Dressing ourselves is a vital part of growing up and from an early age kids will learn which colours and styles they do and don’t like. As we get older the way we dress ourselves becomes a form of self-expression and can say a lot about who we are. So, should we be encouraging kids to be interested in fashion from an early age? We have a look at the various arguments, for and against.
Sharing interests
If you have a strong interest in fashion, it is possible that this will have rubbed off on your kids and that they too are interested in the clothes they wear. If so, sharing this interest could be a great way to bond and an outlet for your child to express him or herself. Shopping with little ones can be a nightmare, as children easily tire of walking around countless shops. Instead of a shopping trip out, then, why not use the internet to browse clothes with your child? You can look at children and baby clothes online and talk with your child about their likes and dislikes.
Making a good impression
Children will have many ‘first’ experiences as they are growing up: going to their first birthday party, their first day at school or nursery, their first big family occasion, or first memorable Christmas. These are all opportunities in which they will want to be themselves, make a good impression and build friendships. Clothing can say a lot about who we are, so getting kids interested in fashion from an early age will help them to use and choose clothing to reflect who they are. Through fashion, children can learn that dressing smartly for their first day of school is important, and wearing something special to a friend’s birthday party shows that they have made an effort.
Spoiling kids
Choosing expensive designer threads for kids is seen as unnecessary spoiling by some, who feel that top labels should be reserved for adults only. Many think that children’s clothing should be about comfort and fun rather than about which designer they are wearing, and that dressing kids in labels is more about parents showing off than it is about their children’s choices. Supporting a child can be financially pretty hard some for some, and filling their wardrobe with the latest clothing lines is an unnecessary expense.
Growing up too fast
Some think that fashion is not an interest for kids, and that preoccupation with appearance could actually have a negative impact. Instead, children should be interested in age-appropriate toys and games. The teenage years are when many adolescent children become more self-aware and it is during these years that they start experimenting with fashion. Encouraging a child to develop this interest early, some argue, could bring with it all the appearance-based issues which are connected with adolescence.
The Most Successful Fashion Campaigns
The success of clothing lines today is not only based on how well the pieces are designed, but about the campaign surrounding the launch and ongoing marketing of the clothing. Many celebs now design and front their own fashion lines, with mixed success.
Kelly Brook New Look
One of the most popular recent launches is Kelly Brook for New Look, whose items include embellished underwear, fun disco pants and sky-high heels. Yet if you thought Kelly Brook’s line is big, think back to the following fashion campaigns, which are amongst the most successful of all time.
Famous faces for M& S
Marks and Spencer went upmarket with its ad campaign in 2011 featuring famous women in TV and print ads. Dannii Minogue, Twiggy and Lisa Snowdon all starred in the adverts, which became famous for all the wrong reasons.
The TV ads were later cancelled amidst customer complaints that the department store was neglecting its core customer base by using young, glossy stars. Famous female faces have been used in TV ads for M and S since 2004, and have included models Erin O Connor, Laura Bailey and Lily Cole
Eddie Redmayne and Cara Delevingne for Burberry
Burberry produces quintessentially English fashion, and chose two Brits who suited the brand well. Both actor Redmayne and model Delevingne fronted the brand’s spring/summer 2012 collections, sporting clothing in chic mustard and brown tones, as well as modern takes on the iconic trench coat. The brand capitalized on these stars’ moment in the spotlight: Cara was the model of the moment and Eddie was just about to start promoting the hit film Les Mis.
Nike ‘Just do It’
In the early 1980s Nike was not known for its fashionable sports clothes, and competitors like Reebok instead held the share of the market. Keen to be known for more than just a training shoe, Nike embarked on the ‘Just do It’ fashion campaign. The adverts targeted a wide audience and made it cool to wear sports clothing as casualwear, not just for exercising. This was a great success and in the 1990s their market share went from 18% to 43% and their sales vastly increased too.
