How to begin improving finance knowledge?
Hello WSO monkeys,
I am currently majoring in Finance in my sophomore year at a very large, non-target school. I am very interested in banking and trading, but I can not take any finance classes until next semester. Thus, I came to WSO to seek out advice. I already read Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast and Bloomberg articles (from the iPhone app) each morning in an attempt to stay current on the markets. My goal is to know enough to secure an internships for the summer. In order to do this, what skills do you recommend I work on improving and what literature should I use to learn more? Is there any must read literature on investing or networking you would recommend to an aspiring banker?
I really appreciate any advice you could give to me.
Networking with no finance knowledge (Originally Posted: 07/24/2011)
I'd like to start networking ASAP, setting up informational interviews with alumni and other contacts. However, I've been reading that I should have some understanding of finance before going into these meetings in case I'm "tested." As I haven't yet started my MBA program and I don't have any finance background, my knowledge in this area is abysmal. Would I do more harm than good by setting up these meetings now? I went ahead and purchased the BIWS course, so I'm debating if I should wait until I get through Financial Modeling Fundamentals before firing out those phone calls and emails.
It's fine to start getting in touch with people. Since you don't have experience in finance, people won't test you on technical details, it's something you will learn on the job anyways, but people might want to test your aspirations and understanding of where in finance you want to work and why. Obviously, it's good if you have a general knowledge of the type of work you will be doing and key financial concepts, but it's not necessary to know specific details.
I would def. read up on WSJ, sectors, big interesting deals (Medco/Express Scripts). Something to talk about.
Being able to walk through an LBO won't be necessary for networking. I'd start learning now though, just ot get a head start.
There's really no excuse for not having a little bit of financial knowledge. There are so many resources out there. Get in the mode of reading financial news (WSJ, seekingalpha.com, CNBC, bloomsberg, etc) every weekday before the market opens.
Pay attention to the main indexes (SP500, DJIA, NASDAQ, FTSE, etc), currencies (USD, Euro, Yen, etc), and bond yields (esp 2yr & 10yr). Commodities don't hurt either (gold, silver, wheat).
If you go bone dry into an interview only knowing the approximate spot prices of these, you'll be in decent shape.
As far as learning the more tedious stuff such as financial statements and what not.. there are plenty of guides & readings online to help you with that. Reading through WSO forum posts over the years will help as well with miscellaneous information & entertainment.
Thanks guys! Yes, I definitely need to start narrowing things down. If I get in touch with someone in, for example, the real estate group, would it be fine if I told him/her I was interested in technology? Obviously, I will aim for as much common ground as possible, but I'll take any contact I can get. In fact, I am in the process of setting up an informational interview with someone at a BB in NY, but I anticipate it to be very casual.
I'll be subscribing to WSJ soon, but I'm still having a hard time finding recent deals. I'm going after the banks in Toronto, and the deals on their sites are from months ago. How do I find anything more recent? Is there a way to specify the office (i.e. Toronto) and group? I've tried Google, Dealbook, and Newsweek, but apparently my search skills are not up to par. I think I'll be getting access to Capital IQ through my school in September, but I want to get to networking now. Any recommendations?
Also, any recommended reading/watching besides WSJ? I currently tune into BNN and CNBC as much as possible, and I'm reading articles about major events in the finance industry (i.e. Enron, subprime mortgages, etc.). Thanks in advance!
Honestly you can get by without WSJ. Occasionally I'll pick it up @ work, but you can get the same news online. This is my reading regimen -
SeekingAlpha (news & stock analysis) CNBC radio (earnings reports, current events, etc) Economist (not necessary, but definitely great macro views) Bloomberg radio (better than CNBC for in-depth analysis) Zero-hedge (kind of a bearish site, but I go here for Macro/Currency news) WSO (3) Yahoo Finance (charts/basic figures) Twitter - believe it or not if you want to get some views/rumors on companies, searching twitter can bring you to some pretty obscure, but great news
The only thing I pay for is the economist which really isn't necessary & I pay $12/m for CNBC/Bloomberg on XM radio.
No finance knowledge at target school (Originally Posted: 04/12/2012)
I will be a freshman at a top target (HYPS) next year. I know I'm want to to do something in business, but I have little to none finance knowledge. Will that be an issue and does that really matter? I will probably be majoring in econ. I'm reading the vault guide on banking and plan to read some other intro books. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated.
Get a subscription to the WSJ / Financial Times
vault guides r worthless
check out wso behind the walls
Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions by Rosenbaum & Pearl -- doesn't get much better.
Dude, just go to class, join clubs/athletic teams, figure out your major, and dominate your projects/tests. You'll either love it or hate it. And please, make sure you have a good time in college.
Typically, I don't bother trying to help anyone who goes to a top school because frankly, you don't need it. However: pick up the book "Monkey Business", join your school finance clubs, talk to your professors, and then get the Breaking Into Wall Street tutorial. Then, hang out on this site and just absorb information and talk to everyone you can until you get a feel for where you'd fit in.
I wish you the best of luck.
P.S. enjoy your time at school. I didn't have that luxury, but take this time to grow and experience new things. In 20 years, you'll thank yourself: there's more to life than career.
