Blue Chip Kids by David W. Bianchi
Nov. 12th, 2015 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The how-to guide to the world of money and investing.
Blue Chip Kids: What Every Child (And Parent) Should Know About Money, Investing, And The Stock Market is a fun and easy-to-understand introduction to the world of money and investing for kids and parents. Frustrated by the lack of entertaining financial teaching materials for his 13-year-old son, this book is the result of a father’s commitment to pass on one of life’s most important skills. Written by David W. Bianchi – an investor and lawyer with an economics degree from Tufts University – this hands-on resource demystifies the basic principles about money matters and shows what it takes to spend, save, and invest wisely.
Filled with simple examples and numerous illustrations, this easy-to-read book discusses money and investing in 100 bite-size topics.
For every parent who wants their children to develop the skills to invest wisely and become responsible money managers, regular savers, and to earn money while they sleep, this book is a must have.
When David Bianchi couldn’t find a suitable book to help him to explain the basics of finance and investing to his 13-year-old son, Trent, he decided to write one and roped in his nephew, Kyle, to do the illustrations. The result is a readable and easy-to-understand guide that covers a very wide range of topics including:
- methods of payment,
- what the stock market is and how it operates (including technical information on put/call options, margins and associated terminology),
- stock options,
- bonds and certificates of deposit,
- funds and how they work,
- basic company analysis,
- the basics of borrowing money,
- venture capital and private capital,
- retirement savings.
It’s a US-centric book in that it assumes that everyone has to pay for healthcare and is more interested in the US Federal Reserve, New York Stock Exchange and US financial products. However, the basic essentials can be applied anywhere and I found that Bianchi communicated his knowledge of the subject in an effective way that never became patronising while Kyle Bianchi’s simple illustrations reinforce the messages that Bianchi is trying to get across. I’ve read criticism of the book for its lack of depth and failure to cover some subjects such as the importance of diversification in your stock portfolio and while I sympathise with those comments, I have to say that given this is clearly intended to be a primer book for 13-year-olds to introduce them to the basics rather than an all-encompassing detailed guide to the subject, those failures didn’t bother me too much and certainly not to a degree that it would deter me from recommending it.
I thought that the chapters on how the stock market operates and stock options were particularly strong – describing complicated notions well and I think that a lot of young teens would benefit from learning about how interest rates work and identifying what their net worth is. However, I found the chapter on retirement to be too US centric and while I applaud Bianchi for keeping his text politics free, I do think that he missed an opportunity to set out arguments about ways of funding social security/public pensions and how politics ties into macroeconomics.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for a way to introduce your teen to concepts of finance, you could do worse than check out this book as it’s definitely a good starting place.
The Verdict:
When David Bianchi couldn’t find a suitable book to help him to explain the basics of finance and investing to his 13-year-old son, Trent, he decided to write one and roped in his nephew, Kyle, to do the illustrations. The result is a readable and easy-to-understand guide that covers a very wide range of topics including:
- methods of payment,
- what the stock market is and how it operates (including technical information on put/call options, margins and associated terminology),
- stock options,
- bonds and certificates of deposit,
- funds and how they work,
- basic company analysis,
- the basics of borrowing money,
- venture capital and private capital,
- retirement savings.
Although it’s a very US-centric book, the basics covered here apply globally and while I think Bianchi’s refusal to sully the book with politics is laudable, I would like to have seen a bit more discussion of the funding of social security and public pensions and attitudes to the same. Ultimately though, this is a good way of introducing your teen to concepts of finance and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a starting place.
BLUE CHIP KIDS: WHAT EVERY CHILD (AND PARENT) SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MONEY, INVESTING, AND THE STOCK MARKET was released in the United Kingdom on 19th May 2015. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Blue Chip Kids: What Every Child (And Parent) Should Know About Money, Investing, And The Stock Market is a fun and easy-to-understand introduction to the world of money and investing for kids and parents. Frustrated by the lack of entertaining financial teaching materials for his 13-year-old son, this book is the result of a father’s commitment to pass on one of life’s most important skills. Written by David W. Bianchi – an investor and lawyer with an economics degree from Tufts University – this hands-on resource demystifies the basic principles about money matters and shows what it takes to spend, save, and invest wisely.
Filled with simple examples and numerous illustrations, this easy-to-read book discusses money and investing in 100 bite-size topics.
For every parent who wants their children to develop the skills to invest wisely and become responsible money managers, regular savers, and to earn money while they sleep, this book is a must have.
When David Bianchi couldn’t find a suitable book to help him to explain the basics of finance and investing to his 13-year-old son, Trent, he decided to write one and roped in his nephew, Kyle, to do the illustrations. The result is a readable and easy-to-understand guide that covers a very wide range of topics including:
- methods of payment,
- what the stock market is and how it operates (including technical information on put/call options, margins and associated terminology),
- stock options,
- bonds and certificates of deposit,
- funds and how they work,
- basic company analysis,
- the basics of borrowing money,
- venture capital and private capital,
- retirement savings.
It’s a US-centric book in that it assumes that everyone has to pay for healthcare and is more interested in the US Federal Reserve, New York Stock Exchange and US financial products. However, the basic essentials can be applied anywhere and I found that Bianchi communicated his knowledge of the subject in an effective way that never became patronising while Kyle Bianchi’s simple illustrations reinforce the messages that Bianchi is trying to get across. I’ve read criticism of the book for its lack of depth and failure to cover some subjects such as the importance of diversification in your stock portfolio and while I sympathise with those comments, I have to say that given this is clearly intended to be a primer book for 13-year-olds to introduce them to the basics rather than an all-encompassing detailed guide to the subject, those failures didn’t bother me too much and certainly not to a degree that it would deter me from recommending it.
I thought that the chapters on how the stock market operates and stock options were particularly strong – describing complicated notions well and I think that a lot of young teens would benefit from learning about how interest rates work and identifying what their net worth is. However, I found the chapter on retirement to be too US centric and while I applaud Bianchi for keeping his text politics free, I do think that he missed an opportunity to set out arguments about ways of funding social security/public pensions and how politics ties into macroeconomics.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for a way to introduce your teen to concepts of finance, you could do worse than check out this book as it’s definitely a good starting place.
The Verdict:
When David Bianchi couldn’t find a suitable book to help him to explain the basics of finance and investing to his 13-year-old son, Trent, he decided to write one and roped in his nephew, Kyle, to do the illustrations. The result is a readable and easy-to-understand guide that covers a very wide range of topics including:
- methods of payment,
- what the stock market is and how it operates (including technical information on put/call options, margins and associated terminology),
- stock options,
- bonds and certificates of deposit,
- funds and how they work,
- basic company analysis,
- the basics of borrowing money,
- venture capital and private capital,
- retirement savings.
Although it’s a very US-centric book, the basics covered here apply globally and while I think Bianchi’s refusal to sully the book with politics is laudable, I would like to have seen a bit more discussion of the funding of social security and public pensions and attitudes to the same. Ultimately though, this is a good way of introducing your teen to concepts of finance and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a starting place.
BLUE CHIP KIDS: WHAT EVERY CHILD (AND PARENT) SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MONEY, INVESTING, AND THE STOCK MARKET was released in the United Kingdom on 19th May 2015. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
