When it comes to getting involved with investing, it can seem a little overwhelming for some. We’ve been told for far too long that investing is something that only wealthy people do or only really smart people are able to make money on. The truth, however, is that anyone and everyone can succeed in investment banking, as long as you’re willing to put in the work.
If you want to know how to be a successful investment banker, you’re going to need to do some research and some work at it. The truth is, the best investment banking books are going to require you to really think hard and make some tough choices. That’s because getting good at investment banking is about thinking hard and being willing and able to give up the immediate wants for the things that you want in the long run.
On this list, you’re going to find books like The Big Short, that really help you delve into the idea of investment banking for yourself. It’s not just liars poker; it’s all about getting you the skills and the background that you need in order to become a successful professional in the field. Whether you’ve ever worked in banking or finance of any kind before or not, you’ll have no problem finding the information you need here to get you started.
Last update: 2024-05-04
Our Favorites for Best Investment Banking Books
Our favorite books are two high-quality books that are really going to help you learn everything you need to know about investment banking. These are books that will help you determine what the best in the business know and will make sure that you have a firm grasp on what it takes to become a true professional.
Learning investment banking isn’t going to be easy, but these books can show you the essential steps that you may never have thought of or may have been missing all along.
Investment Banking for Dummies by Matthew Krantz
If you want to get good at something, the whole line of ‘for Dummies’ books is a great way to do it. Investment Banking for Dummies all about the latest in financial changes, understanding expectations, and even learning about the more practical and fundamental aspects of the field. If you want to go into investment banking, you can make a whole lot if you know how to properly create financial models, value companies, and even more. Investment Banking for Dummies is one of the most straightforward books you will find when it comes to learning about investment banking when you don’t know anything to start.
Investment Banking for Dummies is designed to give you a strong foundation in absolutely everything related to investment banking. That means everything from stocks and bonds to risk management and banking operations. Not to mention Krantz covers things like leveraged buyout funds, hedge funds, corporate clients, and plenty of other essential features, including laws and information from real experts in the field. Investment Banking for Dummies is updated frequently to make sure that it contains the latest information related to the field.
What Makes it Unique:
- Looks at and explains the latest financial changes
- Provides a basic framework of everything related to investment banking
Why Choose This Investment Banking Book:
- Works great in conjunction with an introductory investment banking course
- Written by actual stock market experts
- Krantz, Matthew (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 378 Pages - 07/21/2020 (Publication Date) - For Dummies (Publisher)
Last update: 2024-05-04
Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions by Joshua Rosenbaum & Joshua Pearl
Investment Banking is a slightly older book, but there’s still a whole lot that you can do and learn with it. It also has supplemental books available, including a workbook and focus notes. These additional books are designed to help you apply the concepts and ideas that you will go through with Investment Banking. If you just have Investment Banking, however, you’re still going to have a lot to help you. It’s designed to give you the most up to date information possible for understanding Wall Street. Rosenbaum and Pearl look at what’s currently going on there and how different companies are making the most of what they know.
With Investment Banking, you’ll learn about determining valuation, LBOs, IPOs, investment decisions, and more. You’ll also get information about key terms and financial concepts, and you’ll have a step-by-step process for how to use different methodologies that are currently popular on Wall Street. With Rosenbaum and Pearl, you’ll learn the truth in data, research, and financial analysis. All of these will help you when you’re ready to start your own investment banking business or join an existing one.
What Makes it Unique:
- Details the most recent information available
- Supplements available to enhance the information you’ll learn
Why Choose This Investment Banking Book:
- Dive deep into what it takes to survive on Wall Street
- Offers practical and technical methodologies
- Hardcover Book
- Rosenbaum, Joshua (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Last update: 2024-05-04
The Best Book on Investment Banking Careers by Donna Khalife
Anyone who is looking to start a career in investment banking should be taking a closer look at The Best Book on Investment Banking Careers. You will earn the basics of what investment banking is as well as what it takes to really get into the career itself. Not only that, but Khalife also details some of the tips and tricks you should know as an undergraduate so you can start improving your quality as a professional immediately.
With The Best Book on Investment Banking Careers, you will get a chance to see what recruiters are looking for in undergraduate and graduate-level professionals. You’ll also be able to see what it’s going to take to get your foot in the door at a company. With Khalife, you’ll have a strong foundation of everything involved in investment banking from beginning to end (including the interview and beyond).
