Learning Resource Page
We’ve curated this list of resources to serve as a guided path for anyone new to finance. These are the same books, courses, and tools our team values, organized to help a novice build confidence and progress toward a beginner or intermediate level of financial understanding. Whether your goal is personal financial clarity or a stronger grasp of markets, this collection is designed to accelerate your learning journey.
This curriculum is designed to be self-paced. It combines free and inexpensive resources (courses, podcasts, videos, and readings) that together provide a roadmap equivalent to an undergraduate finance degree. The material is divided by subject to allow learners to build a foundation, develop practical skills, and explore specialized perspectives.
Here is a full structured PDF guide that lays out the recommended order of learning.
💡 Tip for learners: If you get stuck, use ImagineExplainers.com for visual walk-throughs of complex topics.
Market Foundations
Objective: Understand the structure of financial markets, stocks, bonds, ETFs, derivatives, market participants, and market efficiency.
Foundations of Finance & Investing
- Interactive Brokers Financial Education Page
- Khan Academy: Finance & Capital Markets
- Coursera: Financial Markets by Yale (Robert Shiller)
- YouTube: Aswath Damodaran's Corporate Finance lectures
- Investopedia: "Markets" tutorials
- MIT OpenCourseWare: First Semester MBA Courses
- Coursera: Fundamentals of Investing by SoFi
- YouTube: Fundamentals of Finance & Economics
- ETF.com
Personal Finances & Life Planning
Objective: Build a personal foundation in budgeting, saving, debt, and investing for life goals.
Blogs & Readings
- Bogleheads Wiki
- Book: The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel
- Investopedia: Personal Finance
- Book: The Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Clason
Courses
- Khan Academy: Personal Finance
- Khan Academy: Financial Literacy
- Learning Platform and Blog: ChooseFI
- LinkedIn Learning: Build Your Financial Literacy, Madecraft and Cassandra Reed
Fundamentals & Value Investing
Objective: Learn how to analyze companies and securities, using fundamental and valuation analysis, through understanding concepts in accounting, corporate finance, and investment analysis.
- AccountingCoach.com (free basics of accounting)
- Book: The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham
- Coursera: Introduction for Finance and Accounting, University of Pennsylvania
- YouTube: Columbia Business School Value Investing Program open lectures
- Aswath Damodaran's free Valuation Courses
- Investopedia: "Intro to Investing" page
- Investing.com Academy Center (free investing courses)
- LinkedIn Learning: Financial Modeling Foundations, Michael McDonald
- Coursera: Introduction to Corporate Finance, University of Pennsylvania
Financial Modeling
- Coursera: Finance & Quantitative Modeling, University of Pennsylvania
- YouTube: Corporate Finance Institute
- YouTube: Kenji Explains
- YouTube: Mergers & Inquisitions
- YouTube: rareliquid
- YouTube: Ryan O'Connell, CFA, FRM
- LinkedIn Learning: Advanced Python in Excel for Finance: A Hands-On Approach, Randy Chepchirchir
Portfolio & Risk Management
Objective: Understand diversification, risk-return tradeoffs, portfolio construction, and performance evaluation.
- LinkedIn Learning: Financial Portfolio Management Fundamentals, Corporate Finance Institute
- CFA Institute "Investment Foundations" modules
- YouTube: Patrick Boyle's free Applied Portfolio Management course
- YouTube: Ben Felix's Asset Allocation lectures
- Investopedia: "What is Asset Allocation?"
- Coursera: Investment Management Specialization
Macro & Global Themes
Objective: Learn how global events, policy, and economic cycles influence markets.
- MIT OpenCourseWare: Principals of Macroeconomics
- Book: Mastering the Maret Cycle, Howard Marks
- Coursera: Microeconomics: The Power of Markets by University of Pennsylvania
- E-Book: Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises, Ray Dalio
- Coursera: Economics of Money and Banking by Columbia University
- IMF Economic Outlook
- IMF Online Learning Page
- St. Louis Fed FRED Economic Data
- Book: Global Macro Trading, Greg Gliner
- Macro Voices Website
Quantitative & Systematic Investing
Objective: Learn the math, programming, and data analysis concepts used in Finance.
