Deep Dive: CFA® Level I Prep 2026

Deep Dive Prep

Master the complete CFA® Level I curriculum—one learning module at a time. Each episode is a concise, high‑impact dialogue that explains core concepts in plain English, with zero fluff and no long intro/outro. Perfect for commuters, last‑minute crammers, and anyone who learns best by listening. Independently produced; not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by CFA Institute.

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105 episodes
Updated January 26

Episodes105

Newest first

Jul 14, 2025 · 18 min
PORT - Basics of Portfolio Planning and Construction
Focusing on practical implementation, this chapter explains the Investment Policy Statement—its key components, objectives, and constraints—and shows how client information feeds into capital-market expectations, strategic asset allocation, and ESG considerations when assembling portfolios. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
Jul 13, 2025 · 23 min
PORT - Portfolio Management: An Overview
The chapter adopts a portfolio perspective, highlighting diversification benefits and the risk–return trade-off. It walks through the three-step portfolio-management process (planning, execution, feedback), profiles individual and institutional investors, and surveys the structure and current trends of the global asset-management industry. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Jul 13, 2025 · 19 min
PORT - Portfolio Risk and Return: Part II
Building on Part I, this chapter introduces capital-market theory. It derives the Capital Market Line and the Security Market Line, decomposes total risk into systematic and nonsystematic components, develops the CAPM and beta, and presents key risk-adjusted performance measures such as the Sharpe, Treynor, M² and Jensen’s alpha. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
Jul 12, 2025 · 26 min
PORT - Portfolio Risk and Return: Part I
This chapter lays the foundations of modern portfolio theory. It reviews the historical risk-return profile of major asset classes, explains risk aversion and utility, shows how diversification shapes the minimum-variance and efficient frontiers, and demonstrates how investors combine a risk-free asset with risky portfolios to reach an optimal allocation. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
Jul 11, 2025 · 18 min
ALT - Hedge Funds
Long/short, event, relative-value, macro … Unpack the strategy zoo. Key features: leverage, shorting, derivatives and flexible mandates. Direct vs. fund-of-funds vs. liquid-alt wrappers. Risk/return drivers, common draw-downs and true diversification worth. You’ll finish able to decode any hedge-fund pitch-book in under five minutes.
Jul 10, 2025 · 17 min
ALT - Natural Resources
Timber, farmland, and commodities join the alternatives toolkit. Contrast land-based investments (farmland, timberland) with commodity futures rolls. Dive into supply-and-demand drivers, storage costs and seasonality. Explore inflation-hedging properties and where natural resources fit alongside real estate in the real-asset bucket. Perfect if you’ve ever wondered why soybeans and gold dance to verydifferent macro tunes.
Jul 9, 2025 · 12 min
ALT - Real Estate and Infrastructure
Bricks, mortar & bridges. Compare the cash-flow engines ofincome-producing property and long-lived infrastructure projects. Equity vs. debt vs. REIT structures for property exposure. Greenfield, brownfield and secondary-stage infrastructure—how risk and return step down each stage. Inflation linkage, GDP sensitivity and diversification traits of each sub-asset. After this module you’ll know why toll roads trade like bonds and officesbehave like equities.
Jul 9, 2025 · 17 min
ALT - Investments in Private Capital: Equity and Debt
From start-ups to leveraged buy-outs. Map the spectrum ofprivate equity (VC, growth, buy-out) and private debt (direct lending,mezzanine, distressed). Key terms: committed vs. called capital, exit routes, GP/LP economics. Risk–return expectations and why valuation lags can mask volatility. Diversification benefits and where private capital slots into a broader portfolio. Essential listening before you quote IRRs at networking drinks.
Jul 8, 2025 · 18 min
ALT - Alternative Investment Performance and Returns
Measuring performance is trickier here. Longer life-cycles,irregular cash flows, leverage and complex fees mean IRR and MOIC trump simpletime-weighted returns. See capital commitment → deployment → distribution phases and the infamous J-curve. Work through fee waterfalls: management, incentive, hurdles, high-water marks, clawbacks. Calculate before- and after-fee returns and spot survivorship bias when benchmarking. You’ll learn why “headline” numbers can mislead—and how to adjust them.
Jul 8, 2025 · 18 min
ALT - Alternative Investment Features, Methods, and Structures
