Business Valuation Framework Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and working on business valuations across a broad range of transactions. Given that I’m a visual learner, I thought it would be helpful to illustrate my thoughts in a diagram with the valuation infographic. Top Down vs. Bottom Up As I…
What is Annualized Rate of Return? Annualized rate of return is a way of calculating investment returns on an annual basis. As we invest, we often want to know how much we are earning from our investments. When we calculate our investment earnings over time, it is known as the rate of return. However, investments…
What is a Stimulus Check? A stimulus check is a check sent to taxpaying consumers by a government. Stimulus checks are given to boost the economy by providing consumers with funds to spend. Consumer spending is an essential component of a healthy economy and, in times of economic uncertainty, it usually contracts. Therefore, the government…
What is the Asian Financial Crisis? The Asian Financial Crisis is a crisis caused by the collapse of the currency exchange rate and hot money bubble. It started in Thailand in July 1997 and swept over East and Southeast Asia. The financial crisis heavily damaged currency values, stock markets, and other asset prices in many…
Real Estate Financial Modeling Our Real Estate Financial Modeling (REFM) course is designed to teach you how to build a development model in Excel from the ground up. Real estate developers need to build dynamic cash flow models to analyze investment opportunities. They are specifically designed to accommodate changes in key assumptions, such as land acquisition cost, interest…
What is Neoclassical Economics? Neoclassical economics is a broad approach that attempts to explain the production, pricing, consumption of goods and services, and income distribution through supply and demand. It integrates the cost-of-production theory from classical economics with the concept of utility maximization and marginalism. Neoclassical economics includes the work of Stanley Jevons, Maria Edgeworth,…
What is the Nominal Interest Rate? The nominal interest rate refers to the rate of interest before adjusting for inflation. It also refers to the rate specified in the loan contract without adjusting for compounding. The nominal interest rate is in contrast to the real interest rate regarding the inflation adjustment and effective interest rate…
What are Appraisal Costs? Appraisal costs are expenses related to quality control that a company incurs to ensure its products and services meet the standards of its customers, the company, and regulatory requirements. Companies are willing to pay these fees for tests and inspections to prevent defective goods and services from reaching their customers. They…
What is a Modular Model? A modular model splits out the core statements into smaller schedules and conducts the calculations outside of the core statements. This allows the focus to remain on the core statements, which can now be kept cleaner. Supporting schedules do all the calculations and dirty work. In a horizontal model, these…
What is Modeloff? Modeloff is a global financial modeling competition that requires contestants to use Excel to solve financial questions and case studies. Though it is referred to as a “financial modeling” competition, it doesn’t require participants to build a complete valuation model of a business; it mostly focuses on independent questions that require mini-exercises…
