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Explaining Portfolio Standard Deviation in Excel
Here is a video going over finding the standard deviation of an asset portfolio in Excel and explaining the use of MMULT and TRANSPOSE functions in portfolio analysis.
4 days ago1 min read


Review: Bursting the Bubble
You may be scratching your head- we know bubbles exist; but maybe they don't or perhaps they need to be redefined?
Aug 262 min read


Review: Advancing Strategy Through Behavioral Psychology
Organizations need to loosen controls a bit to allow innovation to flow (and because perfect control and prediction doesn't exist anyways). Additionally, they should promote the learning and adaptability of the organization (the use of 'smart as a competitive advantage').
Aug 192 min read


Reducing Key Person Risk
Many business professionals want to reduce the amount of time that they spend working on their businesses but their businesses depend on them or some other significant person. Generally speaking, this is referred to as key person risk. It is a risk to the business (and, such as with investment management firms, to the consumer) because if one of the key persons leave for some reason (departure, illness, etc) then the business will experience significant operational burdens, w
Jul 292 min read


Reviewing Behavioral Finance The Second Generation
For what the book is trying to accomplish and the time period, this is great and the fundamental premise is relatively straightforward: the previous generation of finance saw normal human behaviors as irrational.
Jul 262 min read


Modelling Non-Linear Relationships in Excel
You should probably have a basic understanding of statistics before reading this article, but I go over the main points and you can view the file below.
Jul 243 min read


The US has a Weird Relationship with its Central Bank
Lower interest rates prompt more lending, and lending creates money, which leads to inflation (currency supply goes up, reducing demand per unit of supply, pushing currency value down).
Jul 222 min read


Comments on Alberta Premier's Economic Proposals
If Alberta were to separate, at the very least, there would be significant economic uncertainty that would likely translate to higher unemployment, capital flight, and so on. Additionally, they are not poised to separate in any way- there is no separate currency, no legal precedent, and no 'central bank of Alberta' (among other things you would need). In summary, its an extremely pointless proposal.
Jul 192 min read


Value Creation in Leveraged Buyouts Review
Some of the findings are unsurprising: education of management is significantly correlated with improved LBO returns, buyout success depends on vintage year, IPO exits deliver the highest returns, and so on. However, some of the findings feel very surprising to read
Jul 162 min read


Strategic Management Review
pretty good overview of business strategy at a top down level and at some of the divisional levels, such as marketing and finance
Jul 132 min read


Advanced Graphing in Excel
I write a bit about some more advanced graphing ideas in Excel
Jul 122 min read


What Actually Predicts Job Performance?
However, as food for thought if you are hiring people, the research has shown that, since at least 1986, experience isn't even a decent predictor of job (task or contextual) performance.
Jul 23 min read


Accounting Warning Signs
These signs are to assess the chance of accounting malfeasance and are not necessarily the same checks you would use in a financial health assessment.
Jun 253 min read


Basic Excel Graphs
Today, I'm going over some basic Excel graphing, we'll do some more complicated stuff later. I'd recommend that, if you're completely new to Excel, spend some time with the menus where you find these features.
Jun 242 min read


Turnaround Management: What do I do if my Business is Failing?
A lot of businesses get into trouble from time to time and its important to have processes in place for dealing with trouble as it comes. Fortunately, we have detailed templates and checklists for this. For the purposes of this article, I'm going to summarize the processes that take place.
Jun 232 min read


Why do Business Plans Fail and What Makes for Good Planning?
Ultimately, good planning requires judgement and flexibility.
Jun 232 min read


Canadian Trade Update and More on the Housing Crisis
I go over the recent trade issues but switch to focus on housing in the second half.
Jun 223 min read


Framework for Pre-Revenue Startup Valuation
I will go over the Dave Berkus valuation method (DBM), which is a pretty straightforward method for valuing pre-revenue startup companies.
Jun 213 min read


Basics of Company Forecasting and Valuation
I go through a discounted cash flow (DCF) model for Moderna
Jun 204 min read


Using Data Tables in Excel
Data tables in Excel are basically simple, multi-modal inserts that can allow you to filter and sort through data (press the downward arrows on the table header). Download our short data tables Excel sheet.
Jun 201 min read
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