Synopsis: How has technology transformed the finance landscape in developed countries in the

past 40 years and what it means for you

Course objective:
- Understanding of how the economy functions/ market cycles/ investment instruments/
the role of technology
Class 1: Icebreaker, materials distribution, and The Big Picture (Historic DJIA probably).

● Us (Slide)
● You (depends on class size, ice breaker, and students can introduce each other, board
some common backgrounds and goals in taking the course)
● Explain the relevancy of economic problems between developed and developing
countries (how learning about problems developed economies are faced can help you)
● The Big Picture (DJIA slide)
○ See if students can call out major historical events or market events
■ guided discovery throwing booms, busts, wars, and major extinction
events on the master slide
○ Discuss the interconnected nature of markets and global events
■ Asymmetric impact based on the socioeconomic status of individuals and
maturity, positioning of economies
● Going Foward
○ Why you should care
○ What you will learn
○ What you can do
Class 2: Introduction to investment: The time value of money
- An overview of available investment instruments and their trade-off: Risk/ Rewards/
Expertise
- Characteristics of US Real Estate/ Bond/ Stock Market in general (the basics)
- Self-investment
Class 3: Boom and Bust, Business Cycles, and Market Events

● Case Study: The Great Depression

○ Expansion, Speculation, Overheated
○ Pruning
○ Market Changes
○ The War and renewed growth
● Case Study: Overheated Markets full of Dumb Money
○ Probably the tech bubble/ crypto bubble last year/ Value investing
○ pets.com
○ the 4 horsemen
● Case Study: Dutch Tulips and Crypto
● HW: Major market events and You

Class 4: Market Behavior, Fiscal Policy and You

 ● Responses to major market events
○ Internal
■ Reorganization
■ Behavioral vs Fundamental Trading
■ Bulls and Bears
○ External
■ Laws and Regulations
■ Dodd-Frank (no one cares)
■ Monetary Policy
● Bonds and Interest rates
● Let’s not make this too dry, at least make it quick
● Interest rates and markets
○ Loose money
■ Easy capital for growth
■ Gold rush
■ Inflation
■ Acquisition
○ Tight Money
■ Risk-free assets are more attractive
■ Survival of the fittest, or at least those with the best hedge fund and
government connections
■ Unemployment
■ Acquisitions
● Distressed assets vs growth spending spree
● Case Study: Covid and post covid
○ Unemployment
○ Inflation
○ The 4 Horsemen again

Class 5: Interest Rates and You

○ Historic Interest Rates (Slide)
○ Case study: Stagflation
○ Unemployment (graph)
○ Cost of Living (graph)
○ Easy vs Hard Money
● Worked Example: Real estate investment
○ Mortgage
■ Downpayment
■ Interest rates
■ Term structure
■ Slides: Compound interest
○ Accounting 101
■ Spreadsheet
Class 6: Corporate Finance/ Value Investing

● Stocks are companies!

● Balance sheets
○ top vs bottom
○ Revenue vs profit
○ Margins
■ gross and net
● Real companies
● Worked examples (FPT stock analysis)
Class 7: Sectors Valuations
● Flows and accruals
● P/E, Growth measures (examples)
● Profit margins and capital requirements
● Sectors and multiples (chart across sectors)
● Worked example: Characteristic of common economic sectors in Vietnam, along with its
pro and cons (Tech/ Banking/ Agriculture/ Service)
Class 8: Starting your own business with help from technology:
- Raising capital
- Connecting peers
- R&D and competition edge
- Case study
Class 8: World markets (in detail how tech/ data science is transforming finance in these
regions) => opportunities
○ Emerging markets
■ SE Asia and Africa
○ China
○ The West
○ Demographics
Class 9: Guest lecture (Matt: pick a cool topic about start-ups success)
Class 10: Pick a project