James: South Gate tutor

Certified Tutor

I am a Finance Tutor at Varsity Tutors. While my undergraduate education was in Chemical Engineering (Clarkson University), I also have a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School with a concentration in finance, and a Masters Degree of Science in Investment Management and Quantitative Finance (honors) from Boston University.
In addition, I am a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA ) charter holder, a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA ) charter holder, and a Retirement Income Management Analyst (RMA ) charter holder. I have authored two teaching guides for the CFA Institute used in the candidate study curriculum, Commodities and Commodity Derivatives: An Introduction (for Level 2 candidates) and Equity Portfolio Management (for Level 3 candidates).
My career had included working for several blue-chip corporations (Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly), working as a management consultant to large multinational oil, gas and chemical companies (frequently on mergers and acquisitions projects), owning and operating my own publication (Financial Engineering News) and for a mid-sized investment management firm (American Century Investments) as Director of Client Portfolio Analysis and Solutions.
My Linked In profile is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-finnegan-cfa-caia-rma-1035552b/
My other tutoring and teaching experiences have been at two local Kansas City and Overland Park KS schools (where I live); Regina Caeli where I taught high school students advanced algebra (pre-calculus) and science; and Christo Rey High School where I tutored students on intermediate algebra.
My tutoring and teaching philosophy is twofold: First, make learning fun and interesting by tying in current events and real-world experiences and examples. Second, I demand a high standard of work and effort out of my students. Learning (like exercisesee below) involves both inspiration and "perspiration" to be effective. I also place a strong emphasis on fully understanding the "basic blocking and tackling skills" of any topic. In Finance (in my opinion), these consist of three basic, fundamental and key skills:
1. Asset valuation based on the time value of money
2. Optimization over time of cash flows
3. The principles of risk management