Foundations of Public & Private Markets Investing
In this class, we’re giving you an insider’s guide to understanding how the world’s biggest investors and the global markets actually work. This class demystifies the entire financial ecosystem by breaking down the biggest players, unpacking their business models, and exploring the core asset classes every investor needs to know. We provide a clear framework as to how various institutions operate, interact with each other, and participate in the financial markets.
This class is ideal not only for early professionals just starting their careers, but also for individuals within these institutions who want a greater understanding of the big picture. We give participants a comprehensive overview of investment theory and practice by combining foundational knowledge with real-world case studies.
Sample Outline
Part I | The financial ecosystem: who/what/why?
Understanding the players, the roles, and the rules
- What is an institutional investor? Learn working definitions for both the “buy side” and “sell side” of the finance industry
- Who are the players? Explore the spectrum of investor types, from hedgers to speculators, “real money” to “fast money”, and from traditional investment managers to the “alts”
- What are the roles? Identify the most influential market participants, explain their business models, understand their objectives, and pinpoint their risks
- The three primary divisions of an Investment Bank explained vis-a-vis the lifecycle of a deal
- Traditional investment managers: e.g., pension funds, insurance companies, private wealth managers, RIAs, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, etc.
- Alternative asset managers (the “alts”): e.g., hedge funds across a variety of strategies (equity long/short, relative value, macro, pod shops, and more), private equity, private credit, etc
- What are the rules? Understand why these institutions invest, how they generate returns, what their objectives are, and what careers inside these organizations look like
Part II | From basic theory to practical investment strategies
Understanding the game
- Interactive case study: how do global events ripple across asset classes?
- The Asset Classes: Debt vs. Equity basics
- Debt analysis
- Central bank policy & economic data: understanding the signals that move markets
- Interest rates and bond math basics: a crash course in government debt and yield curve construction
- Risk-taking 101: understanding the stakes of investing in debt
- Leverage and Derivatives 101: from futures to swaps and options
- Credit Markets: corporate bonds and credit default swaps
- Currencies, Commodities, and DeFi: the intuition behind their valuations
- Equities analysis
- Lifecycle of investing in a company
- Comparables analysis
- DCF analysis
- Debt analysis