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Yes, it’s the very definition of self-indulgence: a section of the site devoted to… the site.

In all seriousness, this category is mostly for posts and pages that do not fit anywhere else, such as Brian’s life story, book/movie/product reviews, and other announcements.

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Fixed Income Research: The Overlooked Younger Brother of Equity Research?

While everyone seems to know about equity research and trading stocks, fixed income research gets far less attention. Partially, it’s an issue of accessibility: Everyone understands what happens to the stock price if a company beats earnings… …but few people understand what it means if a company is set to violate a debt covenant on […]
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“Dumb Money” Review: A Worthy Addition to the Classic Finance Movie Roster?

Whenever I watch a new movie or TV show, I always try to go in optimistic – even if I have doubts about the premise, writing, or production values. Unfortunately, my initial instincts are often correct: If I have a bad feeling about something, it usually has issues. And that is exactly what happened when […]
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Major BIWS Course Package and Price Changes Coming on June 30th, 2023 (Friday)

We are making major changes to the main BIWS financial modeling course in a few days, which I also wanted to announce directly on this site. Effective June 30th, 2023 (Friday), we are splitting the main financial modeling course (“Financial Modeling Mastery”) into 3 separate courses: Core Financial Modeling, Advanced Financial Modeling, and VC / […]
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Succession Review: The Best Finance TV Show and One of the Best Shows of All Time

Succession just ended a few days ago. When a top TV show ends, it is sad. All our favorite shows will end one day. In this case, it is Succession that has done so. Succession ran for 4 excellent seasons, but no more. Now it is over. And now I am sad. But unlike Connor […]
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2021 End-of-Year Reader Q&A: Job Offer Decisions, Bank Rankings, Career Transitions, and Disappearing Content

I entered this year with a simple assumption: “No matter what happens, 2021 cannot possibly be worse than 2020.” But that assumption was shattered within a few weeks, and the year turned out to be even worse than 2020 for me (and many others, I suspect). The main difference is that when this never-ending “crisis” […]
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Book Review: “The Way of the Wall Street Warrior”

Many years ago, a friend who had been a trader at Morgan Stanley approached me with an idea: he wanted to write a book about how to advance in the finance industry. After all, he explained, 90% of your long-term success was about earning promotions and higher compensation. Everyone was obsessed with breaking into the […]
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“Goliath” Book Review: The Best Explanation of the Modern Economic, Financial, and Political System?

If you’ve been reading this site for a long time, you probably know the truth: I don’t actually “like” the finance industry. I’m not a typical banker – people usually assume I work at a tech company – and I fell into this career accidentally. But that also gives me an advantage because I can […]
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AngelList Review: Should You Add Angel Investments to Your Portfolio?

In my most recent portfolio update, I received a lot of questions and comments about the 6% of my portfolio currently allocated to angel investments. Crowdfunding across various asset classes – real estate, peer-to-peer lending, and tech startups – has exploded over the past decade. But is it worthwhile? Should you allocate a percentage of […]
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Finance TV Shows in 2019: The Full Round-Up

A few short years ago, the landscape of “finance tv shows” consisted of a bottomless black hole. That black hole resembled the exit opportunities available to mid-level investment bankers, but was even less entertaining. There were plenty of shows about dragons, drug dealers, and advertising agencies, but nothing about hedge fund managers, traders, or private […]
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My Life Story, Part 5: What Do You Do When You Start to Hate Your Business? (2013 – 2016)

Have you ever read an amazing autobiography? They’re rare. Most famous people aren’t great writers. But when a stunner comes along, it can electrify you. My favorite is Andre Agassi’s Open, where he recounts his journey to become one of the best male tennis players of all time – and how it made him hate […]
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My Life Story, Part 4: How I Defeated Sauron and Saved Middle-Earth (2011 – 2012)

When the Dark Lord Sauron returns after hundreds of years of captivity, the easiest way to defeat him is to go straight to Mt. Doom and toss the Ring of Power into the lava to ensure its total destruction. Or… you could get distracted by random side quests, fight a giant spider or three, and […]
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My Life Story, Part 3: How I Almost Shut Down This Business (2010 – 2011)

In June of 2011, I was very close to quitting this business, shutting down both sites, and deleting everything. You’ve mostly read about success so far: overcoming obstacles, launching products, and yes, even surviving the occasional Korean girl who kept showing up at my apartment unannounced to steal my tomatoes. Today, though, my story is […]
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My Life Story, Part 2: How a Guy in a Pink Rabbit Suit and a Korean Girl Changed My Life (2008 – 2010)

When I tell people I lived in Korea for 1.5 years, the first question I usually get is “Why?” That’s a tough one to answer, and there’s a long story behind it. The second question I usually get from people is “Did you live in North Korea or South Korea?” That one’s much easier to […]
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My Life Story, Part 1: How I Started This Site (2007 – 2008)

When I sent out an email last year asking if you wanted to hear the story of how I started this site, I got a lot of “interesting” responses: “I like some blogs about blogging. Back in the day, I liked a particular one by a guy named Steve Pavlina who wrote a rather excellent […]
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Welcome to Mergers & Inquisitions

Welcome to Mergers & Inquisitions. Want to get into the finance industry? You’ve come to the right place. Curious about what it is investment bankers actually do (well, besides make a lot of money)?Welcome. Trying to figure out if investment banking is really for you? Bingo. Whether you’re still in school and trying to break […]
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