What Makes it Unique:
- Explores the interviewing process for getting into investment banking
- Details what recruiters want out of undergrad, graduate and associate level bankers
Why Choose This Investment Banking Book:
- Starts with a focus on what investment banking really is
- Helps you get from start to finish with investment banking so you can actually put the process into action
- Khalife, Donna (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 134 Pages - 08/22/2012 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)
Last update: 2024-05-04
Runner Ups for Best Investment Banking Books
The next category we want to talk about are the runner ups. These books aren’t quite as good as the ones that we’ve talked about so far, but they’re still going to give you a whole lot of benefits. You’ll be able to learn a great deal by going through each of these, and you’re going to have no problem getting some great information.
These runner ups just don’t go quite as detailed as the ones that we think will teach you the best. That doesn’t mean you should discount them, however, because you’re still going to have a good amount of information contained in each.
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Who better to learn about investment banking from than the master? Warren Buffett has made his living in investment banking, and this is his story and his memoir. The Snowball is all about the way that he has managed to make his mark on the financial world and how he has come to be known not just as the richest man in the world, but a good man at the same time. For anyone who has ever been interested in Warren Buffett, The Snowball is a great place to start out.
In The Snowball, you’ll learn about Buffett as an individual, but you will also learn more about how he’s managed to make so much of his life and his investments. The main idea is to learn all about how Buffett got started, where he came from, and what his own personal philosophies are when it comes to life and beyond. Schroeder is the first to ever get cooperation from Buffett to write his memoirs, and The Snowball is the most comprehensive book available on the subject. But you’ll find a whole lot more than just personal details and stories included here.
What Makes it Unique:
- Details the life and growth of the richest man in the world
- Explores the way Warren Buffett has become the icon he is known as today.
Why Choose This Investment Banking Book:
- First memoir ever written with the cooperation of Warren Buffett
- In-depth about the philosophies that have worked for Buffett in his rise to the top
- Schroeder, Alice (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 832 Pages - 10/27/2009 (Publication Date) - Bantam (Publisher)
Last update: 2024-05-04
To Become an Investment Banker: Girl Banker’s Bullet Point Guide to Highflying Success by Heather Katsonga-Woodward
To Become an Investment Banker is full of short, bite-sized information that will help you along the way to becoming an investment banker. It has plenty of detailed advice but also plenty of bullet points and a laid-back way of presenting information that makes it super simple for you to understand and keep working toward improvement. You can absolutely learn tips and tricks that are used in some of the most significant investment banking companies around (including Goldman Sachs).
To Become an Investment Banker starts with the basics and makes sure that you always have the information that you need to keep moving forward. It even shows you how to get started in the first place with everything from where to apply to what degree you need. You’ll go through interviewing for jobs, answering important questions, and then the specific information you’re going to need to be good at the job once you get it. All of these different chapters and sections make sure that you feel ready when it comes time to enter the field.
What Makes it Unique:
- Presents information in easy to digest chunks
- Starts from the very beginning with getting into an investment banking program
Why Choose This Investment Banking Book:
- Goes in depth about more advanced investing content to help those who want to progress further along
- Shows you how to get a job in investment banking including evaluating the interview process
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Katsonga-Woodward, Heather (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Last update: 2024-05-04
Value Picks for Best Investment Banking Books
The final section we’re going to show you when it comes to the investment banking books you want to read is the one on value books. These are the inexpensive books that you will not want to miss out on because they can give you a whole lot of information. You don’t have to spend a fortune in order to get the content that you’re looking for.
Instead, you can pick up something inexpensive but definitely high quality instead. That’s going to make it easier for you to get moving and start making a difference in your education and your future.
Options Trading: The Ultimate Beginners Guide for Creating Trade Profit with Options, Learn the Fundamentals and Profitable Strategies, Discover the Best Insider Secrets to Make a Living from Home by Matthew Ray
You want to make as much ROI as you possibly can when you’re in investment banking, and with Options Trading, you’re going to have no problem with that. Options Trading is all about getting you returns of as much as 75% by telling you all about the ways that real people can get into the field. Ray looks at everything that a beginner would need to know to get involved in this field and then shows you how to apply the different techniques and skills that are discussed further.
The great thing about Options Trading is that it assumes you know absolutely nothing but gets you up to being an expert. That happens by teaching you about the inner workings of the options trading market, including improving your skills in the jargon, beefing up your knowledge base and teaching you how to make the smartest decisions. Anyone can become an options trader if they know what they’re doing and Options Trading is designed to make sure that you know what those factors are that contribute to your success.
What Makes it Unique:
- Inside information on how options traders really do it
- Details the most vital information to jumpstart your process
Why Choose This Investment Banking Book:
- Designed to get absolute beginners to expert status fast by making the content easier to read
- Walks you through the process quickly and easily for those who want to get started immediately
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Payback Time: Eight Steps to Outsmarting the System that Failed You and Getting Your Investments Back on Track by Phil Town
For all those people who have done all the right things but watched their investments go down the drain, Payback Time is about what you could be doing differently. The idea behind Payback Time is that the old rules just don’t work anymore. Instead, it’s time to start looking at some of the new regulations. By following the course of action that Town discusses here, you’re going to learn a strategy that has worked for him and that he believes is going to work for you as well.
