Which Models Should I Focus on Learning?
Incoming freshman here who is dead-set on making IB after college. I plan on getting an internship after my freshman year and I'm aware that modeling skills are absolutely necessary for these. Over the summer I have lots of free time to research finance so which models should I focus on learning? I know DCFs are crucial, but what else? I've seen lists of 10 different models and lists of 4 claiming that these are the necessary models that investment banker must know. So which ones besides the DCF should I prioritize? And if anyone is feeling extra helpful, what's the best way or the way you learned these modeling skills? Your wisdom is much apprecited.
Calm down enjoy college
I will lol but I also wanna work towards a career and not completely fuck around
Merger models are good to learn, I think accretion-dilution technicals are fairly common in interviews. If you wanna be a real hardo you can spend your summer practicing LBO models but you’re probably not gonna be drilled on the details at least for IB SA interviews
Unless it’s a MM shop doing mostly sell sides
You may be asked to walk through a verbal DCF, and you should know the dynamics around acc-dil, but interviews really don't touch models so it's not the best use of time and you have to be careful coming off as a hardo studying super hard like this. IB is not that hard to break into especially if you're on this website as an incoming freshman, just get good grades and be involved
Accounting is a harder one to learn so maybe learn those basics. Know stuff around the 3 statements and how those work. Actually, a 3 statement model won't be tested but it will help you know how stuff flows through, which is asked in IB interviews
Also this stuff takes like a month, maybe two months to learn... you have plenty of time. Really try and enjoy your last free summer
bro wants to be in IB when 27 year old twitch streamers making $100m 🤦🤦
17 years old and already stuck in the matrix 😂😂
Finance just interests me lol
You must be fun at parties
Actually sad af 😔
Learn how to put together the Three Statements: Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows.
all this just to end up at piper sandler or jeffries
Probably
Future “soft-skills ding’ Citi superday non-invitee.
Would advise to read some broader finance books.
Accounting as mentioned above is important.
Something like the Moyer on distressed debt analysis will give an understanding of debt & how value flows in a much better way than a DCF would.
There is a series of books about capital allocation that are good too. Anything that is stories based on case studies & real examples is valuable. Find some books about deals too (barbarian at the gate, or the more recent on the ibrutinib / acalabrutinib deals in biotech for example).
Moyer is great, especially if you want break into RX. If that is the case, I would suggest also reading the Houlihan Lokey Case.
Don’t be the kid going around screaming about how you’ve read Moyer - anecdotally it’s the same egg heads who won’t be able to tell you what a loan impairment is. That book will be waaaaay over your head - you can read it by all means but a lot of prior knowledge/understanding is assumed for those who want to read that book to really understand the intricacies of debt. Not a worthwhile use of your time imo.
Learn to walk before you try to run. Start with a self study online accounting course, then look into valuation methods, read the news simultaneously, and you will have more than enough to show for going into interviews. I respect enthusiasm but you have to be pragmatic about the order in which you learn things - this shows you can work logically/methodically which is much more impressive than an 18/19/20 year old claiming they understand distressed debt.
Thank you🙏 I read the news but I’m definitely gonna take it piece by piece without getting too over my head.
3-statement models are the foundation of any other model. Start with that
Rising sophomore here.. u usually start with a dcf, all the college finance clubs use it to do their stock stuff. Ppl say that LBOs r not necessary for IB recruitment but thats literally the first thing i learned from my internships this summer. Dcfs r really quick to learn,, LBOs and mergers r much harder for me...
Thank you🙏
Monte Carlo
Dude freshman year… chill out fr
I started locking myself in my room for months prepping/networking/modeling sophomore year and looking back it’s not that deep. You can land a job solely through networking and knowing basic accounting/valuation IB questions that are all over the internet. Anytime some T1 bank came to school for a talk there would always be some analyst or associate saying they wished they had more fun in college and now I see exactly why. I don’t mean u have to be a degenerate college kid but take time and enjoy your freedom… hobbies etc. will make you more well rounded and have a personality anyways compared to a majority of the robot NPCs interning nyc right now
All I wanted to do was learn extremely basic models over the summer and for some reason I'm catching loads of shit. This won't take much time and effort.
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