Blue Chip Kids: What Every Child (and Parent) Should Know About Money, Investing, and the Stock Market

The essential guide to being smart about 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.

Table of Contents:
Preface xv A Note to the Reader xvii Acknowledgments xix Chapter 1 Money, Money, Money 1 The Journey Begins 1 Money from around the World—It’s Not All the Same 5 The Euro: What’s That All About? 10 Exchange Rates and Currency Exchanges 14 Different Ways to Make Money 18 Bitcoin 27 Chapter 2 Different Ways to Pay for Things 29 Checking Accounts 29 Electronic Bill Payment 31 Electronic Banking 33 Credit Cards 33 Debit Cards 36 Wire Transfers 37 Chapter 3 The Stock Market Is Cool 39 Stock Markets and Stock Exchanges: What Is the Difference? 39 What Is a Stock Market? 39 Wall Street and the Stock Market 40 Stocks 47 Stock Certificates 51 Market Cap 52 Bid/Ask/Spread 53 The Free Market and Valuation 54 When Can You Buy and Sell Stocks? 56 Stock Market Indexes 56 Initial Public Offerings (IPO) 59 The Securities and Exchange Commission 65 Market Correction 65 Market Rally 66 Chapter 4 Let’s Buy and Sell Some Stocks 67 Buy the Dips 67 Bulls and Bears 68 Paper Profits and Paper Losses 69 Risk On/Risk Off 69 Stock Charts 70 Market Top 72 Market Bottom 73 Trading Range 74 Being Long a Stock 74 Being Short a Stock 75 High-Frequency Trading 80 Fully Invested 82 Leverage 82 Chapter 5 Stock Options (Impress Your Friends with This One) 86 Options and the World of Puts and Calls 86 Options: How They Work 87 Options Expire: They Don’t Last Forever 88 Puts 88 More about Puts 90 The Underwater Put Option (Say What?!) 92 Calls 94 More about Calls 97 The Underwater Call Option 99 The Naked Call Option (OMG, Did You Say Naked?!) 100 Trading Options 102 Chapter 6 Funds (Giant Pools of Money) 104 What Is a Fund? 104 Index Funds 105 Mutual Funds 107 Hedge Funds 111 Chapter 7 Bonds and Certificates of Deposit (Sounds Boring but It’s Not) 114 Bonds 114 Yield 117 U.S. Treasury Notes and Bonds 118 Basis Points 121 Certificates of Deposit 124 Chapter 8 Analyzing Companies (Seriously, This Will Make You Very Smart) 127 How to Analyze a Company to See If You Want to Buy Its Stock 127 Price/Earnings (P/E) Ratio 131 EBITDA 137 Market Share 138 Earnings Season 141 Guidance 143 Dividends 144 Special Dividends 145 Stock Buybacks 146 Transparency 150 Private versus Public Companies 150 52-Week Moving Average 153 Chapter 9 Borrowing Money (Don’t Borrow Too Much—Ever!) 155 Mortgages 155 Amortization 158 Credit Ratings and Non–Real Estate Loans 160 Default 166 Bankruptcy 167 LIBOR 169 Chapter 10 Interest Rates (Making Money While You Sleep) 170 Simple Interest 170 Compound Interest 172 Annual Percentage Rate (APR) 175 Chapter 11 Net Worth (What’s Your Stuff Worth?) 177 Assets 177 Liabilities 177 Net Worth 178 Financial Statements 179 The “Oracle of Omaha” 181 Chapter 12 Taxes (The Lower, the Better) 183 Gross Income 183 Net Income 183 Taxes 184 Audits 192 Chapter 13 The Economy (The Business of Business) 195 The Federal Reserve (The Fed) 195 Gross—As in Really Gross—Domestic Product (GDP) 198 Budgets 202 Budgets in Action 203 Our National Debt 204 Deficits and the National Debt; So What? What Do They Have to Do with Investing? 205 Chapter 14 Venture Capital and Private Equity (Big Bets Chasing Big Profits) 207 Venture Capital (VC) 207 Private Equity 213 Chapter 15 Money Smart (Move to the Front of the Class!) 214 Retirement Savings 214 Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It 218 You Are Now Money Smart! 219 Chapter 16 And So It Ends—or Maybe This Is Just the Beginning 220 Disclaimer 223 About the Author 225 Index 227

