Brushing up on consulting and finance material--got any good book ideas?

Anything to do with the traditional world of get a degree, get a job as well as its alternatives
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TopHatFox
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Brushing up on consulting and finance material--got any good book ideas?

Post by TopHatFox »

Currently wanting a greater understanding of things like P/E ratios, buy and sell side, SWOT analyses, prospectus analysis, and other technical finance and consulting vocabulary. Got any books or other resources you'd recommend?

jacob
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Re: Brushing up on consulting and finance material--got any good book ideas?

Post by jacob »

http://earlyretirementextreme.com/start ... sting.html ... This used to be the standard CFA level 1 curriculum.

TopHatFox
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Re: Brushing up on consulting and finance material--got any good book ideas?

Post by TopHatFox »

jacob wrote:http://earlyretirementextreme.com/start ... sting.html ... This used to be the standard CFA level 1 curriculum.
Useful long term, but some of my job interviews are anywhere from a week to a few weeks from now. Can you think of any shorter books, enough to be conversational and aware about the technical terms in investing, economics, and accounting, (to a greater degree than something in Boggle heads)? Economics in One Lesson was an example given on the comments of your link; I'll check that out for now.

This is what I've read so far, mostly PF stuff: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2 ... shelf=read

jacob
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Re: Brushing up on consulting and finance material--got any good book ideas?

Post by jacob »

That's asking a lot ... like how to be conversational in French a few weeks from now.

Probably concentrate on these three then ...
http://www.amazon.com/Accounting-Game-B ... 402211864/ (start with this in order to learn/refresh the accounting terms and how they really work... I think it's better to have a solid understanding of fundamentals than risk making stupid statements to people who will see right through that --- I made that mistake myself very early on. I can media-mail this one to you if you can't get it at the lib.)
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Quantita ... 0071468293 (to get an idea of how and where they're used, mostly in a technologist buy-side sense. If nothing else, this books will show you just how complex the world of finance is in terms of the different functions it serves and maybe help you focus on what you're actually interested in)
http://www.amazon.com/Investments-McGra ... 071123059/ (ditto, but more from a soft/business/consumer sell-side perspective)

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Re: Brushing up on consulting and finance material--got any good book ideas?

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Interestingly, Amherst students aren't typically expected to know much of anything concrete by employers; they're happy if we know anything concrete. They mostly like us for our writing and speaking abilities, not to mention our ability (requirement?) to do well under stress.

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Re: Brushing up on consulting and finance material--got any good book ideas?

Post by jacob »

I think that's pretty general. Writing+speaking+stress sounds a lot like sell-side and consulting to me ;-) On the buy-side they're generally pretty happy if you can do "math in your head" w/o making stupid mistakes. Keep in mind that I only have buy-side experience. Buy-side vs sell-side are rather different cultures.

If you're going into a high-powered junior position, they're (buy-side) mostly looking for trainability and passion(*).---Those vague secondary attributes that might hint at greater potential. Expect to learn most of what you need at the job because academic finance and practitioner finance are two very different worlds. I think pedigree is more important on the sell-side because you need to sound/look convincing to the clients. Also why fancy suits are required on the sell-side whereas to the buy-side, every day is casual Friday.

(*)For the same reason, I think most civilians would be amazed how clueless finance professionals can be aside from their particular cog-function.

PS: It would help a lot if you have an idea of which side you're more interested in!

TopHatFox
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Re: Brushing up on consulting and finance material--got any good book ideas?

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jacob wrote: PS: It would help a lot if you have an idea of which side you're more interested in!
Working on it! Talking to a person that's had XP in high powered business for 20 years at the career center tomorrow, hopefully she can find a place for an INFP / ENFJ somewhere.

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