Mastering the Fundamentals of Finance: Building Skills and Intuition

Mastering the Fundamentals of Finance: Building Skills and Intuition presents students with a uniquely structured approach to learning finance. Casting aside the traditional approach, the text emphasizes growth-focused valuation skills and the explicit development of intuition. The text features a unique modular design with twelve chapters supported by over thirty optional appendices. This unique structure allows students and instructors the flexibility to adjust their level of exposure to various topics, making the text appropriate for use at a wide range of universities. In Part I, students develop critical valuation skills with an emphasis on cash flow growth and the impact of inflation. Part II explores how cash flows are estimated for the three most popular investments categories: assets, debt, and equity. Part III discusses how to estimate risk-adjusted discount rates for the pricing of assets, debt, and equity. End-of-chapter problems, follow-up commentaries, color-coded multi-line mathematics, and high-quality cash flow timelines support learning and mastery. The revised first edition features a new version of the calculator app created by the author (available in app stores for free download), as well as a new appendix, 4-B, which covers using the Goal Seek tool to extend Microsoft Excel's capabilities. Mastering the Fundamentals of Finance is highly effective and suitable for any introductory finance course.