Jean Chatzky - Not Your Parents Money Book. Making, Saving, and Spending Your Money

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Text copyright 2010 by Jean Chatzky

Illustrations copyright 2010 by Erwin Haya

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact
Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.
For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau
at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Book design by Alicia Mikles

The text for this book is set in Triplex Light.

The illustrations for this book are rendered digitally.

Manufactured in the United States of America

0710 MTN

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chatzky, Jean Sherman, 1964

Not your parents money book : making, saving, and spending your own money /
Jean Chatzky ; illustrated by Erwin Haya.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4169-9472-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4169-9473-2 (eBook)

1. Finance, PersonalJuvenile literature. 2. ChildrenFinance, PersonalJuvenile literature. 3. MoneyJuvenile literature. I. Haya, Erwin. II. Title.

HG179.C5359 2010

332.024dc22

2010008840

For Julia and Jake
J. C.

For Gunther
E. H.

This book, like most, wouldnt exist without the work, input, and expertise of a wonderful team of people. My thanks go to:

Sarah Compo, reporter extraordinaire, who contributed great research and also organized and conducted our eye-opening focus groups;

Alexandra Cooper, who edits on paper and from the heart, and who first approached me with the idea of a book for young adults. I am so grateful;

Arielle McGowen, Kelly Eggers, Julia Venditti, Sarah Grant, Burt Laskin, and Steve Feldman for their reporting help;

The rest of the team at Simon & Schuster: Justin Chanda, Dorothy Gribbin, Michelle Kratz, Laurent Linn, Julia Maguire, Alicia Mikles, and Anne Zafian;

Elaine Sherman, my mother as well as a former teacher and school librarian, who offered to write the teachers/parents guide and did a wonderful job;

Michael Falcon, Laurie Hosie, Arielle McGowen, Kelly Eggers, David Rollert, Rob Maillie, and the guys at Makibie, my fantastic teammates;

My terrific agents Richard Pine, Richard Leibner, and Adam Leibner; and my wonderful publicist Barb Burg;

Jim Bell, Jackie Levin, Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford, Marc Victor, Noah Kotch, Dee Dee Thomas, Tammy Fuller, Patricia Luchsinger, Gil Reisfield, Rachel DeLima, Amanda Avery, Lindsay Sobel, and the rest of the Today show family;

The principals, teachers, and administrators at all of the schools that hosted us for focus groups and allowed us to pick the brains of their students: Donald Whitney and MaryJo Katon at Case Middle School; Jen Voccola at Central Middle School; Joe Cloherty at Eastview Middle School; Judi Dolan at Mark Twain Middle School; Ron Hochmuth at Alexandria Central School; Diana Knight and Connie Bellantoni at Highlands Middle School; Nancy Taylor Schmitt at Indian River Middle School; Charmaine Tourse and Kathy Bennett at Dolan Middle School; Pat Fontana, Kathleen McGraw, Julie Signor, and Molly Goss at Immaculate Heart Central Middle School; Robert Mercedes and Susan Carr at Bronx Middle School 390; Laureen Mody at Cloonan Middle School; Robert Riccuiti at Emerson Middle School; Yvonne Wood and Jill Groce at Guild School;

And my friends and family, who tolerate my bouncing of ideas, and are always there when I need them: Eliot Kaplan, Elaine Sherman, Robert M. Cohan, Sam Kaplan, Emily Kaplan, Diane Adler, Jan Fisher, Debi Epstein, Larry and Jodie Smoler, Roberta Socolof, Laura Mogil, Ilene and Steve Miller, and Lisa Greene.

Finally, as I said in the dedication, to my children, Jake and Julia: This one is for you.

INTRODUCTION

WHY YOU
SHOULD CARE
ENOUGH to READ
THIS BOOK

What do you think of when you
think of money?

Money is everything because without it you cant do the things you want. Money kind of does buy happiness, because everything depends on it.

Erin, 12

Whenever I make money from a job, my mom makes me record what the job was, the time, and how much I made in a notebook, but she wont explain to me why. Why do I have to do this?

Michael, 13

One thing Id really like to know: How much money does an average American adult really spend in a year?

Tamika, 14

THOSE ARE JUST SOME OF the things kids around the country think aboutor wonderwhen they think of money. How do I know? I asked.

Im an expert on personal financeswhich is a term for how real people (your parents, your teachers, and yes, you) But this is my first book for kids.

So I figured that before I sat down at my computer, it might be helpful to understand a few things. Such as, what do you already know about money? What dont you already know about money? And maybe most importantly, what do you actually want to know about money? I have two kids of my own13 and 16and so I am aware of what happens to books that contain a lot of information theyre not at all interested in. They gather dust under the bed.

Thats why I decided to do some homework. For about three months last year I met with groups of kids at middle schools across the country. I asked questions about where the money that kids like you have tends to come from (jobs, gifts, allowance?), whether or not you have bank accounts, what you think of credit and debit cards, how much you understand about the cost of various things (from groceries to a brand-new car) and the earning power of various professions (actors, doctors, athletes, the president), how much it takes to be rich, and how the economy works. Most importantly, I listened as those kids asked many, many questions of me.

This book is the result. Its written for you, with the help of your peers, and contains both the questions you asked most often (as well as the ones I thought were the most fun) and the answers to those questions. I hope you like it. For that reason, Ive made sure there are many of the specific things you told me youd need in order to read a book like this: fun facts, trivia, real information about how you can make money (and not just babysitting, as Zoe warned me), and how much it costs to raise a kid like you. There are even quizzes and brainteasers. But I have to tell you: Even more than I want you to like this book, I want you to find it helpful. If making money is at the top of your list, then I want you to put this book down knowing how to make more money.