Learn Finance from Movies & TV: Billions, Wolf of Wall St. (Udemy.com)
By an Award Winning MBA Prof who worked at Goldman Sachs, at Hedge Funds and in the Venture Capital industry
Created by: Chris Haroun
Last updated May 2025
What you will learn
- How Hedge Funds make money
- How Activist investors like Hedge Fund icon Carl Icahn and Private Equity firms make money (case study on the breakup of eBay and PayPal)
- How trading floors work on the Buy Side and on the Sell Side
- How Investment Banking works
- How to sell (and not "oversell")
- How some Hedge Funds violate Insider Trading rules and what the rules are
- How Hedge Funds can tell if a CEO they are meeting with may not be telling the truth (based on training I received from 20+ year former FBI and CIA employees)
- Why Over the Counter Securities are often the worst investments
- Why using leverage and some derivatives products are not the best ways to invest
- Catalyst based investing
How it compares
Against the other 1,210 rated Udemy courses in Business on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.7 out of 5higher than 90% of them
- Reviews536#634 of 1,211 by number of reviews
- Length1.4 hoursshorter than 80% of them
- Last updatedMay 2025earlier than 58% of them
Course Description
Welcome to my free course called Learn Finance from Movies & TV: (from Billions, The Wolf of Wall Street and the movie Wall Street). This course is a fun way to learn about finance by analyzing finance movies and television programs.
In this course are videos I made that discuss how accurate are shows and movies like Billions, the Wolf of Wall Street and the movie Wall Street, based on my experience working on wall street at Goldman Sachs, the largest Hedge Funds and in the Venture Capital industry. At the end of this course , there is a short quiz based on the videos. I hope you enjoy this free course and thank you!
Topics covered in this course include:
How Hedge Funds make money
How Activist investors like Hedge Fund icon Carl Icahn and Private Equity firms make money (case study on the breakup of eBay and PayPal)
How trading floors work on the Buy Side and on the Sell Side
How Investment Banking works
Catalyst based investing
How to sell (and not "oversell")
How some Hedge Funds violate Insider Trading rules and what the rules are
How Hedge Funds can tell if a CEO they are meeting with may not be telling the truth (based on training I received at a large Hedge Fund from 20+ year former FBI and CIA employees)
Why Over the Counter Securities are often the worst investments
Why using leverage and some derivatives products are not the best ways to invest
By An Award Winning Business Professor, Columbia University MBA Graduate (Majored in Finance) and former Goldman Sachs Employee who is also the author of the #1 best selling business course on Udemy called An Entire MBA in 1 Course. He is also the author of 101 Crucial Lessons They Don’t Teach You in Business School, which Forbes calls “1 of 6 books that all entrepreneurs need to read right now.”
I hope you enjoy the course and thank you!
Chris
Instructor Details
- 4.7 Rating
536 Reviews
Chris Haroun
Award Winning Professor Featured in Forbes, NBC, Business Insider, CNN & Entrepreneur
Please join me for my weekly Office Hours Q&A on my YouTube channel every Thursday from 8am until 10am Pacific time. Here is my bio thanks:
Chris Haroun is the founder & CEO of the 300+ hour online Haroun MBA Degree Program®, an award winning business school professor, MBA graduate from Columbia University & former Goldman Sachs employee. He has raised/managed over $1bn in his career.
He also has work experience at hedge fund giant Citadel, consulting firm Accenture & several firms that he has started, including an investment firm that had a venture capital investment in Facebook several years before the Facebook IPO.
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Reviews
By Cynthia F Cosey on 3/9/2025
It's kind of a match. I'm almost a total nitwit as far as hedge funds and investment banking goes so probably 60% is still over my head but some things were clarified and this if just fascinating for me so I loved your presentation and am ready for more!
By Ingo Klöckl on 12/20/2024
Interesting to see how accurate finance movies are. I'm the scientific guy and can judge SF and engineering movies, but I was curious to get this inside into the finance world.
By Gordon Stringer on 12/18/2024
I enjoy the quality and Chris' personality. That insider smirk gives it away... Great editing, video, and script—captivating, not expected. I work in finance, so I know many of these stories and backstories. I lived through them. I learned several new things today!
By Esmeraldo Manubay on 12/17/2024
Thank you, Chris, for this interesting free course and for showing us the real world behind the scenes. I might start watching Billions and revisit some of the other movies on this course. I've enjoyed learning from you.
By Phyllis Anderson on 5/10/2024
I learned a lot from this accurate analysis! I learned definitions of words and phrases and body languages. I learned some important information that is not always shared with others.
By Markus Kalter on 5/9/2024
Chris´s courses are always high quality and done with enthusiasm and deep knowledge. However short this one might be, this is no exception. This course is for all, who love the stock market and its representations in cultural interpretations. Chris shows that the reality of working on Wall Street comes with a toll to pay, that is painful in the long run.
By Robert Warren on 5/1/2024
Never watched the show, but his commentary was great. Placed me right in the movie. His pacing and his tone and demeanor was amazing as well! Another hit for Chris!
By Sukumar Devaguptapu on 4/26/2024
It was great, great course learning, thanks Chris..! Wonderful idea to explain with the movie dialogues in background...all of which transpired in real life.. Enjoyed learning !
By David Grant on 4/26/2024
Really cool idea! Great production value, entertaining, and informative in a way that speaks to the masses. Most people won't be professional investment bankers, but for those of us who do work tangentially with it and might have even had some schooling on it...there can still be situations in movies which leave people questioning the situational veracity or even just the nuance. This endeavor answers both with aplomb; bite-sized and entertaining. Well done, full marks!
By Mohamud Bulle Mohamed on 4/25/2024
Although, I have no any Idea about Hedge Fund, I see the course is nice, and I always believe the risk takers are the those can probably win their business, if is managed with highly skilled and wisely
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 94 / 100












