Week 13: Capstone Project - Building Your Financial Analytics Portfolio

Transform your course knowledge into a professional-grade financial analytics project.

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." - Peter Drucker

Learning Objectives:

🎯 Project Requirements

Technical Components:
  • Data Collection & Processing
    • Data download from WRDS/websites
    • Basic data cleaning and formatting
    • CSV/Excel file handling
  • Analysis
    • Basic statistical measures
    • Financial calculations
    • Performance metrics
  • Visualization
    • Clear charts and graphs
    • Summary tables
    • Trend analysis
  • Graphical User Interface
    • Web-based interface (Streamlit/Dash/Gradio)
    • Interactive components
    • Responsive design
    • Real-time updates
Professional Components:
  • Documentation
    • Clear README file
    • Code comments
    • Usage instructions
    • GUI screenshots
  • Code Quality
    • Clean, readable code
    • Basic error handling
    • Code organization
  • Presentation
    • Project slides
    • Live demo
    • Analysis explanation

💡 Example Project Ideas (All with GUI)

1. Retirement Planning Calculator
  • Input fields for age, savings, goals
  • Sliders for return rates
  • Interactive results graphs
  • Save/load functionality
2. Stock Portfolio Analysis
  • Stock symbol input
  • Date range selection
  • Portfolio weight adjustments
  • Performance charts
3. Personal Finance Dashboard
  • Income/expense entry forms
  • Category management
  • Budget vs. actual graphs
  • Export reports feature
4. Loan Calculator
  • Loan type selection
  • Payment calculator form
  • Amortization table
  • Payment schedule graphs
5. Company Financial Analysis
  • Company search/selection
  • Ratio calculation options
  • Peer comparison tools
  • Export analysis reports
6. Investment Calculator
  • Investment strategy inputs
  • Goal setting interface
  • Scenario comparison
  • Progress tracking views

🛠️ Development Resources

Data Sources:
Web App Frameworks:
Visualization:
Documentation:

📌 Web App Development Tips:

💡 Example Project Ideas (Web Apps)

1. Retirement Planning App (Streamlit)
  • Sidebar for inputs and assumptions
  • Interactive retirement calculator
  • Dynamic charts with Plotly
  • Scenario comparison
2. Portfolio Dashboard (Dash)
  • Real-time portfolio tracking
  • Interactive stock charts
  • Risk metrics calculation
  • PDF report generation
3. Budget Tracker (Streamlit)
  • CSV/Excel file upload
  • Category-wise analysis
  • Spending patterns visualization
  • Monthly report download
4. Loan Analysis Tool (Gradio)
  • Simple loan comparison interface
  • Payment schedule visualization
  • What-if scenario analysis
  • Results explanation
5. Company Analysis (Dash)
  • WRDS data integration
  • Financial ratio dashboard
  • Peer comparison charts
  • Custom report builder
6. Investment Calculator (Streamlit)
  • Investment strategy simulator
  • Historical performance analysis
  • Risk-return visualization
  • Strategy backtesting

📝 Submission Guidelines

  1. GitHub Repository
    • Clean, documented code
    • Clear README.md
    • Requirements.txt
  2. Documentation
    • Project overview
    • Installation guide
    • Usage examples
  3. Presentation
    • 15-minute demo
    • Technical deep-dive
    • Future improvements

💫 Final Tips

"Your capstone project is not just a final assignment - it's the beginning of your professional portfolio."
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