📊 Finance — Map of Content

Finance is the study of how individuals, businesses, and institutions raise, allocate, and manage money over time, accounting for risk.

Emphasized heavily at: Wharton · Booth · Columbia · HBS

🏗️ Corporate Finance

The foundation — how firms make financial decisions.

Time Value of Money — Present value, future value, discounting
DCF Valuation — Discounted Cash Flow analysis
WACC — Weighted Average Cost of Capital
Capital Structure — Debt vs. equity, Modigliani-Miller
CAPM — Capital Asset Pricing Model
Working Capital Management — Managing short-term assets/liabilities
Dividend Policy — Payout decisions and signaling

📈 Valuation

DCF Valuation — Intrinsic value via free cash flow
Comparable Company Analysis — Market multiples (EV/EBITDA, P/E)
Precedent Transactions — M&A deal comps
LBO Model — Leveraged buyout mechanics
Sum of the Parts Valuation — Valuing conglomerates

🏦 Investment Banking

M&A Process — Deal lifecycle from mandate to close
Pitch Book Structure — How IB pitch books are built
Equity Capital Markets — IPOs, follow-ons, convertibles
Debt Capital Markets — Bonds, loans, leveraged finance

💼 Private Equity & Venture Capital

LBO Model — Core PE deal structure
VC Term Sheet — Key terms: pre-money, dilution, liquidation preference
Fund Economics — 2 and 20, carried interest, IRR hurdles
Portfolio Construction — Power law, diversification in VC

📉 Capital Markets & Investments

CAPM — Risk-return tradeoff
Efficient Market Hypothesis — Weak, semi-strong, strong forms
Beta and Systematic Risk — Market sensitivity
Options and Derivatives — Calls, puts, Greeks

🔧 Key Formulas

Formula	Expression
PV	`CF / (1+r)^n`
WACC	`(E/V)×Re + (D/V)×Rd×(1−T)`
CAPM	`Re = Rf + β(Rm − Rf)`
EV	`Equity + Debt − Cash`
Terminal Value (Gordon)	`FCF × (1+g) / (WACC − g)`

📚 Essential Books

Principles of Corporate Finance — Brealey, Myers, Allen (Wharton text)
Investment Valuation — Aswath Damodaran (NYU)
The Intelligent Investor — Benjamin Graham (Columbia tradition)
Barbarians at the Gate — Burrough & Helyar (PE case study)

🏫 School Spotlights

Wharton: FNCE 611 (Corporate Finance), FNCE 236 (Valuation)
Booth: BUSF 35150 (Advanced Investments), Capital Markets courses
Columbia: Value Investing Program, Security Analysis (Graham tradition)
HBS: Finance I & II (case-based), Field Immersion Experiences

📚 Case Studies

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