Leave Your Thoughts

AP - Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

Would you be willing to run out and buy clothes that were modeled by a 12 year old? Would a 12 year old want their mother to wear their clothes? What age group do business women look to, for their fashion trends?

Not to many mature women would feel comfortable wearing clothes fashioned by a 12 year old, and it's true, most 12 year olds want to be individual, preteens, teens, have their own unique styles, they have strived through countless generations to be individuals. Separate from the adult world.

A 12 year old was set for the Face of the Australian Gold Coast Fashion Week.

In respect to her age, her photo will not be displayed in this article, but I will comment that she did look old enough to win the contest, and the buzz on the street says, the judges weren't aware of her actual age.

Spokesperson for the organizers of the event, Kelly Weiler has also hit back at claims it's a case of child exploitation.

But it seems once they made the choice, in making a 12-year-old the ambassador for the fashion week, (even though she was turning 13), there was no reversing the decision, and it snowballed from there making it apparantly unpopular with the public in Australia, and in the eyes of Europe.

They are receiving a fair amount of flack for it, thats for sure. Especially with three models dying in the run of one year, from anorexia. That proves the industry is a tough place to be, and its no place for a child. London had announced earlier this week that they were putting an age limit on Models, Milan reportedly raised their age limit to 18.

Australia has been boasting that they promote healthy models, they want their young to live long healthy productive lives! Which is a great thing, they do have stats that show Aussie's expected lifespan should exceed 100 years.

Their own Prime Minister, John Howard had publicly objected to the young age of the Model, and it seems as though Australia is paying attention to the happenings of the Fashion World.

There were some reports of warnings of caution from Premier Bligh, she reportedly stated that people who organize these events should 'exercise discretion' when choosing Models, and that 12 years old is young.

It looks at though Australia will be the next up to bat for putting an age limit on Models walking the runway.

And for healthy Models, of course, they want their Aussie girls healthy while walking the catwalk! They wage campaign's to promote health and well being, as they want their children to grow up with a healthy solid childhood!

Despite all of that, the fashion week went on as scheduled, and the 12 year old was the new face for Adult women. Just because she is big enough to fit in adult clothes, one still may wonder if she was mature enough to handle the stress and pressures of adult life?

What could be the reason for setting an age limit?

I think people fear growing children up too young, too fast. With pressures put on society, it's a difficult subject to approach. Where we want our children to have the best out of life, we want to promote them in every avenue that's available to them. On the other side of the fence, there are reasons why the law sets limitations on minors, and it's usually for their own protection. It's a tough choice for our leaders in our nations to make, but when it's for the good of the children, those issues finally do resolve themselves.

Makes you really appreciate London, Milan, and Italy for taking such a bold stand against unhealthy models, and ones far too young to wear high heels strutting a catwalk.

Perhaps Australia might have recieved too much flack for their fashion week. It was their first try, they weren't aware of the Models actual age, and they are keeping up with the current changes in the Fashion Industry. I bet, the young girl's mother had her daughter's best interest at heart, she probably was excited that her daughter was getting such a great opportunity! What mom wouldn't.

The changes that are being made in the Modeling world are certainly going at a slower rate than most would like, but it will get there. We have to believe that!

Thats a wrap

Sacreeta

Sacreeta Veneficus
Senior Staff Writer

RKA Cinema Society,
Bronx, NY

Actor/Writer/Casting/Producer/College Instructor

roncinetv.com

rkacinemasociety.com

AFP - Some 5,000 years ago, on a day with weather much like today's, a prehistoric person tread high up in what is now the Swiss Alps, wearing goat leather pants, leather shoes and armed with a bow and arrows.

One of the concerns in a volatile financial markets is, what should be done with my retirement account fund allocations?

Keep an eye on the prime rate set by the Federal Reserve Bank and the stock market indexes such as Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500.

As the prime interest rate increases , the beginning of credit tightening begins and the increasing in interest rates starts. Stocks will slowly go down, bonds yield will increase but the principal will decline at a more rapid rate resulting in investment loss. Interest will increase on loans and delayed increase on rates for savings.

The stock market indexes will decline and so will the funds in retirement accounts. One option is to transfer all or part of the balance to the money market account to stop any loss and wait for the downward trend to change.

Retirement accounts such as a 401(k) for profit companies, 403 (b) for non-profit companies, 408(a) Individual Retirement Account and 457 Deferred Compensation are long term retirement investments that take advantage of the time value of money.

An investment company (fiduciary) buys and sells investments from the securities market for the different fund allocations in the plan.

In addition, the fiduciary provides an account report quarterly and annually. Your account should be accessible over the internet by using your access code and password. This will give you current account information and the historical performance of each llocation.

You should be able to check past dates as to the balance of your account to check how the funds have performed. Be sure to check your account every quarter and review the fund allocations for per- formance.

A retirement account starts in the growth phase and over the years transitions to the conservation phase. An account with interest income will keep up with inflation and very little actual growth. Bonds will perform over time about 2% more than money market. Equities should yield 4 to 6% growth over inflation.

When retirement is on the horizon reduce high risk allocations and select funds with less risk. Keep you selections diversified by using 6 to 8 account allocations. Rule of thumb, when the fee charged by the investment company is in the 1.25 to 2% range the portfolio has high turnover and is higher risk. Stay in the .80% to 1.2 range or lower to moderate the risk.

In a recovering market, take the opposite action and return your allocations to the equity funds. The market makes most of its money in a six week period during the year. Take some time to give this matter a little attention.

More to come in the next Make Money Work newsletter.

To your financial success,

Martin Braddock

P.S If you have any friends or family that may be interested in making money work harder have them contact my website: http://www.makemoneywork.info for more information. E-A115 584

Contact the Author

Martin Braddock - martin@makemoneywork.info

Martin Braddock with 23 years of financial planning experience can give you expert advice and the best plans for your financial future in one shot. With the commission selling removed, you get honesty advice and the best financial care that you can possibly have.