Finance

Ever wish you could understand those financial statements you see on company websites. Ever wonder what bankers do all day? Finance is your class. We spend most of our time in class reviewing statements of cash flow and calculating the cost of capital. What's that you say? Why isn't the cost of capital just the amount of money you want? What interest rate would you be charged if you bought a house today? What about your buddy with 10 maxed out credit cards and a bankruptcy in his background? Not the same?

Finance, the only new class for Q2, is one of my favorite classes. It's very analytical but also very practical. We learn to understand why some projects are attractive and others, while seemingly attractive, get turned down. Finance mixes basic concepts like risk and proft with more difficult topics like depreciation, present value and net working capital. The big buzzword is WACC (pronounced "whack"), the Weighted Average Cost of Capital.

Next week is the final week of the first semester. Out final class was today, which was a mixed bag of emotions. Out class was relieved to be done, but sad too. Next quarter we will shuffle and move to new rooms with new classmates. I'll miss my old section but look forward to meeting some new folks in 2007.