Tag: Price

Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why Your Teenager Needs To Know About Money

When your son and daughter was born, they were probably a smiling, gurgling bundle, quickly growing into an angelic child who never tired of cuddles. Now a few years have passed and they have transformed into a stomping, grunting teenager who would sooner poke their own eye out than have a serious conversation with you.

However, as their parent it is your responsibility to have a conversation with them and make sure they know all the facts. No, not the birds and the bees…..something far more tricky; money.

You may well flinch at the idea but they need to be fully equipped to venture out into the world. Here are seven very good reasons why you should take a deep breath and sit them down.

1. If they don’t find out from you, they will have to get the facts from somewhere else. And that means you will have no way of knowing whether they are being given accurate or honest information. Banks have proved themselves as less than trustworthy in giving out advice. If you want to be certain they get an honest view, you need to do it yourself.

2. Letting them wander into the world of credit without a financial education is like sending a lamb to the slaughter. Mobile phone companies and rogue lenders will take advantage of your child’s naivety and they could end up signing a contract which costs them a lot of money.

3. And if they do get in financial difficulty, whose door will they come knocking on? Whilst there are many altruistic reasons to make sure your child knows what they are doing, it also means you are potentially protecting yourself from having to bail them out of trouble.

4. It isn’t easy to work out what everything means without a bit of help. There are some things in life which are simple to understand without any help. The world of finance isn’t one of them. Contracts are full of jargon and impossible to make sense of without someone explaining all the terms. Did you know what APR meant before someone told you what it meant in plain English?

5. Teenagers tend to make impulse purchases. If they don’t appreciate how long it takes to pay back a credit card and how much extra interest they will have to pay, they will max out their card almost as soon as they get it.

6. If your offspring get the chance to learn about money as soon as possible and gradually put those skills into practice, by the time they have to make big financial decisions, they will be more adept. This is particularly relevant if they are planning on going to university as managing on a tight budget will be a key skill.

7. If you take the time to talk through the subject calmly – and perhaps share some of your past mistakes, your son or daughter might feel more at ease approaching you in the future. Struggling with money problems is much more difficult if you don’t have anyone to discuss the issue with and by making the first move and showing that everyone can make mistakes, hopefully you can avoid your children trying to cope with any problems alone.

Baines & Ernst specialise in helping people clear debt with effective solutions including Debt Management Plans and IVAs. Since 1996, Baines & Ernst have helped over 100,000 escape the pressures of debt.

August 17, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons You Need To Own A Breitling Watch

I think it’s fair to say that when it comes to timekeeping, 7 Reasons wouldn’t be your go-to guys. The promise we gave you was that we would always post at 9 a.m.. Not a minute before and certainly not twelve hours after. The latter, frustratingly for all of us, is what happens/happened more than we’d like/have liked. If only we had a decent watch. A Breitling for instance. Judging by today’s 7 Reasons guest writers – Time2 Luxury Watches – they sound like the perfect solution to our timekeeping failings.

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Luxury watches are cool. That’s not reason number one, incidentally, that’s just a little fact for you. And Breitling watches are cooler than most. To be perfectly honest, when it comes to why you should have a Breitling strapped to your wrist, it’s pretty tricky to narrow the reasons down to seven. You may want to get some J-Lo style body insurance going on, though, as most of these luxury Swiss watches tip the scales between £5,000-10,000…
….got that hand insurance sorted? Then let’s look at the seven reasons why you need a Breitling watch in your life.

1. They’re Swiss. To be fair, most luxury watches ARE Swiss, but not many hold a candle to Breitling when it comes to being effortlessly cool. That’s why you’re very unlikely to find A-List celebrities rocking lesser known luxury Swiss watches like a Golana (not a subsidiary of Gola) or a Skagen. In the same way you wouldn’t find an A-lister driving a Skoda. Breitling watches are synonymous with cool, the question is, ‘Are you cool enough to wear one?’

2. They’re Lifesavers. In the interests of full disclosure, not all Breitling watches are lifesavers. But they do have a collection called Emergency – typically sported by pilots and Indiana Jones types. They come fitted with an emergency distress beacon which can be activated in the most distressing of circumstances – such as crashing your luxury private jet in the desert or on a tropical island inhabited by black smoke and bad actors – á la Lost.

