🩻 Hardcore Finance: Lesson 4—Unraveling Capital Structure, The True Cost of Capital, and the Ripple Effects of Leverage

Capital Structure and Its Stakes

Welcome back to Hardcore Finance, where we don’t shy away from complexity. In this session, we’ll confront one of the most pivotal—and sometimes misunderstood—corners of the financial universe: capital structure and the true cost of capital.

We’ll explore how firms navigate choices between debt and equity, how subtle shifts in market sentiment can make giants crumble, and why everyone cares so deeply about interest rates, inflation, and risk premia.

We’ll go beyond textbooks and examine how these concepts play out in the real world. We’ll investigate how large, once seemingly invincible, financial institutions were erased from the landscape after a few brutal quarters. We’ll connect these lessons to the decisions that every company—big or small—faces when choosing how to finance its growth.

From Financial Titans to Cautionary Tales