Author David W. Bianchi wrote Blue Chip Kids: What Every Child And Parent Should Know About Money, Investing, and the Stock Market as a tool for parents and kids to start the discussion about money and finances. Bianchi is an investor and lawyer with an economics degree from Tufts University. Most schools don’t teach kids life skills about money, and Bianchi, the father of a young teen, was surprised at the lack of financial books for teens. He decided to write this book as a teaching tool for his son.
Blue Chip Kids: What Every Child And Parent Should Know About Money, Investing, and the Stock Market discusses 100 topics in easy-to-read language with kid-friendly illustrations and simple examples. The book includes the basics—how to pay for things with credit cards, debit cards, checks and electronic bill payments—as well as budgeting and understanding what it means to have debt. It also delves into more complex topics such as buying and selling stock, currencies, exchange rates, dividends, and puts and calls, among other topics.
Most teens know about college loans but have no idea what that means in the real world. Do colleges explain to them how much interest they will be paying back on a $200,000 college loan? Or how long it will take? This book introduces the basics of borrowing money and interest rates. Bianchi also takes on taxes, another topic that most teens don’t learn about in school. It even approaches complex topics such as venture capital and private equity in an easily understandable way.
Many parents find some of these topics daunting and may not know that much about the stock market or finance, so this book is a great conversation starter. It is a wonderful teaching tool to start a dialogue between parents and their children about money and investing. In the process, parents will learn more about these important subjects as well.
The book is being used in the Miami Dade County school district after the author donated 1,000 for the 12th grade. The book also hit number 1 on Amazon for Kids and Money. A television show is in the works about Blue Chip Kids as well. Bianchi, who grew up in Bellport, NY, is a guest speaker at schools and financial institutions around the country.
Blue Chip Kids: What Every Child And Parent Should Know About Money, Investing, and the Stock Market is available on Amazon in hardcover for $16.90.
