What is the Best Course to Learn Financial Modeling?

If you type out a vague Google search for financial modeling courses, you’ll discover oodles of classes with distinctive delivery formats, schedules, and topics. While this variety can make it harder to choose a class, it’s actually a good thing. Because your goals, learning style, and availability are unique, the course that’s best for you to learn financial modeling may differ substantially from the ideal course for your neighbor. This article will sketch out some questions you can ask yourself to help you identify the course that fits you best. In the process, you’ll also learn about key differences between class styles so that you can make an informed decision. 

Are You Brand New to Financial Modeling?

Your baseline knowledge and skills can have a big impact on whether you’ll find your financial modeling course rewarding or not. To find a class that will be fulfilling in all the right ways, take time beforehand to evaluate your skill level. If you’re starting from a fresh slate, double-check to ensure that the classes you’re interested in are open to beginners. Many classes mention they’re beginner-friendly in their course descriptions, but if not, you can also identify beginner-friendly courses by checking the class curriculum to see if it covers introductory skills. To ensure you’ll keep up in the early days of a longer vocational course, you can prepare for class ahead of time by participating in a short introductory class or even simply going over some free learning resources. 

You might already have some financial modeling experience to work with, and in that case, you may prefer a financial modeling class that omits basic skills in favor of more advanced training. In this case, there are plenty of short courses tackling topics like advanced Excel, Tableau, and SQL. However, as short courses, these programs don’t offer many career benefits and are best suited for personal development. 

As you assess your financial modeling skills, be sure to include any additional finance skills you may need to meet your learning goals. This might include financial literacy as well as professional soft skills like leadership, communication, and problem-solving. 

How Much Are You Willing to Pay?

Your budget is a key determinant for which financial modeling classes you can afford to sign up for versus which ones remain out of reach. However, there are a few common budget mistakes that might lead you to select the wrong class. For one, it’s easy to factor in only how much you can pay right now without considering the long-term value of the education you’re getting. For career preparation, you’re better off choosing a more expensive financial modeling bootcamp over cheaper shorter classes that are less career-focused. By raising your income, comprehensive bootcamp training usually ends up paying for itself.

In addition to how much you’re willing to pay, you should also consider if you actually need to pay that amount. If you don’t plan on becoming a finance professional and are learning financial modeling for personal fulfillment, you likely don’t need to attend a career certificate program, even if you can afford it. The Internet is also full of free financial modeling resources that can get you started on a budget. That said, if you plan on learning all the skills included in most financial modeling certificates anyway, joining a bootcamp will likely be easier on your wallet than taking multiple short classes. 

What Skills Do You Want to Learn?

As a relatively broad branch within data analytics, financial modeling is an umbrella term that can include many different skills and tools. You may plan to discover everything there is to know about financial modeling in preparation for a finance career or merely want to get comfortable with basic skills like Excel. Alternatively, you may fall somewhere in between. You’ll reach your learning goals most effectively by choosing a class that caters to your aspirations. 

There are many different types of financial modeling classes, each offering training in different skills. Even financial modeling classes with the same class names often include different skills and benefits, so it’s wise not to assume that class names always correlate to similar content. You can be sure you’re getting a good match by carefully reading class descriptions and comparing class curriculums (when available). 

Among the most popular skills included in financial modeling courses are:

• Software proficiency (such as Excel and Tableau)
• Financial literacy 
• Data analysis, visualization, and forecasting
• Corporate finance and valuation
• Financial reporting
• Accounting
• Budgeting
• Investing and investment strategy
• Risk management
• Coding languages (such as SQL)
• FinTech
• Professional communication
• Project management

How Quickly Do You Want to Learn Financial Modeling?

You may be a quick learner who wants to start your career by a fast-approaching deadline, or you might have more time and wish to learn financial modeling at a slower rate. Whatever style sounds most like you, you’ll get the most out of your financial modeling training if you choose a course that fits your desired timely, availability, and learning needs. Luckily, financial modeling courses come in several scheduling formats to make this possible. 

Do You Want to Become a Finance Professional?

Financial modeling has dozens of practical applications that can benefit your personal life, but it can also turn into a rewarding career. Succeeding in today’s uber-competitive finance job market requires a bit more training than average, however. Knowing beforehand whether you plan to become a finance professional can aid you in figuring out what components you need your class to include. 

