"Practical Portfolio Optimization with SQL" is an essential guide for financial engineering students seeking to hone their practical skills in database management, particularly in the realm of portfolio optimization. This hands-on guide aims to provide comprehensive knowledge and practical experience with SQL, using portfolio optimization as the key application.

The book's structure is crafted into ten carefully designed modules, each focusing on a specific aspect of SQL and its application in portfolio management. The first few modules introduce the fundamentals, starting from creating database and tables to manipulating and querying data. As readers progress, they delve deeper into advanced SQL features like Joins, Unions, Subqueries, Views, and Transactions. 

The guide further elevates the learning experience by illustrating the creation of stored procedures and functions to automate recurring tasks. Readers will learn to leverage database triggers and events for real-time portfolio management and explore database performance tuning and optimization strategies for efficient portfolio management. 

Additionally, the book places significant emphasis on data security, privacy, and adhering to financial industry regulations. Towards the end, it offers insights on how to interface MySQL with Python, which facilitates complex data analysis and optimization tasks. 

"Practical Portfolio Optimization with SQL" is an invaluable resource for aspiring financial engineers, data analysts, or anyone interested in managing financial portfolios more effectively using SQL. By the end of this book, readers will be equipped with the skills to create, manage, and optimize their own portfolio database.