Foundations of Modern Finance

Posted by Jim Range on March 18, 2023

Foundations of Modern Finance

I am excited to present a series of captivating blog posts, which have been crafted by compiling my notes on crucial concepts explored during my academic time at MIT Sloan School of Management while studying the courses Foundations of Modern Finance I & II, offered through the MITx MicroMasters Program in Finance.

The content featured in this post is dynamic in nature, as it will evolve and be refined over time, reflecting my ongoing engagement with data science projects reliant on these fundamental financial principles.

While I cannot guarantee the absolute accuracy of the information presented here, I view it as a valuable tool that I utilize and share with the global community. Should you have any feedback or suggestions, I warmly invite you to contact me at [email protected].

When first staring to study finance, it may initially appear daunting and overwhelming; however, by deconstructing its core components, it becomes increasingly comprehensible and approachable. This blog post aims to discuss modern finance in a way that makes it accessible to a wider audience.

The following cards link to the 14 blog posts covering modern finance topics:

What is Finance?

An overview of some basic concepts of finance incuding an introduction to asset valuation, arbitrage, provides a framework for how corporations and individuals make financial decisions, and suggests unifying principles of finance.

What are Financial Markets?

Discusses the basic concepts of financial markets, real assets vs. financial assets, securities markets and the players in financial markets.

Financial Concepts

Discusses market prices, present & future values, real & nominal interest rates, and annuities.

Fixed Income Securities

Discusses yield curves, valuation, and risk management of fixed income securities.

Stock Valuation

Discusses stock valuation using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Model, the Gordon Growth Model, and the Multistage Growth Model.

Arbitrage Pricing Theory

Provides and overview of Arbitrage Pricing Theory, factor models, factor risk premia, and an overview of the Fama-French-3 model.

Corporate Finance and Capital Budgeting

Discusses the basics of capital budgeting considerations in corporate finance.

Forwards, Futures, and Swaps

Provides an overview of forwards, futures, and swaps.

Options on Financial Securities

Discusses what options on financial securities are, option strategies, option greeks, binomial model, Black-Scholes-Merton model, and option valuation.

Portfolio Theory: CAPM

Discusses modern portfolio theory, mean-variance preferences, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model.

Capital Budgeting: Real Options

Discusses real investment decisions, discount rates, risk & horizon, real options, valuation of real options and insights we have learned from real options.

Capital Structure

Discusses the impacts of financing decisions and capital structure on firm valuation.

Capital Budgeting: Investment and Financing

Discusses the interation between investment and financing in capital budgeting then analyzes the impact of tax shields, adjusted present value (APV), weighted average cost of capital (WACC), and their pros and cons in capital budgeting and valuation.

Payout and Risk Management

Discusses payout and risk management topics and their impact on firm valuation.

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