Finance books

[Unregistered]

To all those with backgrounds in finance: can you recommend any good books to give me a basic knowledge of finance? I've decided to start a Master's in Finance next Spring, so right now I'm trying to gain a foundation of knowledge to build upon.

thanks in advance.

 

[DrMetallica]

My intro to finance text was Financial Management: Principles and Applications by Keown et al

Much of the text was explaining the differences between finance an accounting numbers such as free cash flow and statement of cashflows, and many accounting texts overlap in the information presented such as present value and bond interest rates.

 

[A-Unit]

Re:

How do you get to the level of a Masters...without touching upon Finance in Undergrad?

Finance is such a broad category, even basic books don't cover all that "could" be covered. I have the same book ref. by Dr.Metallica, albeit older. You could read basics in finance on stocks, buying real estate, loans, corporations, options, Warren Buffet, forex, etc. I know that the ref. book doesn't cover those topics. Is that what you expect from your degree? Or do you want Corporate Finance, because that's what a Master's degree will be?

You may be able to find that ref. booked used on Amazon for short money, but it is a text book and will be quite boring, chock full of information not entirely pertinent to everyday usage. Obviously present and future value is useful, and some of the corporate info is helpful, such as Free Cash Flow, but that does not give you the understanding of trading and investing (unless you're actually buying the whole company).

My 2 cents.

A-Unit

 

[Unregistered]

thank you for the replies, gentlemen

A-UNIT: right now I have an undergraduate degree in Business Admin. So I've taken some Econ and Finance, but would have to shore up a few undergraduate credits first. I just accepted an entry-level position (I process and reconcile trades) with a big financial company, so I'm definitely leaning towards corporate finance. To rephrase my initial question: I want to become very knowledgeable in finance to help me rise up the career ladder and succeed at school, but I don't really know where to start or what I should focus on.

I'm not sure what exact type of job I want eventually, but I've been thinking along the lines of financial research and analysis.