Program Summary

Lesson 1: The Time Value of Money

Part 1: Compounding

Duration: 8:37

This lesson focuses on why financial education is more valuable the earlier you learn it. The reason is compounding. In the investing world, youth is a super-power.

Albert Einstein famously said that compounding was the 8th Wonder of the World.

Lesson 1: The Time Value of Money

Part 2: Inflation

Duration: 6:55

This lesson focuses on the danger of inflation. Understanding the danger is essential to long-term financial survival. Will $1 today be worth $1 in the future?

Thought Exercise: Don’t be Grandma Carolyn.

Lesson 2: Introduction to the Stock Market

Part 1: An Investor’s Roadmap

Duration: 12:57

The stock market has been a window into a century of innovation. It has also played a major role in fostering innovation. This lesson focuses on portfolio theory and diversification.

There are the two roads to choose from when it comes to investing, picking your own stocks or have someone else do it.

Lesson 2: Introduction to the Stock Market

Part 2: Picking Your Own Stocks

Duration: 11:56

The land of homeruns! This lesson focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of picking your own stocks.

Case Study: What were the signs of future greatness for Netflix? If you want to invest in winners, you need to know what they look like.

Lesson 3: Risk and Reward

Part 1: Expected Payoff

Duration: 11:56

The ability to evaluate risk and reward is the most important skill of the most successful investors. This lesson focuses on the “expected payoff” formula.

Case Study: How did Eddie Lampert become a billionaire by investing in the two worst retailers in the U.S.?

Lesson 3: Risk and Reward

Part 2: Catastrophic Losses and Tail Risk

Duration: 7:03

This lesson focuses on catastrophic losses and the chances of them occurring. This is called “tail risk”. The risk of catastrophic losses can reduce the effectiveness of the “expected payoff” formula.

Case Study: How would you like to buy a hotel resort for just $1?

Lesson 4: Accounting - The Balance Sheet

Part 1: A Canary in the Coal Mine

Duration: 13:56

Accounting is the language of business. Knowledge of accounting can help turn financial statements into exciting novels or even treasure maps.

The balance sheet is one of the first things investors should look at. It’s where companies disclose how much money they’ve borrowed. That’s critical information for risk analysis. This lesson covers the basic structure of a balance sheet and focuses specifically on company indebtedness.

Lesson 4: Accounting - The Balance Sheet

Part 2: The Magic of Intangible Assets

Duration: 13:07

The fact that market values and balance sheet values of assets can diverge widely because of cost accounting over time can create amazing investment opportunities. There’s no place on the balance sheet where that’s more true than intangible assets. These types of assets is often where the hidden treasure is found.

Case Study: The Disney acquisition of Marvel Studios in 2009.

Lesson 5: Accounting - The Income Statement

Part 1: Wall Street’s Rosetta Stone

Duration: 15:30

An introduction to the basic structure of an income statement. This lesson focuses on financial ratios, Wall Street’s Rosetta Stone. With these ratios, the income statement reads like a novel, instead of number-filled pages.

Lesson 5: Accounting -The Income Statement

Part 2: Warning Signs of Impending Doom

Duration: 16:11

The income statement can yell danger. It can also reveal a path to gold. This lesson focuses on how to read and analyze an income statement to uncover the story hidden in the numbers.

Case study: Constellation Software, the greatest software company that you’ve never heard of.

Lesson 6: Price/Earnings Ratios

Part 1: Flying Blindfolded Through a Valley of Volcanoes

Duration: 10:34

Buying a stock without knowing its valuation multiple, such as the price/earnings (P/E) ratio, is like flying a plane blindfolded through a narrow valley full of volcanoes. Objective valuation metrics are important when evaluating a stock. It helps remove emotion, the enemy of successful investing.

Thought Exercise: Which painting is worth more?

Lesson 6: Price/Earnings Ratios

Part 2: The Stock Market Only Cares About The Future, Not The Past

Duration: 16:57

When you buy a company’s stock you own a piece of that company. This lesson explains why different companies have different valuations. The answer is crucial. The stock market is forward-looking and it is important to understand what that means.

Case Study: Bed, Bath & Gone. A tragic tale.

Lesson 7: What Moves Stock Prices Up or Down

Part 1: Investors Have Many Choices

Duration: 14:25

When it comes to what’s driving stock prices, sometimes the overall stock market’s behavior is the most important factor. Other times which industry sector a company is in matters most. There are also times where the company itself is all that matters.

Lesson 7: What Moves Stock Prices Up or Down

Part 2: The Power of Long-Term Growth

Duration: 14:52

“Buy the rumor and sell the news.” This lesson explains why that is often true. Different factors have different influence over stock prices. What matters the most in the short-term often matters very little in the long-term.

Case Study: Is General Motors’ stock undervalued?

Lesson 8: The Cost of Capital

Part 1: Just Because It’s Profitable, Doesn’t Mean It’s Worthwhile

Duration: 18:28

An investment must earn more than its cost of capital to be considered worthwhile. As a result, that cost is the boss of bosses when it comes to which businesses a company should pursue. It determines which ones are financially viable.

Thought Exercise: The case of the Clueless Capital Corporation and the curse of earnings dilution.

Lesson 8: The Cost of Capital

Part 2: The Lie Detector for Companies

Duration: 13:06

A company earning high returns on capital invested in its business is a key characteristic of a superior business. For a company to create value for its shareholders, it must earn a return on its capital above the cost of obtaining that capital.

Case Study: The railroad company vs. the software giant.

Thought Exercise: Blackbeard’s treasure map.