Payback Time gives you a simple process and strategy that you can use to improve your current stock investments and make sure that you’re going to improve in no time. The information you’ll find in Payback Time comes from real investors who have really done the things they’re telling you about, and they’ve done them with high levels of success too. That means you’re going to have a head start on what it takes to become a successful investor and start turning your money into actual profits to improve your bottom line.
What Makes it Unique:
- Proven investment tactics and techniques to improve your worth
- Challenges some previously considered investment strategies
Why Choose This Investment Banking Book:
- Builds upon Town’s earlier book, Rule #1
- Offers more information each time you read it, which makes it a good reference book
- New
- Mint Condition
- Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
Last update: 2024-05-04
How to Choose the Best Investment Banking Book for You
If you think that the books we’ve mentioned are okay, but you want to be able to choose some of your own, make sure you check out these tips. These are some of the ways that you can make sure that you’re learning the most critical information. More than that, you’ll be able to focus on the specific areas of investment banking that you find most exciting or important for your long-term career. Just make sure you’re checking out the other books we mentioned first.
1. Check the tactics – What kind of tactics are being discussed in the book? You want to know this before you start trying to read through a book because you want to check that the tactics are being used by someone other than the author and that they really work. If the author claims to be the only one to know this secret, then chances are you’re not going to see success either.
2. Look for something that starts where you are – Are you a total beginner in the field of investment banking? If you’ve never worked in this field and never even studied it before, then you don’t want a book that’s geared toward professionals and advanced level bankers. Choose a book that will help you get from your current stage to the next stage (or further).
3. What’s your style? – What style of investor are you? Are you willing and able to work with forex trading? How about options trading? What about something else entirely? Look at books that will allow you to continue in areas of trading that you’re comfortable with or interested in. It’s okay to step outside of your comfort zone and try something new, but don’t go too overboard with new things when you’re just starting out.
4. Is it a guide? – A manual or a step-by-step how-to book is going to be the best way for you to keep pushing yourself forward. You can build up your own skills by working your way through these types of books. This is especially important if you’re just getting started because this sort of guide will allow you to follow a proven strategy with a lot less risk to help you get going.
5. Easy to read – You don’t want a book that’s going to overwhelm you with a lot of jargon and facts that you can’t easily follow along with. You want something that’s going to give you information in a way that’s digestible. That might mean short and straightforward chapters, bullet points, or a lot of graphs and charts. Whatever makes it easier for you to learn, make sure it’s included in your chosen book.
6. Overview of the options – If you’re not quite sure yet what kind of investment banking you want to do, you should get a book that will give you an overview of several different options. This type of book will provide you with several different styles and let you learn enough to decide where you want to go from there. That way, you can make sure you know what really appeals to you or what you’re most comfortable with.
7. Learn from the pros – The best books are written by someone who has actually been in your position at one time. That means someone who has firsthand experience in investment banking. You don’t want a book that was written by a researcher who has never once worked in investment banking. These are people who don’t really know what all is happening in the field.
8. Reference books – Reference books are great because they give you information that you can read through once but then refer back to whenever you need to. A book like this serves as a reminder or a guide if you find yourself struggling in some area of the process. You want to have a book that you can trust to give you quality information when you need it.
9. Up to date – If you’re looking at books about personal stories in investment banking, it might not be a problem to read something a little older. If you’re planning to use it as a reference book, however, make sure that it’s the most recent edition and that it was published within a short amount of time. The field of investment banking is always changing, and you want to make sure you don’t get outdated information from the books that you’re reading.
Wrapping Up the Best Investment Banking Books
We’ve gone over a lot today. Here’s a helpful table to consolidate every investment banking books we went over:
Last update: 2024-05-04
When it comes to choosing investment banking books, the most important thing is to stay up to date. The next is to find something that you can enjoy and want to read.
In order to do that we recommend Investment Banking for Dummies. It’s written in a style that’s easy to read and understand, which is great for new people to this field.
If you’re looking for our runner ups The Snowball is a great way to go. It’s going to give you a more personal approach to investment banking, from the point of view of one of the best investors in history. So if you like less clinical and more personal this is the way to go.
And finally, you’ll want to check out Payback Time in our value section. This book is for anyone who wants to leverage their current investments to do even better.
If you’re looking for the best books on mergers and acquisitions, check out our article here.
If you found this post helpful, check out our other reviews on financial and professional books here.
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