3. You’ll Get Yourself A Celebrity Wife. Brad Pitt wears a Breitling and he’s married to Angelina Jolie. Need I say more? Yes? Well, OK, Tom Cruise wears a Breitling and he’s married to, err, Katie Holmes…..don’t hold that against them.

4. It’ll Get You a Good Job. If you turn up to a job interview rocking one of these luxury watches, it won’t matter that you were booted out of your last job as an investment banker for losing your company billions of pounds. One look at the Breitling on your wrist and they’ll see that you’re a good egg and worthy of their employment.

5. Just Look At Them. Seriously, just take a look at some of the Breitling watches on the market. Difficult to deny they are pretty impressive timepieces – see a couple of the more striking (and expensive) ones below:

6. It Could Be Your Nest-Egg. Luxury watches, and Breitlings in particular, hold their value particularly well. So, if you suffer the misfortune of falling on hard times and you want some caviar money, you could always hock your Breitling to keep you in the fish eggs that you have become accustomed to.

7. You’ll Know What Time It Is. An obvious point, perhaps, and a perk which is by no means limited to Breitling watches, but one that shouldn’t be overlooked. You will know what the time is. So, if a pretty lady asks you the time (which she will…..you’re wearing a Breitling), you’ll be able to tell her that it’s time to get her coat.

November 25, 2011
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why You Need The iPhone 4S

Apple’s latest and greatest iPhone has taken the internet by storm, polarising opinion but still garnering a shedload of reviews in the process. Love, hate or tolerate it, there’s no hiding from the 4S this autumn. iPhone 4S deals are going on sale this weekend, so expect lengthy queues outside an Apple store near you. If you’re still unsure about what the iPhone 4S has to offer, here are seven reasons why you need to empty your wallet in order to fill your pocket with this mobile marvel.

It’s an iPhone 4S

1. Voice Activation. Listen up, button-pressing luddites, because with Siri voice activation this only needs said once: The future is here, and guess what? It speaks your freaking language. The iPhone’s new voice recognition technology is so advanced that you can dictate emails and text messages and even have them read back to you. Similarly, you can have your phone read out text messages you’ve received, leaving you truly hands-free. Worried about the weather? Ask Siri ‘Do I need an umbrella?’ and a smarter, less whiney version of C3PO will get back to you with the forecast. Hopefully.

2. Beefed Up Battery. We’re not just talking about relief from that irritating bleep bleep that tells you you’re low on juice. (Surely the bleep bleep is only serving to further drain the battery?) The battery fitted to the 4S allows you to talk for up to eight hours on 3G (14 hours on 2G); browse the internet for up to six hours (nine on Wi-Fi); watch up to ten hours of video; and listen to music for an eardrum-shattering 40 hours straight. If you’re a fair weather phone user, you’ll be pleased to hear that the 4S has standby power for 200 hours. If maths isn’t your thing, that’s over a week, incidentally.

3. Improved Camera. Are you truly ready for your close-up? Because this camera catches every wrinkle and every blemish, with eight megapixels working hard to prove that the camera doesn’t lie. The new cam has the ability to shoot moving pictures at a highly light-sensitive and impressive 1080p. You can finally leave your digital camera at home without worrying that you’ll miss a moment, although you may have to spend far more time getting ready to ensure you always look your best when a snap happy iPhone 4S owner is in your vicinity.

4. iOS 5. The newest Apple operating system can be downloaded by all iPhone users, but the 4S has it built in. The iOS 5 is powered by an A5 chip processor similar to the one found on the iPad 2 and can operate at twice the speed of the iPhone 4. Apple have also implemented complete Twitter integration with the iOS 5, meaning that fans of the site can effortlessly tweet from their phones. The Facebook app for iPad has also been deemed iOS 4.0 compatible; expect to see it migrating to iOS 5 in the not-too-distant future.

5. AirPlay Mirroring. With the 4S you can mirror your iPhone’s screen to your TV set via an Apple TV unit. Browse the web; watch a movie; view a slideshow – all on a big screen. This feature is especially exciting for game developers who no longer have to design graphics solely for a small screen. Who needs a Wii when you have AirPlay?

