Good day WSO, I'm currently a non-target student that's been looking for the best self-study materials. Any suggestions? I'm not really looking for the typical BIWS and WSP packages considering I'm either already using those or they're too expensive. Anything that think is underappreciated/unused for incoming IB cohorts that would help put them way above the rest.
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Just looked into it and it already looks like it has tons of great content. Thanks for the tip.
sure thing
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haha thanks for the heads up!
Also, BIWS Interview prep course, less than $100 I think.. not too expensive, but thoroughly covers the major topics like the three financial statements, LBO's, M&A, DCF etc.... Their other courses do get a little pricey, but I think this course easily justifies its price
Yeah I actually managed to get BIWS through a few contributions from friends, so I'll be cranking through that over time, but I just wanted to get some more materials to give me a different perspective and for some work after I finish BIWS.
I always describe basic finance as "Algebra I with accounting vocabulary", at least for the topics covered in most introductory finance classes (i.e., present/future value, WACC, CAPM, etc). Rather than focusing on learning definitions and formulas for obscure concepts, try to understand the "why" behind the theory of simple ideas. For example, why does using a weighted-average cost of capital make sense? Well, a weighted-average is mathematically just an expected value, so WACC is really just the expected value of a company's cost of capital given its capital structure.
Honestly, I don't think you need more than the BIWS guide to start out. The questions in the guide will introduce concepts, and you can just search them to clear up any confusion. Having too many resources just convolutes the learning process; in my opinion, it is easier to start with a little and branch out as you become more inquisitive, especially if your primary motivation is to be prepared for banking interviews.
Being able to read a 10-K and financial statements is also a necessary, foundational skill in finance, and they are all free and online.
Regarding modeling, asimplemodel.com is a great website with free courses. They are very basic, but get the job done in terms of learning the mechanics of financial statements and excel modeling.
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