Key financial concepts

This page brings together a number of posts that I call key financial concepts. Each is explained simply for non-experts, mostly without any diagrams or equations. They are intended to be helpful to students or anybody just curious about finance. More posts to come soon.

Net present value and cost benefit analysis

What do we mean by risk and return?

The benefits of diversification

Introduction to bonds

Securities

Liquidity

Two key types of capital: debt and equity

Classifying funds: the length of the contract

Introduction to financial markets

Asymmetric information

The agency problem

Real versus financial assets

What is a corporation?

Exchange rates

The risk-free rate

The cost of equity

Public and private ownership

IPOs

Dividends

Buyouts and private equity

What is free cashflow to the firm?

The weighted average cost of capital

The Capital Asset Pricing Model as a way to estimate the cost of equity 

Share buybacks

What is leverage?

Financial distress

Mergers and acquisitions

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