Pre-Master Course for Finance
€ 500.00 | € 500.00 (Members)
This is the pre-master course for Master in Finance programs. This course deals with basic econometrics, finance, and investment to prepare students for the Master in Finance program at Antwerp Management School. It contains 77 video sessions with more than 100 numerical exercise sessions. Students need to answer the questions in a session before they can move on to the next topic. These topics are grouped into 11 sections. Show More
Topic & Professor Description Time Value of Money
Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster This session explores the basics of time value of money calculations. After reviewing the day count conventions, we introduce compounding and discounting at various frequencies including continuous compounding. We also explore various annuities. Valuing Bonds and Stocks
Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster In this session we apply annuity formulas to the valuation of stocks and bonds. We introduce basic concepts of bond pricing. Computing returns & return indices
Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster This session introduces the calculation of simple returns and continuous returns. We discuss the calculation of average returns (time weighted and dollar weighted returns) Descriptive stats & frequency distributions
Prof. Dr J. Annaert - Random variables
- Probabilities
- Probability distribution function
- Empirical distribution function; histograms
- Quantiles and moments
Theoretical distributions & hypothesis testing
Prof. Dr J. Annaert - Discrete distributions (uniform, Bernoulli, binomial)
- Continuous distributions (uniform, normal, lognormal, Student’s t)
- Law of large numbers
- Central limit theorem
- Hypothesis tests and confidence intervals: the mean
Portfolio return & risk; covariance & correlation
Prof. Dr. J. Annaert - Sum of random variables
- Covariance and correlation
- Portfolio returns and risk
Portfolio selection
Prof. Dr. J. Annaert - Risk aversion
- Utility functions
- Mean-variance utility & indifference curves
- MV Capital allocation
- Capital Allocation Line
- Sharpe ratio
- The risk-free asset
- MV portfolio selection
- Tangency portfolio
- Two-fund separation
Univariate Regression
Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster The basic principles of curve fitting are discussed using various loss functions. Simple regression is developed in excel using the solver and the various regression functionalities. The emphasis is put on interpreting the regression output. CAPM & Single Index Model
Prof. Dr. J. Annaert - Single index model
- Variance decomposition
- Estimating beta
- Systematic risk is priced
- CAPM: theory
- The market portfolio
- Security Market Line
- CAPM: empirical testing
Financial Markets
Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster - Forward and Futures
- Options
Additional Exercises Additional numberical exercises for practice.
| Topic & Professor | Description |
| Time Value of Money Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster | This session explores the basics of time value of money calculations. After reviewing the day count conventions, we introduce compounding and discounting at various frequencies including continuous compounding. We also explore various annuities. |
| Valuing Bonds and Stocks Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster | In this session we apply annuity formulas to the valuation of stocks and bonds. We introduce basic concepts of bond pricing. |
| Computing returns & return indices Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster | This session introduces the calculation of simple returns and continuous returns. We discuss the calculation of average returns (time weighted and dollar weighted returns) |
| Descriptive stats & frequency distributions Prof. Dr J. Annaert |
|
| Theoretical distributions & hypothesis testing Prof. Dr J. Annaert |
|
| Portfolio return & risk; covariance & correlation Prof. Dr. J. Annaert |
|
| Portfolio selection Prof. Dr. J. Annaert |
|
| Univariate Regression Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster | The basic principles of curve fitting are discussed using various loss functions. Simple regression is developed in excel using the solver and the various regression functionalities. The emphasis is put on interpreting the regression output. |
| CAPM & Single Index Model Prof. Dr. J. Annaert |
|
| Financial Markets Prof. Dr. M. De Ceuster |
|
| Additional Exercises | Additional numberical exercises for practice. |
Time Value of Money Prof. M. De Ceuster
This session explores the basics of time value of money calculations. After reviewing the day count conventions, we introduce compounding and discounting at various frequencies including continuous compounding.
At the end of the study, you will be able to:
- Draw a time line illustrating a set of cash flows.
- Know the different business and day count conventions.
- Understand the rules of simple interest rate calculations.
- Understand the rules of compounded interest.
- Understand the NPV rule.
Valuing Bonds and Stocks Prof. M. De Ceuster
In this session we apply annuity formulas to the valuation of stocks and bonds. We introduce basic concepts of bond pricing.
At the end of the study, you will be able to:
- Create time lines for streams of cash flows including bond and stock cash flows.
