A fund manager decides what a pool of other people's money buys, sells and holds, and answers for the result. Almost nobody starts here. You get there by learning accounting and markets, becoming a trusted analyst, then earning the right to make decisions with real capital. This roadmap has three stages. Foundations teaches you to read financial statements and think in risk and return. Job-ready turns you into an analyst who can value a company and defend a recommendation in writing. Advanced covers portfolio construction, risk control, trading and investor communication. Everything uses free
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Every stage from beginner to expert, with lessons, practice drills, projects, interview questions and free resources. Free with a Rolearch account.
Stage 1 of 3 · about 14 weeks
Understand how businesses make money, how markets price assets, and how to do the basic math of return and risk in Excel.
Financial accounting and statement reading
Every investment is a claim on a business's cash flows. If you cannot read the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement, you are guessing. Learn how they link: net income flows into retained earnings, and cash flow explains why cash differs from profit.
Economics and how markets work
Interest rates, inflation and growth move all asset prices. You need to explain why bond prices fall when rates rise and what a yield curve inversion signals.
Time value of money and return math
Present value, compounding, IRR, and annualized return are the language of fund performance. Everything later builds on discounting cash flows.
Statistics and probability for investing
Risk is uncertainty you can measure. Mean, variance, correlation, regression and distributions let you judge whether a result is skill or luck.
Asset classes and fund basics
You must know what stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds and hedge funds are, how fees work, and what regulation applies (Investment Company Act of 1940, Investment Advisers Act of 1940).
Then 2 more stages (about 68 weeks in all) with lessons, drills, projects, 6 interview questions with strong answers and free resources.