Why alternatives? They promise higher expected returns andlower correlations—but at the cost of liquidity, longer holding periods andspecialised know-how. This module: Distils the three big categories — private capital, real assets and hedge funds. Compares fund, co-investment and direct routes, showing how control, fees and effort shift across methods. Explains ownership & compensation structures (limited partnerships, trusts, LLCs) and why performance-based fees align managers and investors. The perfect launch-pad for everything that follows.
Jul 7, 2025 · 14 min
DERIV - Valuing a Derivative Using a One-Period Binomial Model
Construct a simple up/down binomial tree to price a European call. Learn risk-neutralprobabilities, replicate pay-offs with ∆-hedged portfolios, and generalise theframework for any derivative where pay-off depends on one period of pricemovement.
Jul 6, 2025 · 12 min
DERIV - Option Replication Using Put–Call Parity
Employ put–call parity to replicate forwards, build collars, and decompose equityvalue into debt + option components. Extend to forward parity for off-marketstrikes and see how corporate finance uses these identities.
Jul 6, 2025 · 15 min
DERIV - Pricing and Valuation of Options
Break option value into intrinsic and time components, test moneyness, andstudy six core inputs (spot, strike, time, rate, volatility, income). Use arbitrage andreplication arguments to bound fair prices before jumping into models later.
Jul 6, 2025 · 10 min
DERIV - Pricing and Valuation of Interest Rate and Other Swaps
View a plain-vanilla swap as a strip of forward contracts: solve for the par swaprate that sets initial value to zero, then track mark-to-market gains as rates move.Covers fixed-for-float interest swaps, currency swaps and the impact of clearing.
Jul 5, 2025 · 13 min
DERIV - Pricing and Valuation of Futures Contracts
Derive fair-value futures prices at inception, then follow daily variation margin tosee how gains/losses crystallise. Compare futures with equivalent forwards, explorerate-futures versus FRAs, and note how central clearing reshapes counter-partyrisk.
Jul 4, 2025 · 13 min
DERIV - Pricing and Valuation of Forward Contracts and for an Underlying with Varying Maturities
Price and mark-to-market forwards between trade date and expiry—first fornon-income assets, then for instruments with cash flows. Extend the logic tounderlyings that have their own term structures (rates, FX), and master forwardrate agreements (FRAs) as a special case.
Jul 3, 2025 · 14 min
DERIV - Arbitrage, Replication, and the Cost of Carry in Pricing Derivatives
Link spot and forward prices through no-arbitrage. Build synthetic forwards bycombining cash positions with borrowing/lending, then adjust for dividends,storage, or FX rate differentials in the cost-of-carry. Understand why forwardprices can trade above or below spot—depending on net carry.
Jun 25, 2025 · 20 min
DERIV - Derivative Benefits, Risks, and Issuer and Investor Uses
See how issuers hedge earnings, how investors gain cheap leverage or preciseexposures, and where dangers lurk: basis, liquidity, counter-party and systemicrisk. Real examples show futures lowering funding needs and swaps smoothingcash-flow volatility—alongside cautionary tales of excessive leverage.
Jun 24, 2025 · 17 min
DERIV - Forward Commitment and Contingent Claim Features and Instruments
Firm promises vs. flexible rights: dissect forwards, futures and swaps(linear pay-offs) then contrast them with options and credit derivatives(non-linear, buyer-only choice). Learn how margin, daily settlement and embeddedleverage shape risk, and why put–call parity lets you build a synthetic forward fromtwo options.
Jun 23, 2025 · 21 min
DERIV - Derivative Instrument and Derivative Market Features
Quick tour of the derivatives universe: define what makes a contract aderivative, classify popular underlyings (equities, rates, FX, commodities, credit),and compare OTC versus exchange-traded markets—including how centralcounterparties (CCPs) reduce default risk. By the end you’ll know where eachinstrument trades, why standardisation matters for liquidity, and how margin keepsthe system safe.

Deep Dive: CFA® Level I Prep 2026

PORT - Basics of Portfolio Planning and Construction

PORT - Portfolio Management: An Overview

PORT - Portfolio Risk and Return: Part II

PORT - Portfolio Risk and Return: Part I

ALT - Hedge Funds

ALT - Natural Resources

ALT - Real Estate and Infrastructure

ALT - Investments in Private Capital: Equity and Debt

ALT - Alternative Investment Performance and Returns

ALT - Alternative Investment Features, Methods, and Structures

DERIV - Valuing a Derivative Using a One-Period Binomial Model

DERIV - Option Replication Using Put–Call Parity

DERIV - Pricing and Valuation of Options

DERIV - Pricing and Valuation of Interest Rate and Other Swaps

DERIV - Pricing and Valuation of Futures Contracts

DERIV - Pricing and Valuation of Forward Contracts and for an Underlying with Varying Maturities

DERIV - Arbitrage, Replication, and the Cost of Carry in Pricing Derivatives

DERIV - Derivative Benefits, Risks, and Issuer and Investor Uses

DERIV - Forward Commitment and Contingent Claim Features and Instruments

DERIV - Derivative Instrument and Derivative Market Features

Deep Dive: CFA® Level I Prep 2026