Value Investing Principles: Beginner-to-Advanced Curriculum

This syllabus organizes the full Value Investing Principles library from simple to complex for a new investor.

Category design (few core buckets)#

1. Mindset and First Principles
2. Financial Statement Literacy
3. Business Quality and Compounding
4. Valuation and Intrinsic Value
5. Portfolio, Risk, and Decision Discipline
6. Advanced Tactics (Options and Special Situations)

Canonical reading order (simple -> complex)#

1) Mindset and First Principles#

1. [Intelligent Investor] Then and Now.md
2. A Framework for Long-Term Value Creation.md
3. The Internal Scorecard - A Philosophy for Long-Term Value Investing.md
4. [Compounding] Finance and Life Growth.md
5. An Analysis of the Buffett-Munger Framework.md
6. 'rule-of-thumb scorecard' Warren Buffett has historically favored.md
7. Index Fund ETF First Principles.md
8. Understanding Berkshire Hathaway - More Than a Fund, It's a Money Machine.md

2) Financial Statement Literacy#

9. [Financial Statement] S&P 500 Analysis.md
10. [Income Statement] S&P 500 Analysis.md
11. [Balance Sheet] S&P 500 Analysis.md
12. [Cash Flow Statement] Explained.md
13. [Income Statement] Hunting Cockroaches_ Finding Hidden Risks in Financial Footnotes.md
14. [Balance Sheet] Understanding the Balance Sheet - Assets, Liabilities, and Equity.md
15. [Cash Flow] A Cash-First Framework for Corporate Evaluation.md
16. [Cash Flow] Investment Memorandum_ A Cash-Flow-Centric Framework for Assessing Corporate Health.md
17. [FCF] The Cash Flow Imperative - Why Free Cash Flow Supersedes Profit as the Ultimate Measure of Value.md
18. [Free Cash Flow] Analysis.md
19. [Free Cash Flow] Net Income vs. Free Cash.md
20. [EPS] Understanding Earnings Per Share.md
21. [Gross Profit] S&P 500 Gross Profit Analysis.md
22. [Shareholder Equity] Analysis and Summary.md
23. [Financial Statement] S&P 500.md
24. [Cash Flow] Analyzing S&P 500 Trends.md

3) Business Quality and Compounding#

25. [ROE] The Hidden Risks of High ROE and Financial Leverage.md
26. [ROE] S&P 500 Analysis.md
27. [Retained Earnings] An Investment Thesis on Retained Earnings_ Differentiating Value Creation from Value Destruction.md
28. [Retained Earnings] Buffett-Style Analysis.md
29. [Retained Earnings] S&P 500 Companies Analysis.md
30. [Debt-to-Equity Ratio] Buffett-Style Analysis.md
31. [Earnings and Debt] Buffett Style Analysis.md
32. [Moat] Identifying Durable Competitive Advantages for Long-Term Growth.md
33. [Goodwill] An Investment Thesis on Acquiring Companies with High Economic Goodwill.md
34. [Balance Sheet] An Investment Thesis on Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) Through the Lens of Warren Buffett's Balance Sheet Principles.md
35. [Dividends] Beyond Dividends_ An Investment Thesis on the Superiority of Shareholder Yield.md
36. A Framework for Identifying Sustainable High-Yield Dividends.md

4) Valuation and Intrinsic Value#

37. PE Ratio First Principles Analysis.md
38. [P:E] Investment Memo_ A Critical Analysis of the Price-to-Earnings (P_E) Ratio.md
39. The Fatal Flaw in Wall Street's Favorite Valuation Formula.md
40. PB Ratio First Principles Analysis.md
41. [P:B] Price-to-Book Ratio Exposed_ The Superior Economics of Light-Asset Business Models.md
42. [P:B] The Light-Asset Thesis_ Why a High Price-to-Book Ratio Can Signal a Superior Investment.md
43. [PS Ratio] Valuing Growth Over Profitability with the Price-to-Sales Ratio.md
44. Buffett's Views on PE, PB Ratios.md
45. Book Value vs. Intrinsic Value.md
46. DCF Valuation of S&P 500.md
47. [DCF] Reverse DCF vs. Traditional DCF.md
48. [NCAV] Investment Thesis_ The Net Current Asset Value (NCAV) Strategy.md

5) Portfolio, Risk, and Decision Discipline#

49. [Beta] Beyond Beta_ An Investment Thesis on the True Nature of Risk.md
50. [Selling] An Investment Thesis on the Strategic Imperative of Selling.md
51. [Selling] When to Sell.md
52. [Bond] Berkshire Hathaway's Distressed Debt Investment in Amazon (2001-2002).md
53. [Investment Analysis] Meta's Strategic Acquisition of Manus AI.md
54. Fibonacci Retracements For Value Investors.md

6) Advanced Tactics (Options and Tax)#

55. [Options] What a Landlord, an Ice Cube, and a Steamroller Can Teach You About Options Trading.md
56. [Options] Selling Call Explained.md
57. [Options] Selling Puts - Value Investing Strategy.md
58. [Options] Buffett's Options Strategy Explained.md
59. [Options] US Options Trading Tax Considerations.md

Overlap and duplicate map#

Redundant variant files were removed from this folder during deduplication.
The canonical reading order above now reflects the cleaned set.

Newbie pacing suggestion#

• Weeks 1-2: items 1-12
• Weeks 3-4: items 13-24
• Weeks 5-6: items 25-36
• Weeks 7-8: items 37-48
• Weeks 9-10: items 49-59