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I would recommend BIWS for someone without direct experience that has an Excel modelling test in a week.

If you're trying to generally get better at your Excel / modelling skills then I'd recommend this book off Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Modeling-Structured-Finance-Flows-Microsoft%C3%82-Excel/dp/0470042907

Depends on what you're interested in -

Most of my work is in derivatives so would recommend

• Dynamic Hedging - Nassim Taleb
  
• Options, Futures and Other Derivatives - John C. Hull
  
  Those are good starter books and far, far beyond what you'll get out of all three levels of the CFA. There are much more mathematically focused books out there as well.
  
  If you want to get mathy -
  
  
• An Introduction to the Mathematics of Financial Derivatives - Neftci
  
  This was my first serious finance book in undergrad and I still reference it today.
  
  
• Corporate Finance - Ross, Westerfield, Jaffe
  
  Fixed Income
  
  
• Fixed Income Investing - Fabozzi
  
  I'm probably least strong in the equity space but most people recommend this book (I haven't read it)
  
  
• Securities Analysis - Graham, Dodd
  

For sure. Yea most superfood drink taste like shit and garden mulch. This stuff tastes pretty awesome though
Superfood Green Drink

If you know R, then Python should be no problem. Learning Python helped me learn Java, and now R just seems like another step. I think my Python resources are out of date now, since I was learning Python 2. Learn Python the Hard Way used to be free, now he's charging for it. Coding Bat is cool for practicing. Here's some MIT readings I used too, but again, theyre for Python 2 so theyre going to be out of date. I actually just picked up Automate the Boring Stuff but havent used enough of it to recommend it yet, but it definitely looks interesting.

edit: Here this post of mine from a while back has a lot more Python resources that may or may not be useful anymore:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFA/comments/6h5566/python_resources/

Check out Simon Benningas book....Financial Modelling

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Financial-Modeling-Simon-Benninga/dp/0262026287

One of the best books around for this topic for sure.

There are roughly 5 components in the practical CAPM model: (i) market risk (ii) value (iii) size (iii) momentum (iv) profitability.

The market risk beta was developed in the 60's and captured around 60% of volatility.

Adding the value beta and size beta - developed by French and Fama - brought the tally up to 90%.

The momentum beta then bumped up volatility capture to 95%.

So... if you have a single factor CAPM - the traditional market risk measure - you are still leaving around 40% of volatility unexplained.

In short: Add factors! Even if (European) CAPM traditionalists frown upon this.

Edit: This is a great book on the topic, and covers all recent academic publications!

I'd highly recommend all of Buffett's letters and this, as well as this book

Not bad at all. I used this book and found it easy to read and informative https://www.amazon.com/Pass-65-Plain-English-Explanation/dp/0983141169

It'll give you a decent foundation. But I guess, the more important question, is what are you hoping to learn? CFA will cover derivatives, accounting, debt, equities, corp fin., etc. Which might be too much to digest depending on what you want to learn.

You could also consider Financial Modeling by Simon Benninga depending on your goals.

Hawking snake oil implies fraud, directing people to a great study resource is not fraudulent. Perhaps you should also pick up a copy of one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Webster-Dictionary/dp/087779930X

> So basically a certification in unscientific hokum?

...One of the books in the CMT curriculum is literally titled, "Evidence-Based Technical Analysis: Applying the Scientific Method and Statistical Inference to Trading Signals".

Technical analysis arguably lends itself to objective scientific analysis far better than many fundamental analysis topics (Porter's Five Forces, etc.).

Working through the German tree on Duolingo and reading All the Shah's Men.

https://www.amazon.com/Option-Volatility-amp-Pricing-Strategies/dp/155738486X

Also, I havent heard much about Wiley on this subreddit.

Can someone give me an opinion on these books?

https://www.amazon.com/Wiley-Study-Guide-2016-Level/dp/1119182794/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464795563&sr=8-1&keywords=schweser

Or, go read "The Spider Network" and you'll realize it's not based on market conditions.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Network-Backstabbing-Greatest-Financial/dp/0062452983

This one?

https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Modeling-Simon-Benninga/dp/0262026287