Young, Gifted & Black Series
By Taki S. Raton
Evan White
While still in his midteens, our feature this week has found his passion in business and investment banking.
His goal is to inspire more teens to become interested in this field and to entice youthful minds to start their own business at an earlier age.
He is young, gifted and Black. Evan White is described in BlackNews.com as a “teen finance wizard” who at the age of 16 published his first book, “Common Anomaly” in 2013 to inspire and promote business literacy to his peers.
The November 19, 2013 account further reveals that in today’s society, parents and educators are interested in grooming children early about personal finance and business both in the home and in the classroom.
But Evan feels that most titles exploring basic finance and business agendas are written by adults, for adults and are too complicated for most teens.
According to his “Common Anomaly” website, his book is designed to be a quick, yet informative read and fits easily into most teen’s back packs to make carrying around “on a busy day” easy to do.
Cites BlackNews, with a financial book “written by a teen, for teens,” Evan’s work makes the complex topics of finance, business and entrepreneurship more comprehensive for young readers.
His objective is to “tone down” the financial jargon and explain concepts of general business and finance in simple terms, thus, in the words of the posting, to make it feel, “more acceptable as a teaching tool for young people in the digital age.”
The New Jersey native asserts, as quoted in Inland Valley News, that, “the business world is very dynamic today and welcoming to all business ideas. Teens can be a part of that business growth.”
The November 28, 2013 Inland posting continues to underscore Evan’s position that such crowd funding platforms as Kickstarter allows young entrepreneurs with sights on starting a business to, “get out there early.”
His title additionally in this regard includes new crowd sourcing options for funding new businesses as well as a general overview on starting a business, managing general finances, interfacing with the stock market, and understanding new virtual currencies surfacing in the financial arena.
Over past years, Evan has attended three university summer business programs at Columbia University, Vanderbilt University and Rutgers University.
“I really enjoyed the programs because of the diverse business thinking applied to the curriculum and the overall program dynamics,” he says in his personal biography.
At the Rutgers camp, he participated in a group project that won top honors and an iPod as a coveted prize.
Prior to attending each camp, as reported by Terri Akman in SJ Magazine, Evan extensively recorded notes on industry topics that he researched. And it was at his father’s suggestion that he turn these notes into what would become his premier effort, “Common Anomaly.”
During this past 2014 summer, Evan was selected to participate in the New Jersey Scholars Program.
This initiative, as mentioned in its website, is an “intense, interdisciplinary intellectual experience” designed to teach students to think in a new way – relating disciplines instead of dividing them.”
Scholars participate in lectures and in small group seminars where they actively engage with the discipline.
They also have in depth reading assignments and pursue research at world class libraries and museums.
Evan’s interest in business surfaced at the age of 7 when he began probing into all things business after earning his first dollar doing household chores. His parents’ rule, recounts Akman, is that he could spend half, but he had to save the other half.
“I brought candy,” recalls the then Eastern Regional High School junior. At the age of 10, as shared in PRWeb, he began watching Bloomberg TV and got interested in the stock market.
A year later, he asked his father for a proxy online stock trade account and began investing. When he turned 11, he purchased his first stock – Coke.
“The biggest mistake teens make with their money is not saving it,” he says in SJ. “They spend it immediately, not knowing they should save it and not knowing how to save it. If you don’t know the basics of how money works and how to budget, later in life you’re going to be in trouble,” he says.
Besides being a whiz at budgeting his money, Evan, now 17 and a senior, is also a whiz at budgeting his time. He carries a full load of honors and AP classes and appears quite an active student during the course of a regular school day.
“So far, things are going well. I have been voted in as my class treasurer for my freshman, sophomore and junior years.
I have been on the football and Lacrosse teams and I am currently in the Key Club, mock trial, the marching band, and other activities,” as he shares in his bio.
His future plan is to graduate high school and attend one of the top business schools with a double major in finance and accounting.
“I want to work in investment banking,” he says. “That’s my life goal.”
For additional information on Evan’s work, he can be contacted via his business desk at (877) 279-4483. For a complimentary paperback review copy of “Common Anomaly,” please contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x7879.