DeuxVox's guide to FIN. (Both for FIN majors and first year business)

Recently I have seen some questions regarding FIN classes ranging from the intro class that all commerce students take to the special topics for senior FIN students. I figured I might add my commentary and wisdom I have learned through my degree to help you navigate your options within the program. I will cover FIN 301 first as it applies to many business students, then cover the courses I have experience with/know about. This list is not comprehensive as there is a small number of classes I did not take but information on these can be found elsewhere. Caveat: You need to work hard in FIN (as any degree must) but you should also work smart. Use the tools available and look for the connections between these classes. It will make them a lot more manageable.

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FIN 301 - The big one. For anyone who has heard about FIN 301 going into their first year of business, this is the one everyone worries the most about. For most people this class is a lot harder than it needs to be due in part to the fast pace and lack of education on tools and methods for problems. This class isn't really a big "math" class and the math in the course is actually fairly simple. The course covers about 7-8 big concepts or areas of FIN with large overlap between certain sections. My biggest suggestion for students taking this class is to try and do as many practice questions as possible as there is not many ways they can test you on the material. Most of the difficulty stems from tricks they will add to questions that you can learn to handle if you deal with them enough. The second biggest tip is get a financial calculator. These are really simple to use (essentially 4-5 variables where you have 3/4 and solve for the 4th or 5th). Exams in this class are almost all of your grade but most people do poorly due to lack of time. While you need to know the material and how to do the questions, the financial calculator will help ensure you actually finish the entire exam quickly enough and allow time for thinking out the tougher questions. Note: If you are a FIN major, you will need a calculator anyways for higher classes (and the CFA exams if you go that route) so do yourself a favour and buy a TI-BA II right away.

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FIN 412 - Portfolio management (the most important 4xx). FIN 412 is the most important class you will take early on as it is almost entirely risk/return and time value of money which is really what comprises most of finance. Topics include risk/return of single assets, portfolio risk, yields and forward rates, and some behavioural finance stuff that is theory based but still informative for wrapping your head around larger concepts of market behaviour. A big portion of the class is centred around hedging risk. Risk and return will come up in every other class you ever take. I would suggest taking this course first semester of year 3 (year 2 of business) and work hard at it so that you are ready for the other courses. This is not an overly challenging course but it does prepare you for other ones that will be more challenging. Consider this the baseline for 4xx FIN.

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FIN 414 - Financial institutions. This class is one of the few I would suggest taking with 412 as its not directly linked with 412 as far as risk/return but instead it covers the broader idea of risks that affect financial institutions ranging from liquidity, solvency, maturity risk, interest rate risk, etc. There is a much bigger focus on risk itself and less so on the relationship to return although this will come up. Overall not a very challenging class but I found the exams harder than 412.

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FIN 413 - Derivatives. Welcome to your first real challenge in FIN. 413 covers options, futures, forwards, swaps, and their uses. The concepts of risk and return from 412 are very much at play but viewed from the derivatives lens. Much of this class is on how to hedge using derivative products as well as various trading strategies both arbitrage and speculative trades. There is a decent amount of math in this class. A large portion of the class is on options trades and futures/forwards. They also cover the markets for derivatives and mechanics of clearinghouses and margins. Overall a good step up from 412.

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FIN 418 - Fixed income securities. Get ready to sweat with 418. Fixed income securities is entirely on debt instruments and covers everything from market conventions on yields, to yield curves, to swap curves, to immunizing various aspects of a portfolio. The course also covers the use of derivatives and debt together as well as imbedded options on bonds. As far as I am concerned this is one of the hardest course in FIN for most people (some might say 416 is worse, either way). This is a very math intensive class and has challenging group assignments. If you plan to work with bonds at all in your career then you need to take this course. You will also need some basic calculus knowledge such as a first or second order derivative but not to worry it's not heavily required for most problems.

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FIN 422 - Capital Investment. A useful and in my mind core class for any FIN student. 422 is all about equity valuation and company valuation. The course also has some information about real options but a majority of it is investment decision rules and how to value a company (focus on equity, but debt is touched on to a lesser extent). This course is very applicable for anyone in FIN as every company on this planet has to make capital investment decisions and the consideration for how the firm is valued. Not a very difficult class (about the same as 412) but it does draw on the concepts from 412 such as risk/return so you should probably take this after 412. This class ties in with 436 as well. A big draw for this class is you get to value a company as part of a group project and gives you a taste of what equity research is (although not to the same level of detail).

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FIN 436 - Corporate Financial Planning. This course is an oddball in my mind and although useful I also did not enjoy it nearly as much as 422. This course is structured to be almost entirely taught through in class cases and most of the semester is spent watching presentations. Most of this class is focused on how real world decisions impact a company either through its borrowing/lending opportunities, valuation, exit strategies, and financing decisions. Essentially its about decision making as a company to achieve a goal or solve a problem. If you want to work with equity than this class is essentially an extension of 422 although not a prerequisite.

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FIN 442 - International Finance. This course deals with exchange rates and futures/forwards for currency. Not a hard class relative to 412 but is a bit more detail oriented as you work with multiple currencies and the impacts of different economies on financial markets. Not a whole lot to say about this class, it's about FX through and through (with a small section on trade balances at the start).

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FIN 488 (Special topic: Financial modelling). This course is taught sessionally and may not be offered when you choose to take it. This course deals with proper modelling practices in excel for various financial applications. The course is essentially OM 351 on steroids. Course moves at a fast pace and there is a big expectation for you to know a lot about various aspects of FIN already. If you are going to take this I would suggest you take it at the end of your degree or you will get lost fast. This is a class I would suggest for anyone to take as it teaches you how to use excel well (and efficiently) which is critical for most finance jobs. I'm sure we all love to think we know excel but I promise you will learn something new through this class. Overall difficulty is pretty high due to the expectation that you know things from 418, 422, 413, etc.

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FIN 416: Advanced portfolio management. I did not take this class but it is widely regarded as one of the most challenging classes along with 418. From my understanding a majority of the course is spent (if not all) on developing a trading strategy and managing a mock portfolio for the semester with a big portion of the grade coming from your trading. Very good course if you want to be a trader but could be difficult to do well in if your not in that headspace.

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FIN 488 (Special topic: Energy trading). Another trading course that focuses on the energy sector. I know less about this course than I do 416 so I can't give a very informed report on it. If you want to work with the energy sector either through trading or IB you will probably want to take this class.

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Bonus: BUEC 342 and BUEC 442: These two courses both count as senior finance electives and are widely regarded as good classes from most of my peers. 342 covers international business and the considerations firms make when operating across borders. This gives some context when dealing with multinational firms in other areas of FIN and has fair and reasonable exams. 442 is a decent step harder than 342 and covers international trade considerations ranging from futures/forwards to trade balance. This course has some major overlap with FIN 442 so you might find it easy if you have taken FIN 442 before taking this.

End notes: There are only 2 rules in FIN.

1. Buy low, sell high.
2. Hedge your bets.

Best of luck,

Deus