- Recognize annuities and derive their formulas (constant and growing annuities).
- Given four out of the following five inputs for an annuity, compute the fifth: (a) present value, (b) future value, (c) number of periods, (d) periodic interest rate, (e) periodic payment.
- Given three out of the following four inputs for a single sum, compute the fourth: (a) present value, (b) future value, (c) number of periods, (d) periodic interest rate.
- Given cash flows and present or future value, compute the internal rate of return for a series of cash flows.
Return Calculations Prof. J. Annaert
In this session we discuss return calculation methods and the different types of returns.
At the end of the study, you will be able to:
- Calculate single and multiple period returns
- Understand the difference between geometric and arithmetic averages.
- How indices are constructed and calculated.
Descriptive Statistics and Frequency Distributions Prof. J. Annaert
Statistics, more specifically, econometrics, is extremely useful to finance. In this section, we discuss descriptive statistics and frequency distribution.
At the end of the study, you will be able to:
- Understand why descriptive statistics, and frequency distributions are important.
- Get an overview of global return data.
- The concept of random variables, their moments, and descriptive statistics.
- Understand how returns can be modeled.
- Understand how returns can be described as a random variable.
Theoretical Return Distributions Prof. J. Annaert
In this section, theoretical return distributions are discussed.
At the end of the study, you will be able to:
- Understand why theoretical distributions may be useful when we know historical return distributions.
- Understand what discrete distributions such as Bernoulli, Binomial, and discrete uniform distribution are
- Understand what continuous distributions such as continuous uniform distribution and normal distribution are.
- More importantly, understand for returns, we use normal and log normal distributions.
- Understand covariance, correlation, and independence.
Hypothesis Testing Prof. J. Annaert
In this section, hypothesis testing is discussed, especially when making statement about the mean return is needed.
At the end of the study, you will be able to:
- Understand how confidence intervals are constructed for stock returns.
- Why hypothesis tests are needed.
- How hypothesis tests are set up, the difference between one- and two-sided tests.
- Two types of errors associated with hypothesis tests.
- How we can use t-test to make statement about stock returns.
Portfolio Return and Risk Prof. J. Annaert
In this section, we discuss one of the biggest questions in finance: how to determine asset prices? As discussed in the section Time Value of Money, asset price can be calculated by discounting the expected future value at the discount rate. However, it is very important to know the appropriate discount rate, which can only be determined if we take the time to maturity and risk into account. In this section, we discuss how we should adjust portfolio returns for risk.
At the end of the study, you will be able to:
- Explain what utility is (and the famous St Petersburg Paradox) and how a utility function looks like.
- Understand the concept of risk aversion.
- What certainty equivalent means.
- Understand mean-variance optimal portfolio
- Understand the difference between asset allocation and security selection.
- Know what the Capital-Allocation Line is and how it is calculated.
- Understand the Sharpe ratio.
Univariate Regression Prof. M. De Ceuster
We have discussed covariance and correlation in the section Theoretical Return Distributions. In this section, we further discuss a related concept: linear regression.
At the end of study, you will be able to:
- Understand covariance and correlation and their limitations
- Understand the simple linear regression model
- Assess how good the regression is
- Test the significance of the coefficients
- Perform regression in Excel
CAPM & Single Index Model Prof. J. Annaert
In this section, we discuss the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), one of the most important model in finance. In this section, econometrics meet finance. You will see how econometrics can help us explore the amazing financial world.
At the end of study, you will be able to:
- Understand separation theorem
- Understand factor models
- Understand the single index model and what beta and alpha mean.
- Know what portfolio diversification is.
- Understand the Capital Asset Pricing Model and see it in action.
Forward and Futures Prof. M. De Ceuster
In this section, we discuss derivatives, especially forward and futures.
At the end of study, you will be able to:
- Understand what derivatives are
- Describe the contract specifications
- Describe the payoff diagrams
- Read Futures quotes
Introduction to Options Prof. M. De Ceuster
In this section, we discuss options such as calls and puts.
At the end of study, you will be able to:
- Understand how plain vanilla call and put options work
- Describe the contract specifications
- Read option quotes
- Describe the payoff and profit potential of puts and calls
- Construct the payoff and profit diagrams of portfolios containing options
Additional Exercises
This section contains several numerical exercises to help you understand the topics better.
