Guys, pls help. Is it possible to self-study finance just by reading amazon books and textbooks for finance majors from libraries? I skimmed through several intro textbooks in accounting, finance, math and no problems yet. Thanks.
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of course its possible.finance is not rocket science unless you get urself into that highly quantitative stuff,option pricing,etc.
Its called "CFA program."
noncom, It is impossible to study finance well without a structured program and quality materals. Since you won't have classroom instruction, I would recommend the CFA program. It covers most of the essential material you learn at business school if you major in finance. Not only that, but the materials that are used are of good quality.
Buy the Kaplan textbooks for Level one. (very pricy, BTW, due to copyright) If you pass the six hour exam (given this Dec.) it'll be a decent credential for asset management/equity research.
An unstructured study routine will lead you nowhere, however.
Yes,if forgot to mention.CFA is the thing to do,if u wanna self study finance.The best material for a beginner is the Official CFA Curriculum Study Notes.Schweser notes are too brief.And i have to say that by doing the CFA your knowledge of Finance will be be even higher than that of person with a major in finance.It is very hard though.look at the number of people that pass it(under 40%). CFA is the s-h-i-t :)
It's not worth it. Finance is the most boring subject ever... just learn math, skim the vault guides...
I'm going to have to disagree with almost everyone above. Although I am no finance wiz, I am pretty fluent having almost no formal training. I taught myself through a combination of friends textbooks, the internet, and working my way through company reports. Of course it would be easier if you had structured training, but if you have the dedication you can definitely do it. It was easier for me because I found the stuff really interesting and looked forward to sitting down and teaching myself. As soon as you start dreading it, you will pretty much stop learning. So, as long as you are willing to put in the effort, i'd say go for it.
"I'm going to have to disagree with almost everyone above. Although I am no finance wiz, I am pretty fluent having almost no formal training. I taught myself through a combination of friends textbooks, the internet, and working my way through company reports“
Not everyone is that disciplined. The CFA Kaplan notes are 1200 pages long....and of high quality due to the fact that it's excerpts from many good finance texts. The way its structured is essentially most of the stuff a undergrad B-student learns.
studying finance once you know the math is absolutely trivial...not talking about practical stuff which you can only learn if you sit next to professionals, but the theoretical stuff is trivial once you are good at math...
I swear to god, there are so many morons on this board.
Yeah, why did I graduate from undergrad B-school? I got a 790 on the SAT IC and an 800 on the SAT IIC in high school, WTF was I thinking?
What about prep materials by the CFA institute? I saw a whole bunch of them on their website. Are they anymore legitimate? They change the stuff every year right?
Clearly it is not the same as majoring in finance, but independent study can put you at a point where you are fluent enough to land a job. I would agree that studying for the CFA level 1 would be a great way to start. Even if you show up and fail the test, or don't follow through, you'll have gained a lot of knowledge on the way.
the official CFA stuff is known to be badly superfluous. they change things by a little bit, but not much.
I used the Kaplan stuff, and did fine.
uhhh, I don't think self-studying finance is so difficult...especially finance for banking.
Just read up on accounting and get an idea as to how financial models are built (ie. pro forma, DCF) and how discount rates (WACC and such) are found. You don't need to get a CFA or freak out to learn some finance. Past that, you don't NEED a finance degree to get the job in the first place.
"Past that, you don't NEED a finance degree to get the job in the first place."
HAHAHAHA, have you tried, son?
The folks that get into finance analyst positions, etc. without a degree in finance or B-school undergrad are those folks from ivy's with perfect GPA's and immense extracurriculars that imply great analytical abilities and intelligence.
A coworker of mine was a magna cum laude from NYU majoring in english and had articles printed in magazines, journals, etc. Not to mention four finance internships. Stuff like that.
Dude, I just graduated from NYU CAS and have a banking job. I am not a finance major, and have worked in banking before. Won't say that it wasn't tougher out of CAS, but no one ever faulted me for wanting to study something other than finance. Point is, is that you don't need to be that bright to pick up on how to build a DCF...it just takes practice to get it down.
Self-study of options and shit would clearly be much tougher, but that's a whole other story.
" and have worked in banking before." That was your ticket.
BTW, We both went to a target....thus it was easy to get internships. non-target's, (IE most of the ppl here) don't have that sort of opportunity.
What's your GPA?
I'm guessing you're an econ major/math major?
The CFA is virtually a requirement for those in portfolio management and Equity research to advance. It's not something that someone should slack off over unless they really want to ride banking all the way (*shudder)
"HAHAHAHA, have you tried, son?
The folks that get into finance analyst positions, etc. without a degree in finance or B-school undergrad are those folks from ivy's with perfect GPA's and immense extracurriculars that imply great analytical abilities and intelligence.
A coworker of mine was a magna cum laude from NYU majoring in english and had articles printed in magazines, journals, etc. Not to mention four finance internships. Stuff like that."
I'm a non-finance major at a school that no BBs recruit at. My GPA was 3.7 and my ECs were a bit above average, but I didn't save the world. I start full time this summer.
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