COMM 3559

In short, this was an extremely worthwhile class to take, but that won't be immediately obvious. The class starts a bit boring as you go over the basics of financial markets, but once I got into asset classes and portfolio allocation the class became a lot of fun. It's like learning a language where only after learning the basics can you speak, here the class became fun because I could speak in terms of investment confidently. Mr. Finley is a quirky guy but explains topics super thoroughly, the class is engaging, and brings real life data and examples to help you contextualize everything. Although sometimes I think his explanations go for too long, I still think he is a great professor. My only warning is that this class is not an easy A, it took me 4 tries to get an A on my application paper but it felt super rewarding when I was finally able to get that A. My advice is to attend office hours and rewatch lectures when confused and know that the 2 page limit for the application paper is superficial, he will let you go above 2 pages if you have to. Great class!

I came into this class thinking it would be how it was marketed: a way for non-Comm kids to learn about markets and investing. Maybe I have too little background in the topic or maybe I didn't take good enough notes, but the class went into WAY too much detail when most of us just wanted to learn the basics. You could tell in class that most people were confused due to the lack of direction in question and answers. Essentially, there is no textbook, i.e. the Professor's lectures are the textbooks which seems fine in theory until you realize you have to go back through >1 hour lectures, which is annoying. Your grade in the class consists of 6-7, 1-2 page application papers about an article from the Financial Times making up 75% of your total grade. The remaining 25% is the final paper that is cumulative and 6 pages. The papers are graded 'check', 'check minus', or 'check plus', revolving around the McIntire B+ average but you don't really know your grade until the end of the semester. The application papers are a great idea - combining current events with the material in class - but Finley's expectation of cramming a TON of information in a 1-2 page paper is seemingly impossible. I would say that if you go the extra mile and visit his office hours you will likely get the outline of the papers down, but if you are looking for an easy A where you are learning an overview of the topic this is not the class.

Amazing class and Amazing Professor. Mr. Finley is great, he is one of the best professors at UVA. Very friendly and knowledgeable. Class is also great, its easy, but you will learn A LOT about investing.