24 Comments
 

Pick up an excel and accounting guide from one of the sites. Build an operating model from scratch. M&I guides to understand conceptually what's happening on each model. Build other models (besides operating) using R&P models/book as a guide in terms of formatting and line items.

I'm familiar with R&P, M&I, and WSP.

Few key differences here. WSP's models are vertical and they build out drivers for everything. I actually think this is not helpful when first learning the operating model because you're really just looking to understand how the 3 statements connect line-by-line - the assumptions don't really matter. M&I guides are very good at breaking this down one line at a time, and tying them all together. They also have interview questions specific to just that topic/model in each one.

If you want the most comprehensive practical modeling experience I think just buying the R&P models that accompany the book, and working your way through them is the best. They also have a completed version of each, so if you really get stuck on one line item, you can look in their completed model and see what they did. They all have these completed models, but in terms of formatting I think these are the best and it actually matters when you're trying to visualize how all the cells link and models work together.

One thing I don't like about R&P is they don't break down the operating model. It's not covered in the book and they group the 3 statements on one page for the other models.

just a monkey trying to find his way in the finance jungle
 

Thank you this was super insightful. So for a complete beginner like me to understand the break down of each model, M&I would be the best option? I don't have access to the R&P models.

 

From my experience, M&I was really good at explaining things to me like I'm 5. Was also the best at segmenting each specific topic. This helped with compartmentalizing all the different moving pieces and really helped understand how each piece ties in with each other. For example, the DCF guide is just DCF. It's not part of one comprehensive thing. So if you really aren't feeling confident about one portion you can just hammer that for like 80 pages.

just a monkey trying to find his way in the finance jungle
 

I would say get the R&P book and the workbook for really in-depth knowledge of the 3 (4) valuation methods. The M&I guide is also very good because it literally explains everything to you as if you were a 3 year old, which is what you want it to be tbh

 

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