6. It Isn’t The iPhone 4… …which means no more antenna problems. The iPhone 4S has fixed the pesky signal problems that caused such a stir upon the release of its predecessor. It has a dual-antenna design that allows the phone to switch in areas of poor signal, and choose the stronger of the two in true Darwinian style. The best part of this is that you will no longer need one of those silly bumper cases for the 4S.

7. It Looks Virtually Identical To Its Predecessor. Hang on, so the 4S looks almost the same as the iPhone 4? Isn’t that a bad thing? When the iPhone 4 was released, it was heralded as being one of the sleekest, slickest handsets on the market. Nothing’s changed since then; it still holds its own against the competition. Why change a winning formula? Some people are worried that its identical looks will mean people will not be able to instantly recognize that you have the very latest iPhone. On the contrary though, your iPhone 4S will be instantly identifiable by the already mentioned lack of bumper case.

So there you have it: seven reasons why 4S is best.

October 16, 2011
7 Reasons To Take Your Lady To A Spar

Today it is my lady’s birthday. ‘My’ being me, Jon, and ‘lady’ being Claire. In the midst of discussing what she would like to do for her big day, I discovered that she’d really like to go to Bath Spar. My initial reaction was one of questioning. ‘Really?’ I thought, ‘You want to go to a Spar for your birthday?’ And then it dawned on me. She didn’t mean a Spar, she meant a spa. I thought about it. I did some research. I tried my swimming trunks on. And in the end I came to the conclusion that taking your lady to a Spar is so much better than taking her to a spa. Here’s why.

1. Types Of Water. Bath Spa offers warm water. Spar offers natural still water, spring water, purified water, mineral water, sparkling water, elderflower water, tonic water, isotonic water and loads of other waters that I really can’t be bothered to look up. That doesn’t matter though, I have offered enough. For variety take your lady to Spar. For tepid results take her to a spa.

2. Products. In a Spar you can purchase a vast range of suncreams, fake tans, cosmetics and plasters. All are new and nicely packaged. In a spa, while they may be free, these products are certainly not new. They are all mixed together along with hairs and dead skin cells and happily float about on top of the water. Who in their right mind would wish to expose their loved one to such an environment on their birthday?

3. Dressing Gowns. A spa is a fantastic place hiding place for people who have escaped from hospital. They’ll blend in seamlessly. You’ll have absolutely no idea which dressing gown adorned visitor is healthy, ill or dangerous. At least if you see someone in a Spar attired in just their dressing gown you know they’ll be recaptured very soon. Or they’ll head back to their halls of residence.

4. Sights. Let’s be honest, there are some people who perhaps don’t look after themselves as well as they should. As a result they are fatties. Fatties with clothes on the majority of us can just about bear, but fatties with no clothes on are a sight we wish we never have to witness. Spar, being a decent public service provider, have a rule. ‘Shoppers must wear clothes’. A spa of course just lets anyone and anything in.

5. Boredom. I have never been to a spa before but from what I hear there is a lot of sitting around in water doing not very much. A bit like when you fall asleep after Sunday lunch. I have, however, been to many a Spar. And many a Spar sells magazines and newspapers and even the occasional DVD. So the choice is simple. Take my lady to a spa so she’ll be bored for two hours or take her to a Spar where she can relax with a film, magazine and six hundred bottles of wine? I’m not an idiot.

6. Entry Fee. For a two-hour session at the Bath Spa it costs £25 per person. For a two-hour session at a Spar (not necessarily in Bath) it is free. This should be enough to persuade you, but should you need further evidence keep reading. If you don’t like the Spar, you can leave. You need not feel guilty about doing so and no one will ask you why. If you don’t like the spa however, what do you do? Well you’ll probably pretend that you do like it for a start. And then you’ll stay for the whole two hours so you get your money’s worth. There’s a complete logic fail in there somewhere. A massive one.

7. Associated Costs. So you’ve been in the spa. Now you’ve got to dry yourself and re-apply any make-up, hair wax or fake nails you may have lost. Then, when you get home, you have to use electricity to wash and dry your swimsuit and towel. This is all costing you money. When was the last time you went to a Spar and had to wash your towel because of it? Exactly, never. I’m not making my lady do unnecessary washing on her birthday. And neither should you.

*Happy Birthday Claire. Have a great day.

April 26, 2011