Beckham for H and M
High street favourite H and M used world-famous David Beckham in 2012 for its Bodywear fashion line. Black and white photos of the footballer wearing tight underwear could be seen on billboards and in magazines, with his trademark tattoos and athletic body on show. We’re not sure how many men were drawn to purchasing H and M’s boxers, but the ad campaign was a hit with the women!.
Kate Moss for Calvin Klein
The world’s most famous model can partly attribute her success to the fashion campaign for Calvin Klein in 1992. Kate Moss was just 17 at the time, and made a brave decision to front the campaign, appearing topless with actor Mark Wahlberg. Despite the campaign launching her into stardom, Kate Moss has revealed more recently that she had a ‘nervous breakdown’ straddling Wahlberg for the photo shoot.
The birth of a little one is an occasion to celebrate for the family members but along with it comes added responsibility for the parents, which are not just mental or physical but also financial in nature. Each parent desires to give their little one bundle of joy along with the best possible upbringing apart from quality education and financial security. Today it is often found that after a child is born parents start planning out the for the child’s future.
Each one of us is responsible when it comes to our kids but, uncertainty is something that could collapse the financial health of a family at any point of time. Therefore, it is sensible to save good amount of money for your Childs future to keep them financially protected even in our absence.
Similar to your investments you do into a pension strategy or a policy for saving a lot of money through your retirement, you can easily program for your little one’s investment for their superior future. All kinds of youngster investment program brings along bundles of delight for the mother and father along with the little one.
You can give your little one a head start on a lifetime of economy by opening a savings account in his or her name. Usually opting for the incorrect savings vehicle for your child’s future cash could charge them thousands in times of avoidable taxes in addition to missed financial aid.
Often you might be hit with a question that whether child insurance plans good investment option to save for.
Always remember that investment in child’s future and education is a wise decision. There are several child insurance plans available in the market. And you will often find financial planners advising their clients to invest in child insurance plans.
In this 21st century financial planners believe that investment in accordance with insurance is a worst combination whereas, term life insurance policy along with Equity diversified mutual funds for your child’s future is great.
Equity diversified mutual funds are 4 star or 5 star rated funds that can provide you outstanding returns in the long-term. Child insurance plans are connected with high management fees and various other kinds of administrative charges.
As the management fee of mutual funds is quite low therefore, you can invest in mutual funds more in comparison to insurance plans. Therefore, it is advisable to opt for 4-star rated or else 5-star ranked Equity Diversified mutual funds and start investing as soon as possible.
Planning for your Childs future is very important. Among all the other expenses, education is the most important expense for your little one.
Mentioned below are the seven things when planning to invest for your child’s greater future:
- Invest Early – Investing early for your kid is very important. Remember, compound interest is a bigger force in this world. Therefore, if you start early the compound interest will work in support of you and help you grow. This will help you construct large corpus.
- Choose the right options – It is not enough when planning to invest. You also need to choose the right invest plan before investing. Consider your earnings and the amount you can set aside for your investment. Also consider the amount of time, risk involved, liquidity, Return on Investment, capital appreciation and many more. Try and avoid for investments that carry higher amount of risk.
- Opt for growth options – Choose 4-star rated or 5-star rated mutual funds that will help you to grow.
- Invest in Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) – Instead of investing lump sum on an irregular basis, it is advisable to put in small amounts but on a regular basis.
- Switch in time – Before you reach your goal, just three years prior to that you can shift your funds from equities to debt. This is only because during the last three years of your goal, your aim should be to protect the capital.
- Never mix insurance with investment – You should never opt for insurance products that provide your child’s financial future with various investments.
- Inflation adjusted future expenditure – Settle on your expenditure that would have been incurred in the future for different purposes such as education, marriage and so on. As these goals are of outlying future, you should always consider the impact of inflation.
Always include inflation as a significant factor when planning to invest and go for higher returns with low amount of risks. So, make your child’s future secure with wise investments.
Guest post from Steve Carry who is a financial planner cum special writer for Fisher Investments UK and has been advising people about their money management since 1994.
