condition $[\rho -(1-R)(r+b_{+}^2/(2R{\sigma }^2))]/R>0$ is essential for the finite supermartingale construction.