Lessons
Finance 101
Start with Finance 101 : a start-to-end sequence for anyone new to finance who does not yet know which seat they want, thirteen chapters in order, each with a quiz and a real reason to go use another module on this site. Then go deeper: Deep Dives are one more advanced article per chapter, and each track below is a focused mini-course on one specific seat: real mechanics, real formulas, worked examples, for whichever path you are actually considering.
Section 1 · Finance 101
The main course, start to end
Foundations
Chapter 1: How the Industry Fits Together
Buy-side vs. sell-side, and what every major seat in finance actually does day to day
Asset Classes
Chapter 2: Equities: What a Stock Actually Is
Ownership, market cap, and the handful of numbers everyone quotes without explaining
Asset Classes
Chapter 3: Fixed Income & Credit
Bonds, yield curves, and credit spreads, the other half of the market that is not stocks
Asset Classes
Chapter 4: Commodities & FX
Physical goods and currencies, the two asset classes even finance students tend to skip
The Seats
Chapter 5: Sales & Trading: How Markets Actually Trade
Market makers, spreads, and order books, what a trading desk does that is not just guessing direction
The Seats
Chapter 6: Options & Derivatives
Calls, puts, and the Greeks, how an S&T desk actually thinks about risk beyond spot price
The Seats
Chapter 7: Asset & Investment Management
Active vs. passive, portfolio construction, and the risk metrics a real portfolio manager watches
Foundations of Analysis
Chapter 8: Three-Statement Modeling
How the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement actually link, the most commonly failed technical question in real interviews
Corporate Finance
Chapter 9: Investment Banking & M&A: Historical and Recent
What IBD actually sells, why companies merge, and two famous deals worth knowing as case studies
Foundations of Analysis
Chapter 10: Valuation & Technical Interview Fundamentals
DCF, LBO, M&A models, and comps, turning this site's own templates into a real, walkthrough-ready skill
Corporate Finance
Chapter 11: Reading a Real Deal
What an actual M&A deal announcement contains, and how to read one like an analyst instead of a headline
Corporate Finance
Chapter 12: Reading the Market Today
How to actually read a day's market move: sector rotation, narrative vs. fundamentals, and why it all connects
Capstone
Chapter 13: Capstone: Build Your Own Pitch
Put every chapter together into one real, defensible stock pitch, the actual output this whole course has been building toward
Section 2 · Deep Dives
One more advanced article per chapter, optional, go as deep as you want on whatever actually interests you
Ch. 1
How One Real Deal Touches Every Seat at Once
Tracing a single M&A announcement through IBD, S&T, research, and the buy-side, in order
Ch. 2
Beyond P/E: Choosing the Right Multiple
EV/EBITDA, PEG, and why banks, REITs, and growth stocks all get valued differently
Ch. 3
Convexity and the Repo Market
What duration leaves out, and how bonds actually get financed day to day
Ch. 4
Hedging Mechanics: Forwards, Futures, and Basis Risk
How a real company actually locks in a future price, and where that protection can still fail
Ch. 5
Market Microstructure: How Orders Really Get Filled
Dark pools, payment for order flow, and what actually happens between clicking 'buy' and getting a fill
Ch. 6
Options Strategies: Combining Positions
Spreads, straddles, and covered calls: how real positions are built from more than one option at once
Ch. 7
Factor Investing and the Efficient Frontier
The modern portfolio theory underneath "diversification", and how factor investing tries to systematize stock-picking
Ch. 8
Working Capital and the Modeling Details That Trip People Up
Building a real net working capital schedule, and handling deferred taxes and stock-based comp correctly
Ch. 9
Deal Defense: Poison Pills and Why Hostile Takeovers Are Rare
The tools a target board has to resist an unwanted bid, and why most real deals are negotiated, not fought
Ch. 10
Football Fields and Presenting a Valuation Range
How the DCF, comps, and LBO outputs from Chapter 10 actually get synthesized into one chart
Ch. 11
Break Fees, MAC Clauses, and the Fine Print
The deal-protection provisions that actually decide whether an announced deal makes it to closing
Ch. 12
Correlation Regimes and Why 60/40 Stopped Working the Way It Used To
How the relationship between asset classes itself changes over time, and why that matters more than any single day's move
Ch. 13
Writing the One-Pager
Compressing a full pitch into the single page a portfolio manager actually reads first
Section 3 · Investment Banking: M&A
The actual process a deal goes through, how value gets created (or destroyed), and how a pitch book gets built
The M&A Process, Start to Finish
From the first phone call to closing, the real sequence of a sell-side deal
Deal Structuring & Sources of Value
Asset deals vs. stock deals, and putting a real number on synergies
Building and Positioning the Pitch Book
What is actually inside the document a banker brings into a client meeting
Section 4 · Global Capital Markets
How companies actually raise money: the ECM and DCM processes, and how a CFO decides between them
Equity Capital Markets (ECM)
IPOs and follow-on offerings, how new shares actually get priced and sold
Debt Capital Markets (DCM)
How companies issue bonds, and what a credit rating actually costs them in real yield
Capital Structure Strategy
How a company actually decides between equity, debt, and everything in between
Section 5 · Global Markets: Sales & Trading
How a real trading floor is organized, how risk actually gets limited, and how orders get executed algorithmically
How a Trading Floor Is Organized
The desks, the products, and who actually talks to whom
Risk Management on a Real Desk
VaR limits, position limits, and what actually happens when a trader breaches one
Algorithmic & Electronic Execution
VWAP, TWAP, and implementation shortfall, how a large order actually gets worked
Section 6 · Asset Management
How an actual investment process runs from idea to portfolio, and how performance really gets judged
The Investment Process, Idea to Portfolio
From a research idea to an actual position size in a real portfolio
Benchmarks & Performance Attribution
How a manager's performance actually gets measured and explained: alpha, beta, and tracking error
Fixed Income vs. Equity Portfolio Management
Genuinely different mandates, genuinely different day-to-day skills
Section 7 · Hedge Funds
The major strategies, how a fund is actually structured, and how leverage and exposure really get managed
The Major Strategies, Explained
Long/short, macro, event-driven, and quant, genuinely different ways of trying to make money
Fund Structure, Leverage & Prime Brokerage
How a hedge fund is actually organized, and how borrowed money amplifies both gains and losses
Risk Management: Gross/Net Exposure & Drawdown Control
The specific numbers a hedge fund risk report actually leads with
Section 8 · Private Equity
Not on your original list, but a comparably major buy-side path: how deals get sourced, how value actually gets created, and how a fund exits
Deal Sourcing & Diligence
How PE firms actually find deals, and what real diligence uncovers beyond the numbers in a CIM
Value Creation Levers
What actually happens operationally to grow EBITDA during a PE hold period, beyond just the formula
Portfolio Company Operations & Exit
The 100-day plan, board governance during the hold, and how a fund actually gets its money back
Section 9 · Equity Research
Not on your original list either, but the seat that actually produces most of the public analysis everyone else reads: initiating coverage, models, and ratings
Initiating Coverage
What a real initiation report contains, and how a target price actually gets built
Building and Maintaining an Earnings Model
What actually happens to a model, and a stock, the day a company reports earnings
The Rating & Price Target Process
How ratings actually change, sell-side vs. buy-side research, and the real conflicts worth understanding