Finance Books: The Best of Non-Technical Recommendations

If you are interested in finance and like reading, check out the books below. None of them are technical books – they’re all Wall Street War Stories. While some are hilarious stories of people who have worked in finance, others are gripping tales of hedge funds and the collapse of the world’s stock markets in 2008.

Every single one of these books comes heavily recommended and all are considered to be among the best books ever written on Finance. From a common-man point of view, believe it or not, some of the books listed here will beat the best thrillers that you have ever read.

Bateman Interviews: CEO - "I'm a guy who gets things done"

It’s been a while since I posted a new interview, so I thought what better way to get back to the job than an interview with the top guy in a company? I recently got a chance to have a lengthy one-on-one conversation with CEO of the biggest flower company in India. He is a person who has reached where he is today, solely on the basis of sheer hard work and a determination to move ahead. In today’s plethora of MBA-wielding C-level executives, it’s hard to believe that he is not even a graduate. Today, he has over 27 years of experience and is considered an authority in the retail and e-commerce segments.

Read on if you are interested in a wealth of free information in an uninhibited conversation, with the sort of person most of us don’t even get to meet. Without further ado, presenting Mr. Pawan Gadia, CEO, Ferns N Petals.

IB & PE Interviews: The Trials by Fire and Water

So you have finally received that interview call from the PE firm in Mumbai. Great, congrats! But now you’re worried sick about what exactly they are going to grill you on. Will you be asked to pitch stocks or be required to build a full-blown DCF model in an hour?

Well, if you know what PE is, then you know you won’t be pitching stocks in the interview; but yeah, that DCF model with multiple scenarios is fair game. And now that I have successfully scared you about IB/PE interviews (if you still aren't scared, you should be – thinking back on my own interview experiences still gives me the chills), let’s talk about just what happens in IB & PE interviews. In Part II, we’ll see how we can come out of these grilling sessions alive and in one piece.

Like any other industry, there’s no fixed rule for the interview process. However, there are certain parts of the interview process that you will find in all IB and PE interviews. In keeping with the theme of the blog, this post will give you a true sneak-peak into the interview process at most firms.

Read on to know all about IB & PE Interviews: The Trials by Fire and Water.

Breaking In: From IT-support to PE Fund Manager

Wait, what? After all my raving on how it is near impossible to break into IB from back office financial analysis, now I’m talking about freaking IT support intern to Private Equity Fund Manager?

All right, calm down. You see, the key words in the above sentence are “near impossible”.  This is the story of a guy who made this seemingly impossible story turn true. He went from being an intern in IT-support to Investment Banking Analyst to where he is today – running his own PE fund.

Read on to find out if fairy tales exist in real life.

Private Equity: The Inside Story

In the previous post on Private Equity, I provided an overview of what the industry is all about. But for those interested in knowing the minutiae of how a PE firm operates, this post will satisfy their queries. It is a gloves off, no-holds-barred post which will tell you all about the internal workings of a Private Equity firm.

Fair warning: Hold on to your horses, folks. This one is gonna get technical. In case you do proceed, make sure to read to the end - that's where you'll find the best part.