|  | Author: Simon Benninga
Publisher: The MIT Press
List Price: $85.00
Buy New: $54.84
as of 11/22/2009 13:36 CST details
You Save: $30.16 (35%)
New (30) Used (19) from $50.00
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 9718
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 3
Pages: 1168
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.9
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7.2 x 1.9
ISBN: 0262026287
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.015118
EAN: 9780262026284
ASIN: 0262026287
Publication Date: February 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 16
 Financial Modeling Text April 23, 2008
Charmaine Burris Keyes (Kingston, Jamaica)
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book itself serves its purpose - a recommended text. The staff in my department makes full use of it. The delivery timeliness was also satisfactory and package was excellent - no dent or scratches.
Quick Tip April 12, 2008
SelfTraining
22 out of 25 found this review helpful
Rather then comment extensively on the content of the book (as others have done rather well), I felt like I would pass this tip (which I wish I had known to prevent frustration). I feel that anyone without a working knowledge of Visual Basic, and manuevering around Excel should obtain the skill set with the well written technical sections. I would suggest starting with part VI introduction to Visual Basic (chapters 36-41) then moving on to Technical Consideration (chapters 29-35) and THEN moving onto the substantial matter of the first 4 parts. This will help keep you from getting frustrated while interacting with the software and allow you to focus on the concepts. Again this is only for individuals without a working knowledge of the platforms, if you do possess those skills then the above recommendation is a moot point.
Benninga's Financial Modelin, 3e April 5, 2008
Michael Ezewoko
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Professor Benninga's texts have consistently demonstrated an uncommon ease engaging the reader - well versed in not only theory and application, but also in the classroom, Benninga seems to anticipate student questions - providing thoughtful end-of-chapter questions and answers. Specifically, the Third Edition of "Financial Modeling" presents the theory and application of the Black-Litterman (BL) model - a lot of "well regarded" texts only show the naïve construction of the non-augmented covariance matrix - which provides little competitive advantage to the portfolio manager or researcher - while BL is non-trivial and though proxies for the views necessary to form a posterior covariance matrix are often tricky to obtain, the BL model is necessary to incorporate the views of the researcher or portfolio manager and for any modern portfolio theory treatment - the application of this theory in Excel is a priceless exercise. Additionally, his addition of the chapter 4, "Building a Financial Model" thoroughly addresses financial statement modeling and its related issues - the tracking of assumptions and the examination of their feasibility with a sensitivity analysis. Finally, his treatment of Monte Carlo methods, Option Greeks, Bank valuation and event studies are unparalleled - a lot of good econometric texts treat event studies but usually, the student has no way of seeing its full implementation - Benninga's excel implementation just brings clarity. Generally, Benninga's texts are gems for not only self-study (the included CD allows you to follow along with the text) but also for MBA/MS students requiring a clear exposition of theory and application.
Financial Modeling, 3rd Edition
Best quantiative finance book,ever! March 13, 2008
Jeff L (Chicago, IL United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The best quantitative finance book ever written! Dr. Benninga does a remarkable job of simplifying very complex subject matter. His Excel and VBA examples are easy to understand and presented very logically. I am not a programmer and have never used VBA, yet I was able to pick up the coding logic very quickly. You don't have to be a quatitative expert to read the book and like it. He writes in a "user friendly" fashion and the book covers plenty of fascinating subjects. Modern finance is mankind's greatest invention and Dr. Benninga's book makes it all understandable.
the single most useful book for finance students and professionals ever published February 20, 2008
Bachelier (Ile de France)
43 out of 49 found this review helpful
Simon Benninga's 3rd Edition of Financial Modelling with Excel is the single most useful book for finance students and professionals ever published and continues to offer an outstanding reference and textbook for students and practitioners of applied finance.
For further information, please use the "Look Inside" feature and examine the Table of Contents carefully, because I will emphasize selected portions.
It is difficult to overstate how useful and practical and helpful this work is for a wide audience and Financial Modelling is the single finance book I recommend for everyone after they have taken (or read themselves) Introductory Finance.
For those looking for "one-stop-shopping" for models that resemble those of professional financial analysts then there is no better value than Benninga's FM3.
Benninga's FM3 is a coal-face work for those who must make financial decisions using models. There are further specialist texts in topics covered here (credit modelling, portfolio construction, option pricing), but the models in FM3 are the first advanced models applied to loans, bonds, options, and equity portfolios. Master these and then specialized texts are easier to digest.
"Cookbook" metaphors are too strong and do not do this work justice, for Financial Modelling 3rd (FM3) is not a mere collection of recipes but rather topical introduction, explanation, and then direct technique.
If we can make a comparison with a "cookbook" then FM3 falls somewhere between "The Joy of Cooking" and "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." "Joy" combines chapters on technique, ingredients, and tools with dense pages of endless recipes, whereas "Mastering" emphasises technique and a few well-selected recipes.
The welcome new chapters cover bank valuation, the Black-Litterman approach to portfolio optimization, and Monte Carlo methods and applications to option pricing, and the previous 2nd edition's small chapter on using array functions and formulas has been expanded. The chapter on data downloads from YAHOO is also welcome, especially for those on a budget.
There is a single significant flaw in the work, which is excusable and redeemable. Far too often the discounting in the chapters is done over a flat interest rate curve. While the term structure of interest rates is covered, and historical term structures and parallel shifts and steepening and flattening is covered in isolation in a thorough chapter and with wonderful data files, the necessity and explicit connection of discounting from an appropriate yield curve is left implied and only mentioned in a few exercises. I would have preferred a "round up" chapter where each of the subjects treated (bond discounting, portfolio expected returns, options, etc.) under a yield curve with advanced models. Sure BLOOMBERG and REUTERS have these sort of things (often incorrectly) programmed, but students need to learn explicitly about them and do the exercise themselves to comprehend the importance of curve discounting.
The CD attached in the back of the book is alone worth the price, with over two score of models that are practical and adaptable for students and professionals alike. The files are stored and separated according to chapters and subject matter. Each file has logical progression of the concepts advanced in the book, and each separate sheet either stands alone or appropriately links to data and models on other sheets, so editing for your own purposes is a breeze.
For those who want to train themselves in Finance (not "personal finance") then I suggest reading Copeland, Weston, & Shastri's Financial Theory and Corporate Policy (4th Edition) and Brealey, Myers, and Marcus's "Corporate Finance" and "Investments" followed by working through FM3. Such a course would give any self-disciplined person the equivalent of a Masters of Science in Finance.
Full disclosure: I am thanked in the "Acknowledgements" for providing a few helpful comments on the second edition.
Showing reviews 11-15 of 16
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