Review :
“The financial fundamentals are all here in this book so that kids can understand them and adults can use them, too…. I’ve got my copy and I’m not giving it up.”—XETV San Diego “I wish someone would have read this to me when I was a kid.”—WYAM Alabama “Fantastic!”—WXIA Atlanta “What a great book…There is nothing else like it on the market.”—CKWS Canada “This is really a great idea… If kids learn to put money away at an early age, there is no limit to the wealth they can have in the future.”—WPTF Raleigh, N. Carolina “Covers all the bases.”—WUSY Chattanooga, TN “Our kids thank you and we thank you as moms and dads because we’re going to learn, too.” —WKYC Cleveland “This is truly the gift that keeps on giving…I hope a lot of parents have their kids read this and learn from it, too.” —WGHP Greensboro, N. Car. “I love that you are doing this.” —WFTX Ft. Myers, Florida (Fox) “I believe in what you wrote so much… You have hit a genius topic here.” —Ron Sege Show, USA network “We are fighting over who gets to read this book first… This is really, really something that a lot of people are going to benefit from.”— KOB Albuquerque, New Mexico “I’ll be holding onto this book myself… It is really easy for a kid to grasp.” —KBAK Pittsburg, Pa. (Fox) “I love the concept behind this book.” —KABB San Antonio, Texas “Very important book.”— GOOD NEWS PLAN “Very effectively done.” —WKXL Concord, New Hampshire “The financial fundamentals are all here in this book so that kids can understand them and adults can use them, too…. I’ve got my copy and I’m not giving it up.”—XETV San Diego “I wish someone would have read this to me when I was a kid.”—WYAM Alabama “Fantastic!”—WXIA Atlanta “What a great book…There is nothing else like it on the market.”—CKWS Canada “This is really a great idea… If kids learn to put money away at an early age, there is no limit to the wealth they can have in the future.”—WPTF Raleigh, N. Carolina “Covers all the bases.”—WUSY Chattanooga, TN “Our kids thank you and we thank you as moms and dads because we’re going to learn, too.” —WKYC Cleveland “This is truly the gift that keeps on giving…I hope a lot of parents have their kids read this and learn from it, too.” —WGHP Greensboro, N. Car. “I love that you are doing this.” —WFTX Ft. Myers, Florida (Fox) “I believe in what you wrote so much… You have hit a genius topic here.” —Ron Sege Show, USA network “We are fighting over who gets to read this book first… This is really, really something that a lot of people are going to benefit from.”— KOB Albuquerque, New Mexico “I’ll be holding onto this book myself… It is really easy for a kid to grasp.” —KBAK Pittsburg, Pa. (Fox) “I love the concept behind this book.” —KABB San Antonio, Texas “Very important book.”— GOOD NEWS PLAN “Very effectively done.” —WKXL Concord, New Hampshire “The financial fundamentals are all here in this book so that kids can understand them and adults can use them, too…. I’ve got my copy and I’m not giving it up.”—XETV San Diego “I wish someone would have read this to me when I was a kid.”—WYAM Alabama “Fantastic!”—WXIA Atlanta “What a great book…There is nothing else like it on the market.”—CKWS Canada “This is really a great idea… If kids learn to put money away at an early age, there is no limit to the wealth they can have in the future.”—WPTF Raleigh, N. Carolina “Covers all the bases.”—WUSY Chattanooga, TN “Our kids thank you and we thank you as moms and dads because we’re going to learn, too.” —WKYC Cleveland “This is truly the gift that keeps on giving…I hope a lot of parents have their kids read this and learn from it, too.” —WGHP Greensboro, N. Car. “I love that you are doing this.” —WFTX Ft. Myers, Florida (Fox) “I believe in what you wrote so much… You have hit a genius topic here.” —Ron Sege Show, USA network “We are fighting over who gets to read this book first… This is really, really something that a lot of people are going to benefit from.”— KOB Albuquerque, New Mexico “I’ll be holding onto this book myself… It is really easy for a kid to grasp.” —KBAK Pittsburg, Pa. (Fox) “I love the concept behind this book.” —KABB San Antonio, Texas “Very important book.”— GOOD NEWS PLAN “Very effectively done.” —WKXL Concord, New Hampshire “The financial fundamentals are all here in this book so that kids can understand them and adults can use them, too…. I’ve got my copy and I’m not giving it up.”—XETV San Diego “I wish someone would have read this to me when I was a kid.”—WYAM Alabama “Fantastic!”—WXIA Atlanta “What a great book…There is nothing else like it on the market.”—CKWS Canada “This is really a great idea… If kids learn to put money away at an early age, there is no limit to the wealth they can have in the future.”—WPTF Raleigh, N. Carolina “Covers all the bases.”—WUSY Chattanooga, TN “Our kids thank you and we thank you as moms and dads because we’re going to learn, too.” —WKYC Cleveland “This is truly the gift that keeps on giving…I hope a lot of parents have their kids read this and learn from it, too.” —WGHP Greensboro, N. Car. “I love that you are doing this.” —WFTX Ft. Myers, Florida (Fox) “I believe in what you wrote so much… You have hit a genius topic here.” —Ron Sege Show, USA network “We are fighting over who gets to read this book first… This is really, really something that a lot of people are going to benefit from.”— KOB Albuquerque, New Mexico “I’ll be holding onto this book myself… It is really easy for a kid to grasp.” —KBAK Pittsburg, Pa. (Fox) “I love the concept behind this book.” —KABB San Antonio, Texas “Very important book.”— GOOD NEWS PLAN “Very effectively done.” —WKXL Concord, New Hampshire