Tax Bases
The tax base (it used to be tax basis, but somehow it changed to tax base; I think the reason is that the plural for each word is “bases” (pronounced <base-eez> and <base-ezz>,...
View ArticleYield Curve Strategies – General
In 2019, CFA Institute revised all of their Level III Fixed Income readings, and, in particular, came up with a 10-page blue box example that was absurdly complex, which I simplified here. That...
View ArticleInverse (Short) Straddle
If you haven’t read the article on option strategies in general, that’s a good place to start, then return here. In particular, if you haven’t read the warning about calculating profit that appears...
View ArticleShort Strangle
If you haven’t read the article on option strategies in general, that’s a good place to start, then return here. In particular, if you haven’t read the warning about calculating profit that appears at...
View ArticleShort Butterfly Spread
If you haven’t read the article on option strategies in general, that’s a good place to start, then return here. In particular, if you haven’t read the warning about calculating profit that appears at...
View ArticleEquity Valuation Models
The CFA curriculum discusses a variety of methods for estimating the value of a company’s equity. The approaches, or models, fall broadly into these categories (covered in separate articles; follow...
View ArticleDividend Discount Models
A time-honored method to determine the value of an investment is to discount to the present all of the investment’s (expected) future cash flows, and tot up those present values. It’s a method we use...
View ArticleYield Curve Strategies – Static Yield Curve
Making Money with Bonds In the article on yield curve strategies in general, I mentioned the two broad ways to make money with bonds: Coupons (more generally, to incorporate synthetic strategies...
View ArticleYield Curve Strategies – Dynamic Yield Curve
Making Money with Bonds In the article on yield curve strategies in general, I mentioned the two broad ways to make money with bonds: Coupons (more generally, to incorporate synthetic strategies...
View ArticleValuing Risky Bonds
In this context, a risky bond is one for which there is a nonzero probability of default. Conceptually, valuing such a bond is child’s play: you calculate the (present) value of the bond assuming no...
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