Mathematics & Programming
- Khan Academy: Statistics & Probability
- MIT OpenCourseWare: Introduction to Probability and Statistics
- YouTube: StatsQuest with Josh Stramer
- YouTube: DATAtab
- YouTube: QuantInsti
- MIT OpenCourseWare: Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python
- MIT OpenCourseWare: Computational Methods of Scientific Programming
- MIT OpenCourseWare: A Vision of Linear Algebra
- MIT OpenCourseWare: Matrix Calculus for Machine Learning and Beyond
- LinkedIn Learning: Advanced Python in Excel: Machine Learning, Christian Martinez
Systematics Trading & Investing
- Book: Paul Wilmott introduces Quantitative Finance, Paul Wilmott
- Udemy: Algorithmic Trading Course
- Udemy: Python for Finance and Algorithmic Trading
- Book: Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives, John C. Hull
- Book: Investment Science, David G. Luenberger
- Book: Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, John J. Murphy
- Quant Connect Learning Page
Tools & Technology
Objective: Learn the math, programming, and data analysis concepts used in Finance.
Trading Platforms
- Interactive Brokers
- Charles Schwab
- Fidelity Investments
- E*TRADE
- Robinhood
- Webull
- Ally Invest
- TastyTrade
- eToro
- Trading View
- MetaTrader 5
- NinjaTrader
Investment Research Sites & Platforms
- Morningstar
- Koyfin
- Finviz
- Seeking Alpha
- Finbox
- YCharts
- Business Quant
- QuantConnect
- AlphaSense
- S&P Capital IQ
- FactSet
- Refinitiv Eikon
Blog post on Stock & Investment Research Tools, Alpha Sense
News
Thought Leadership & Perspectives
Objective: Learn directly from investors, economists, and practitioners.
Professional Development
Objective: Learn how to translate financial knowledge into a career or entrepreneurial path.
Community & Networking Pages
- Wall Street Oasis forum
- LinkedIn
- SumZero
- Reddit Forums (FinancialCareers; Security Analysis; CFA; quant; ValueInvesting; stocks; Trading)
- Stocktwits
- CFA Institute Career Resources
Skill Building for Professionals
Reading List
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Edwin Lefevre
Market Wizards, Jack D. Schwager
The New Market Wizards, Jack D. Schwager
Stock Market Wizards, Jack D. Schwager
Hedge Fund Market Wizards, Jack D. Schwager
Unknown Market Wizards, Jack D. Schwager
The Crowd, Gustav LeBon
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Charles Mackay
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
The Inteligent Investor, Benjamin Graham
Security Analysis, Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd
Principles, Ray Dalio
A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton G. Malkiel
Common Stock and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings, Phillip Arthur Fisher
Prince of the Yen, Richard Werner
New Paradigm in Macroeconomics, Richard Werner
A Conversation about Economics, Richard Werner
Getting to Yes, Roger Fisher and William Ury
Mindset, Caroll S. Dweck, Ph. D.
Global Macro Trading, Greg Gliner
The Man Who Solved the Markets, Gregory Zuckerman
One Up on Wall Street, Peter Lynch
Quality of Earnings, Thornton L. O'Glove
Quantitative Trading, Ernest P. Chan
Statistics for the Trading Floor, Patrick E. Boyle
Derivatives for the Trading Floor, Patrick Boyle and Jesse McDougall
Mastering The Market Cycle, Howard Marks
The Personal MBA, Josh Kaufman
Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Black Swan, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Bed of Procrustes, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Skin in the Game, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Quants, Scott Patterson
Dark Pools, Scott Patterson
The Creature from Jekyll Island, G. Edward Griffin
When Genius Failed, Roger Lowenstein
A History of Central Banking, Stephen Goodson
Quantitative Value, Wesley R. Gray, PhD and Tobias E. Carlisle, LLB
Quantitative Momentum, Wesley R. Gray, PhD and Jack R. Vogel, PhD
Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis
The Big Short, Michael Lewis