Does anyone have any good sources for leaning investment valuation type of modeling? Preferably free or cheaper the better, but overall it’s the quality that matters. Something similar to PE/VC type of modeling is what I’m really interested in.
Check out some of the programs on Wallstreetoasis.com. I haven’t personally used any of them but they seem to be highly regarded by others.
If free is really your budget, try to track down an LBO model somewhere and play with that (Damodaran might have one on his site).
Thank you guys for the responses!
Chad, I keep hearing that’s the bible of financial modeling. Hopefully I can get to that after the CFA in June.
Bromion, I’ve seen some of the courses on WSO, and they are quite expensive. I’m sure the quality is good, but I’ll try to look for something cheaper since I’m not in IBD. I just want to see how the models are.
There’s tons of financial modeling books out there. I would recommend Benninga’s specifically.
Wall Street Prep or Training the Street are also good resources.
A few good free resources of info include:
Finance 3.0 - This is more of a message board, but they have a financial modeling course for free and various members are willing to provide feedback on your modeling skills if you ask nicely.
Video Financial Modeling - A blog with some free resources/clips
There was one additional website that was very good, but I can’t exactly remember at the moment. If I find it I’ll post it later.
Hope that helps.
I bought Benninga’s book last year, and it looks fantastic.
But I have trouble motivating myself to do serious learning unless there is an exam looming (and a desination upon completion).
experience in this case is thebest teacher…its hard to read about financial modellilng in books…
its really linking up spreadsheets etc under time pressure…the hardest part in financial modelling is using excel efficiently…
I found the courses mentioned here useful. I did Wall Street Training, because Hamilton Lin comes and does stuff at NYSSA, and I got a 15% discount. It was good (Lin is intelligent but has that annoying banker-esqe douchebaggy arrogance that tells you he’s good, but not as good as he thinks he is or at least projects; and his jokes are kinda dumb, in that nerdy dumb kinda way (I admit, I can be that way too sometimes, at least about the jokes)).
You can get stuff in books, but I really found it useful to have someone walk me through how the sheets work and what parts of the process are about knowledge of financial statements and what parts are basically just pulling numbers out of thin air for the sake of being “a little different.”
Found that one website:
http://www.efinancialmodeling.com/free-chapters/
Really though, like someone mentioned, experience > knowledge from books.
You cant have free/cheap and high quality in the same program. You can try www.jpfis.com , they are the best and amongst most expensive in live online instructor led training.
Bets of luck!
If M&A then http://macabacus.com/ and it might be worth a look at http://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Valuation-Modeling-Step-Step/dp/047048179X. I quite liked the Wall Street Training self study pack, however my opinion about H.Lin is strikingly similar to bchadwick’s. I thought it was just me 
There is a free class that just started on Coursera called “Financial Engineering and Risk Management” that may benefit anyone looking to model. Since this thread is like a gazallion years old, I doubt the OP cares.
Martin Haugh is co-Director of the Center for Financial Engineering at Columbia University. He originally joined Columbia University in January 2002 and was a faculty member in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research until June 2005. During this time his teaching and research focused on financial engineering. Between 2005 and 2009, Professor Haugh worked in the hedge fund industry in both New York and London, specializing in equity and credit derivatives. He returned to Columbia in July 2009. Professor Haugh holds a PhD in Operations Research from MIT and also holds Master of Science degrees from the University of Oxford and University College Cork.
Garud Iyengar joined Columbia University’s Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department in 1998 and teaches courses in asset allocation, asset pricing, simulation and optimization. His research interests include convex optimization, robust optimization, queuing networks, combinatorial optimization, mathematical and computational finance, communication and information theory. Professor Iyengar received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He also holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology.
Emanuel Derman joined Columbia University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research in 2003 where he is the Director of the Financial Engineering Program and co-Director of the Center for Financial Engineering. Prior to joining Columbia, he was a managing director at Goldman Sachs, where he was head of the quantitative strategies group in the equities division, and then head of quantitative risk strategies in firm-wide risk. He is best known for his work on the Black-Derman-Toy interest-rate model and for developing local volatility models of the implied volatility smile. He was the IAFE/Sungard Financial Engineer of the Year in 2000. Professor Derman’s research interests include quantitative finance, financial engineering, derivatives valuation, volatility models, and risk management. His memoir, My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance, was published in 2004 and was selected as one of Business Week’s top ten books of the year. His newest book Models Behaving Badly, was published by Free Press in October 2011. Professor Derman studied at the University of Cape Town, and received a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Columbia University in 1973.
Needless to say, the course looks like it will be pretty good for the price (free).
so we should just complete this book ?
any views on the Wall Street Prep Basic vs Premium packages?
Looks like basic doesn’t include valuation at all but the premium has a lot of LBO/M&A modeling that’s not relevant for the buyside
I might suggest Goldman Sachs junior analyst program or any of those big firms.
is dis legit?
^ Any time you use that term, I think about MC Hammer.
There is a free website called the Financial Modeling Academy where you can find good stuff and it is completely free.
Here are a few more resources for the group:
If you want self study and downloadable templates check out Macabacus for sure. Only downside is you really have to teach yourself.
In person courses I’ve tried myself are Training the Street and MDA Training. Both are excellent (especially MDA).
For large online universities check out Udemy, Alison and Coursera for example.
If you want online video based learning definitly check out corporate finance institute to learn financial modeling. Their videos are great.
Hope that helps!
you can learn finacial modelling in excel.