write one essay on finance topic about 600 words
stepheny
01CourseOverview-P4.pptxFIN 302-P Fundamentals of Finance
Fall 2017
Zhun Liu
2
Today’s Class:
About the course
Overview of class:
Outline of topics covered
Instructor
Instructor: Zhun Liu, PhD
Email: [email protected]
Office Room: Jenkins 514Q
Office hours: Tuesday 2pm-4pm or by appointment
When scheduling a time outside of regular office hours, please email me with your schedule on the desired day.
3
Class Times
Tuesday and Thursday 11:00am – 12:15pm
No class on Oct-12, Nov-21 and Nov-23
Double check with academic calendar
Final Exam: Dec-7, 8:00pm – 10:30pm (room availability)
Classroom housekeeping
The class starts on time
The class ends on time
Put your cell phones to silence mode
Type quietly when using laptops
No side conversations
Raise your hand before raising a question
4
Have a realistic expectation from the course
Just an introductory course to Finance
Necessary but very basic
You are not expected to
Make a fortune in stock market
Theory and practice are different
Cut the student loan or make it less
But you will have a better understand of its repayment schedule
Tremendous effort is needed and be realistic to yourself whether it is worth the effort
Most questions are math-based, very different from other business school courses (such as management or marketing)
5
About the course
This is an intensive course
We will cover a lot of materials
Work continuously from the first week
Fact: making effort in the last month is not enough
Tip: never get lost – let me know if you think the course is pacing too fast (or too slow), on average
Study effectively – Intuition or Details, 80 – 20 rule
Ask me in class if you don’t understand something
I explain the content within curriculum to everyone in class
I can also accommodate with your personal research interest during office hour and my spare time
6
Follow the class closely and try to understand as much as possible in class. Earlier contents are relatively easy but they are the foundations for understanding harder concepts later in the course, so find your problem as early as possible, otherwise the semester is gone pretty fast and you will find it too late to make it up.
Other aspects of the course
Course website: Blackboard
Notes, announcements
Evaluation
As per Department of Finance rules, final grading along a curve with class average of 3.0.
Mid-term exams: Oct-3 Nov-9, in class
Final exam: Dec-7, 8pm to 10:30pm (maximum), room TBA
7
Homework
Solving problems is crucial to learning!
5 graded problem sets
Try every question
Explain intuition thoroughly
Show the steps of how you get your answer
Late problem sets are not accepted
Additional problems: Blackboard, BDH, MyFinanceLab
Not graded
8
Readings
Core textbook:
Berk, DeMarzo and Harford, “Fundamentals of Corporate Finance,” 3rd Ed
Other books
Bodie, Kane and Marcus, “Essentials of Investments,” 9th edition
Ross, Westerfield, and Jordan, “Fundamentals of Corporate Finance,” 11th edition
Lecture notes handed out in class
Additional lectures notes and readings posted on Blackboard
9
Participation
During Class:
Concentrate and get involved
Slides and white board – take notes
Before class:
Prepare: know your vulnerability, and fix it in class
After class:
Review: immediate enhancement of memory
10
Prerequisites
Because of the nature of modern finance, the course is quantitative:
Algebra in class and problem sets
Basic Statistics knowledge
Basic Calculus
Use of calculators:
Needed for exams and problem sets
Financial calculator is an advantage, but not mandatory
All problems can be done with standard scientific calculator (in exam) or using MS Excel (for certain homework)
11
Course outline
Two Sides of Finance
Financing and Investment
Trading and Markets
Financial Assets: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, derivatives, etc.
The trading process
Time Value of Money
Concepts: Present value, discounting cash flows (BDH Ch. 3 & 4)
Applications: Bond valuation (BDH Ch. 6), stock valuation (BDH Ch. 7), capital budgeting (BDH Ch. 9)
12
Course outline (cont’d)
Investments and Valuation
Risk-return tradeoff, diversification and no-arbitrage (BDH Ch. 10, 11)
CAPM and cost of equity (BDH Ch. 12)
Capital structure and cost of capital (BDH Ch. 13, 16)
Market efficiency
Market efficiency (BDH Ch. 10)
New approaches to finance
Options (BKM Ch. 21)
Options’ Markets
Valuation
13
Points
Homework 10
Participation 10
Quizzes 15
Midterm Exam I 15
Midterm Exam II 15
Final Exam 35
100