Learning about finance for banking/finance career (Originally Posted: 06/15/2012)
I graduated undergrad with an economics major, math and physics double minor. Only had to take one accounting class, and no finance classes. So I don't know a whole lot about finance/accounting or anything there. I would not know how to answer a lot of interview questions dealing with these topics. Obviously this would be a big hurdle in getting a job in the field. What sort of online resources are there for me to learn more about these topics? I have done google searches, looked at Investopedia, etc. but I don't know what specific topics/areas I should be looking at.
Also, could I go into a more quantitative/economic type of job out of undergrad and then work my way over to the finance field? I know a lot of schools (Ivy League, etc.) don't have business admin/finance/accounting majors, only econ, so I assume I'm not the only one in this position.
I'm in your shoes... kinda. I graduated as an Econ major as well, but my school offered a few Finance related courses and I managed to enroll in them. However, none of my jobs were related to finance... AND they were temporary. So I took it upon myself to enroll in some Accounting classes at a local community college hoping that it'll help with my job hunt. Still looking :\
Watch Khan's academy on Finance.
umm there is way too much. Read, a lot. Answer any questions you might have about tiny finance issues / concepts. Ask a lot of questions
and stay away from being a book nerd. The earlier you start touching real data and making your own analysis, the better. Don't memorize what the books teach you, just memorize the tools they use to perform analysis.
Prove things to yourself. THe book, even the really good ones, are frequently just wrong for many different reasons...
good start would be financial accounting though...
getting introduced to finance (Originally Posted: 04/12/2012)
Hi everyone, I'm trying to figure out if I want to pursue finance in college. I'm a high school senior finished with the college admissions process. I've spent a lot of time on this forum in the last couple of weeks and I find a lot of things such as venture capitalism to be really interesting, but a lot of my reading is really random and I don't understand a lot of the stuff (I constantly refer to the financial dictionary for the acronyms and get lost pretty often). I was wondering if there is a book or something that I can read that would give me a comprehensive and more substantial introduction into the industry of finance, IB, PE, VC, ER, etc. etc. I've realized that this kind of thing definitely isn't for everyone after reading a lot of posts so I'm trying to figure out if this is something I want to do. I guess getting an internship would be the best way to figure this out but I think the odds of me finding a relevant one at my age are pretty slim. Thanks a lot for any help.
-Monkey Business -Liar's Poker -Investment Banking: Valuations, Leveraged Buyouts, and M&A -The Intelligent Investor -Technical Analysis Of The Financial Markets -Security Analysis -The Accidental Investment Banker -When Genius Failed
Above list is excellent. Would also add More Money Than God & Too Big To Fail
Thanks for the suggestions! Guess I have to hit the library for the first time in a long time.
agree with above. also: barbarians at the gate
How do you learn about finance (non-academic parts)? (Originally Posted: 01/06/2011)
Most of the stuff on this site I really do not understand. I get what a hedge fund is, for example. Or basic finance principles. But all the other stuff such as what a certain job does, what work actually entails, and all about specifics and how companies run I have no clue about.
How much of this is learned in school, and how much will an internship teach me? How much can I expect to know straight out of college?
Thanks.
take a corporate finance class. that is all you really need to know. Everything else you will get from work exp. It is not rocket science.
Just read this site for a while and investopedia.com everything you don't know, that is how i figured everything out when i was in school.
Agree with HFFBALLfan123. investopedia.com is a great resource :D
Get a introductory finance textbook and read free stuff online. I was amazed how much finance I taught myself over 6 months of occasional reading -- it's really not that hard.
Sorry, I just realized you asked for the non-academic parts. I imagine that you really need to be out there getting experience and learning from people who actually do this stuff for a living.
there is no short cut, really. takes a year or two of reading the WSJ, vault guides, and networking with professionals. simple as that. put in your 10,000 hrs and you'll get there
Everything I know about finance, I learned from WSO
I want that t-shirt. (That is the slogan on the new WSO t-shirt design, right?)
Not sure you need 10,000 hours to grasp finance......
I'm an avid reader of Investopedia, it is just hard to grasp when I lack real experience. I can see what a CDS is, but I have never done one, or even heard of one. On the other hand, I have never filled out a tax return, so I have other issues (ie I should just wait).
Thanks.
HFF- I think he was referring to Malcolm Gladwell's idea that 10,000 hours of study (not just reading books, but working, etc) in a subject makes you an expert. I'm guessing you can probably get a firm grasp of finance by putting in a couple hundred hours of studying, though.
Also, for non-academic ideas, I'd read Vault Career Guides and any of the vast number of books recommended on WSO (just do a search for books and you will find threads dedicated to people's favorite books on finance).
Internships help with a lot of the soft skills and real work. Things you cannot learn in the classroom, you only learn by doing.
Read Principles of Corporate Finance
Interested in the finance industry and looking to learn more. (Originally Posted: 01/18/2015)
Hi
I'm 18 years of age, I've started BA in economics and finance, at a non - target university in the UK. I'm looking to learn more about the different sectors within the finance industry. To help me decide which I may be best suited to, I'd also like to work out what steps I need to take to move towards securing employment.
Thanks
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