I’m not a mother or a financial expert. I just want to help. So here it is: Lala Kent, the recently divorced star of Vanderpump Rules, shared on Instagram yesterday that she bought her one-year-old daughter, Ocean, a Louis Vuitton bag for her birthday. Oh brother. Why?
“I know a lot of you are going to think I’m nuts, but hear me out,” Kent explained. “I really have a love for bags. My grandmother passed a lot of hers onto me, and I will one day pass them on to O. For my baby girls [sic] first birthday, I wanted to get her her first bag.”
The bag in question is a Louis Vuitton “Mini Pochette” that currently retails for $880. Kent also got herself a Louis Vuitton “Petit Sac Plat” in a matching colorway for $1,885. That’s almost $3000 for a “Mommy and Me” moment that baby Ocean does not care about or understand. Ever heard of a savings bond?
One look at The RealReal will tell you that these kinds of bags rarely appreciate in value. They are not a good investment. In 17 years, Ocean’s Mini Pochette will be sitting in the back of her closet collecting dust. Meanwhile, the interest rate on a Series I bond is over 7 percent right now.
Kent and others like her (Kylie Jenner) might argue that savings bonds make for boring presents, and that babies don’t know what they are. But guess what: Babies don’t know what Louis Vuitton bags are, either. They barely know who you are. They want to play with some tissue paper and go to sleep. Just something to consider.
