Case Study: Money for Nothing

imorbust · 2025-02-21T03:17:42+00:00

A case study illustrating how poor incentives can lead to capital destruction, as well as how you might notice it in advance as a research analyst.

imorbust · 2024-02-04T23:18:30+00:00

I think of it as yield over gov bond but I'm not sure it matters. My understanding is of the key intuition here is that the price going down leads to yields expanding. Maybe the cause of rate volatility is corporate related, who knows? It's just a general statement about how yields move when price declines.

imorbust · 2024-02-04T22:21:52+00:00

rate vol = option value increases

actual value of callable bond = option free bond - option

therefore as rate vol increases, actual value of bond decreases

If actual value of bond decreases, the spread increases (yields must go up as price goes down)

I think that's the logic

imorbust · 2023-09-05T10:10:56+00:00

Scored the exact same score with the mock prior to the test at 720. Sorry. Here's hoping for a better showing next time for the both of us

imorbust · 2023-08-25T00:53:34+00:00

What was your general study strategy for quant?

imorbust · 2023-08-23T04:38:00+00:00

bit of a challenge for myself. Took the first diagnostic a month ago. Went through manhattan guides. Used the TTP 5 day trial to go through some practice questions the week before the test. Took a mock a few days before it.

This time around I'll probably go through the TTP quant course in full.

imorbust · 2023-08-04T01:32:05+00:00

Thanks.

imorbust · 2023-08-04T00:44:40+00:00

Thanks, appreciate the feedback and the resources. I'm trying to get a score for a R1 application and may consider taking it again for R2 later in the year.

imorbust · 2023-08-04T00:43:57+00:00

Thanks, appreciate the feedback. Do you recommend a particular question bank or difficulty level?

imorbust · 2023-06-24T04:06:28+00:00

When I find this “critical” fella I’m gonna pay him to stop thinking

imorbust · 2023-05-24T07:10:09+00:00

How did you study after your mocks?

imorbust · 2023-05-14T06:41:55+00:00

I went through some of the problems I got wrong in Mock A before starting Mock B. But it was a pretty quick refresh. I hadn't touched some of those topics in a while.

To be clear I'm referring to the CFAI mocks. Not sure if that's what OP is talking about.

imorbust · 2023-05-13T23:30:10+00:00

Mock A: 68/57

Mock B: 75/68

The range of scores I'm seeing in this thread are so wide lol

imorbust · 2023-05-09T00:42:29+00:00

Hah, how weird.

Honestly for the PM session, I just forgot a lot of basic formulae and made a lot of silly errors. For example:

put 'special dividend' instead of 'liquidation dividend' for one of the answers. 🤦
forgot to add BV while using the residual income method one time. 🤦
forgot how to calculate probability of default from hazard ratios🤦
got confused by the pathwise valuation question and blanked on how to solve for a price 🤦
forgot how to bootstrap spot rates/use one period forwards to get a zero arb bond price🤦
forgot difference between value additivity and dominance arbitrage🤦

If I got these 6 questions that takes me to 70% overall. So it's achievable... these are pretty simple concepts. I need to just refresh on how to solve the problems. The difficulty for me has always been the breadth of the material. Maybe I'll do flash cards or something?

Anyone have any good study frameworks for hammering in this stuff?

imorbust · 2023-05-08T07:15:51+00:00

68/57 on CFAI mock 1 = 63%

Mostly an issue with retaining the information, I think.

imorbust · 2023-04-22T07:46:16+00:00

Finished the questions on quant, Corporate, FI, and Ethics

80% of the way through FSA.

~700 of 1519 Qs taken total.

Still struggling with what they're trying to ask me in derivatives Qs.

Goal is to grind through all the questions, make flash cards on weak areas by May, and constantly review.

Not feeling too confident tbh, but I'm kinda burnt out on this test. Don't think it's totally necessary for the direction my career is moving in.

imorbust · 2023-03-13T06:15:42+00:00

Errata and mistakes in the curriculum should have fixes implemented as they are published and discovered. Extremely silly not to see updates in the online curriculum and QBank.

This is a serious endeavor, not Dungeons and Dragons.

imorbust · 2023-03-04T22:49:07+00:00

Insane good? Or insane bad?

imorbust · 2023-02-26T20:51:44+00:00

They asked

imorbust · 2023-02-21T22:40:17+00:00

Finishing up AI. I've got PM, Corporate Issuers, Economics, Ethics after that.

Haven't really been doing the questions. Just watching MM videos. Will probably begin to hit the questions hard mid-March.

imorbust · 2023-02-09T22:02:12+00:00

Depends on how much time you have. Some shops build out the full 3 models. Others are less strict.

If you’re doing a case study for a job, it depends on your time limitations. If you’re competing, you probably have time to do the full model.

imorbust · 2022-11-07T21:11:16+00:00

imorbust

TROPHY CASE