12 Best Investment Banking Books
The importance of reading books to enhance knowledge in your chosen industry cannot be undermined. In the investment banking field, when professionals are looking for the answer to questions like ‘how to get into investment banking’ or ‘how to learn complex concepts and trends,’ it is imperative to learn from the top industry practitioners and experts.
Investment banking professionals who are also avid readers can grow their knowledge and expertise by reading books! Books not only build concentration and teach you something new, but they also foster creativity and imagination.
Top 8 Investment Banking Books to Read
Here is the list of top books to help you enhance your skills in the investment banking industry:
📙Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions
One of the most popular and intuitive books to read is Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions. Joshua Rosenbaum and Joshua Pearl have stated the pros and cons of the valuation and financial models. The book ignites the attention of the reader by providing multiple approaches. This is indeed the best investment banking book for beginner professionals.
📙Principles by Ray Dalio
This book is written by a top investor and the founder of a multibillion-dollar hedge fund company, Bridgewater Associates. It allows readers to learn from their mistakes and transform failures into successes. The book establishes the importance of principles a successful person uses to guide their actions and achieve their objectives. The book is interesting, comprising his journey and over 500 principles and sub-principles.
📙The Intelligent Investor
Graham, the father of value investing, explains how to assess a company, evaluate its fundamentals, and lower risks. Those who wish to develop expertise in stock market investment must read this book. The core tenets of the book, such as fundamental analysis, determining value, etc., help investment and financial analysts better understand the world of investment banking.
📙Investment Banking for Dummies
This book focuses on buyout options like LBOs. If you want to learn about LBO leverage and make your investment banking career path successful, invest your time in reading this book. It explains how firms acquire assets through debt financing, without full equity.
📙The Business of Venture Capital
This book details the venture capital concepts. In this book, the engineer with an entrepreneurial mind starts working at the gym. He plans to build a virtual reality fitness app when he struggles to learn exercises. The banks did not provide him with funds due to the lack of collateral or a good credit profile. Then, Brook from a Venture Capital firm on Wall Street invested in Robin’s startup and got the percentage of ownership in return. This book teaches you about the benefits of venture capital financing and how innovation can drive economic growth.
| Read more: Private Equity vs Venture Capital
📙Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist
Warren Buffet is the ideal of many. Don’t you want to know about the journey of this big man? This book is an account of his work and business. It details how he followed Benjamin Graham’s teaching, learned about valued stocks, and acquired them. You will learn about this book’s unique investment approach and how the man built his Berkshire Hathaway empire.
📙Financial Modeling & Valuation: A Practical Guide to Investment Banking and Private Equity
It provides comprehensive guidance on financial modeling techniques and valuation methods essential for investment banking and private equity professionals. It also includes a step-by-step approach to learning the financial model. The initial step concerns the basic financial fundamentals, including financial statements, cash flow, income statements, balance sheets, etc. Step two is an assessment of those financial statements. Step three is about the cost driver, revenue driver, etc. In the next steps, the book outlines the importance of historical financial data, interlinking of information, making a dynamic model, preparing the output, etc.
📙Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
This semi-autobiographical book is about Lewis’s life at Salomon Brothers and how Wall Street firms became wealthy using mortgage bonds. It is insightful and amusing about intense greed and extravagant wealth. This book is a peep into banking culture. Lewis details his journey as a junior banker, the kind of banking culture he experienced, some inexplicable things they did, and their weird behavior toward the general public.
Wrapping Up
Becoming a successful investment banker is not easy. Immerse yourself in deep learning through various resources. Books are one of the best sources of education. Refer to the list above and boost your career in investment banking!