In a career-oriented class search, you can weed out most short courses right away and spend your time comparing financial modeling certificates and bootcamps. Bootcamps that focus only on one skill (such as an Excel Bootcamp) are less likely to be beneficial in helping you launch your career than those that explore multiple financial modeling skills. Some classes also offer career benefits such as portfolio workshops and mentoring which are also important to consider. 

If you don’t want to become a professional financial modeler, you can much more easily get by with shorter, cheaper courses. 

Do You Need Additional Training?

Financial modeling is a massive field of study with dozens of industries using it in diverse ways. Finance professionals typically need a diverse skill set to stand out from competitors, and financial modeling may be combined with related skills to complete niche projects. No matter your reasons for learning financial modeling, it’s not uncommon to discover later that you need more training to maximize the benefits of your existing knowledge.

One reason to explore further training is to maximize earnings and career advancement. Although most financial modeling certificate classes can help you gain the skills and experience needed to start your finance career, you may need additional training to move beyond entry-level job roles. College finance degrees can enable you to qualify for higher-paying senior roles. That said, these programs tend to be incredibly cost and time-intensive. As a result, it can be useful to earn a certificate and begin building your career while saving up to attend college.

Completing niche projects is another popular reason to consider adding additional training to your roster. Even though you can do a fair amount of financial modeling with just one tool (such as Excel), you may have projects in mind that involve other skills that aren’t included in your class. For instance, you might be interested in learning financial modeling so that you can start investing your money in the stock market. If so, taking a Stock Market Investing course like the one offered by Noble Desktop can help. For ideas on skills you may want to combine with financial modeling, circle back to the “What Skills Do You Want To Learn?” section of this article. 

Do You Prefer In-Person or Online Training?

Owing to the huge diversity of available classes, you can now learn financial modeling from the comfort of your bedroom or head to a local classroom for in-person training. Notwithstanding this, it can feel hard to determine which class format is right for you, and if that’s the case, it’s time to whip out a trusty pros and cons list. 

Highly social in-person classes will give you plenty of face time with your instructor and classmates, allowing you to readily ask questions and make friends. These classes require regular meetings at a physical location and may take more time out of your schedule for commuting. Additionally, some locations offer more in-person financial modeling classes than others, meaning you’ll be limited to what’s available. 

You can receive online financial modeling training in several formats, but most people agree that live online classes offer more effective training. Built to parallel in-person classes, live online classes take place through a teleconferencing platform and allow you to communicate with classmates and instructors in real-time. Like in-person classes, live online classes require a scheduled commitment, but no travel. Contrastingly, on-demand classes forego scheduled meetings in favor of flexibility. Rather than providing live instructor guidance, these classes train you through pre-recorded lectures and other self-study content. 

Learn Financial Modeling Skills with Noble Desktop

You can put your search for the perfect class to rest with one of Noble Desktop’s many live online or in-person financial modeling courses. Want expert-led career training that includes professional experience building financial models with a real company? The immersive Financial Analyst Training Program offers practical training designed to help you build a well-rounded skill set including Excel, valuation, accounting, financial reporting, and market forecasting. Rather than simply learning through rote memorization and lectures, however, you’ll practice applying your newfound skills to real-world financial scenarios. A dedicated finance expert will work with you as you create a professional-grade Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model and three-statement financial model to add to your portfolio. 

Even if a finance career isn’t in the stars for you, you can still benefit from learning financial modeling in one of Noble Desktop’s amateur-inclusive bootcamps. Classes like the Excel Bootcamp are ideal for equipping you with enough financial modeling knowledge to complete personal projects without overwhelming you. In this particular course, you’ll become proficient in user-friendly and versatile office software and won’t need any former experience to succeed. By the time you’ve finished the course, you’ll be comfortable using Excel to analyze numerical data and perform data visualizations for financial modeling. 

When you’re ready to level up, the Financial Modeling Bootcamp can help you build on past Excel experience to expand your knowledge of financial modeling even further. In this course, you’ll mix advanced Excel tools with methodologies from corporate finance to produce elaborate financial models. Practice assignments exploring skills like DCF and three-statement models will help you solidify skills even as you develop greater awareness of financial concepts like market capitalization, enterprise value, leveraged buyouts, and accrual versus cash accounting.