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Saturday, October 9, 2010

Beauty and you...

Getting sick and tired of your job?

Been in your old career for too long a time and thinking of changing your career to find a new you?

What about considering a career in beauty and aesthetics? Don’t have the skills? Fret not! Here’s the prefect antidote for you! Whether you are thinking about venturing into spa, beauty or wellness, there are many cosmetology colleges and/or aesthetic schools around to choose from, but how do you select the right one for your needs? Check out Spabeauty Schools, they have plenty of courses to select from!

SpaBeautySchools.com presents unparalleled performance-based advertising, marketing, and recruitment solutions. For aspiring spa professionals, the site offers detailed information on their educational options within their zip codes, informational resources, and articles highlighting career paths, profiles, as well as strategies for success.

If you are already in business, you might like to check out the Hair and Beauty Salon Business Plan: it is a great software to use for your business. From calculating start up capital, to inventory control for products and services, management strategy and management summary, all these information will definitely be at the tips of your fingers with just a click!

So what don’t the recommendations sound great? Why not try it today!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

'Desirable' 38M dlr pink diamond up for auction



GENEVA (AFP) - – Auctioneers Sotheby's said Monday that a rare pink diamond valued at up to 38 million dollars (28 million euros) would go on sale in Geneva next month, dubbing it one of the "world's most desirable stones."
The 24.78 carat Fancy Intense Pink Diamond mounted on a ring comes from a private collection, the auction house said.

The gemstone, rated among a type that accounts for just two percent of diamonds, was last seen on the market about 60 years ago when it was sold by legendary US jeweller Harry Winston.

"During my 35-year career at Sothebys I have had the opportunity to examine many magnificent and rare gemstones and, put simply, this stone is one of the most desirable diamonds I have ever seen," said David Bennett, chairman for Europe and the Middle East at Sothebys international jewellery department.

"What makes it so immensely rare is the combination of its exceptional colour and purity with the classic emerald-cut -- a style of cutting normally associated with white diamonds," he added.

Sotheby's gave a pre-sale estimate of 27 to 38 million dollars for the fancy pink diamond, which will go under the hammer on November 16.

Blue, pink and green coloured diamonds are currently the most sought-after gemstones in auctions, according to the auction house.

Several elite auctioneers including rivals Christie's hold glittering jewellery sales every year in the western Swiss city's luxury hotels during one week in spring and autumn.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The 5Cs of your Business Insurance

Just as how jewellery needs insurance against theft, we too need insurance for our health…

As much as you know how to choose a diamond based on the theoretical 5 Cs of diamonds, how does one choose a personal health insurance plan? Sounds like a tough nut to crack is it? So can you imagine how much more difficult is it to get a group health insurance quote? Just imagine how many more factors there would be to consider from: co-insurance, co-payments, deductibles, and the details of the coverage!

Providing group health insurance for employees is a priority for many businesses, be it large or small, but the rising costs of group health policies are making it harder to choose the right one for your employees and your budget. Choose the right health plan for your business by understanding what’s available and how much it costs.

Understanding health plans for your business insurance quotes is much like understanding the differences between individual insurance plans. To keep both yourself and your employees happy you need to understand how much the plan costs for you, how much your employees are responsible for paying, and what the plan covers.

So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a fuss free business insurance policy.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Singapore JewelFest 2010

Another invite for the Singapore Jewelfest 2010!!!!



Can't wait to go!!!

Friday, October 1, 2010

How to invest in gold and key price drivers

Reuters - Gold surges to a record above $1,313 an ounce on Wednesday after a spate of lacklustre U.S. data fuelled expectations the Fed may move towards further quantitative easing to help the economy, undermining the dollar.

Following are key facts about the market and different ways to invest in the precious metal.

HOW DO I INVEST?

SPOT MARKET

Large buyers and institutional investors generally buy the metal from big banks.

London is the hub of the global spot gold market, with more than $20 billion in trades passing through London's clearing system each day. To avoid cost and security risks, bullion is not usually physically moved and deals are cleared through paper transfers.

Other significant markets for physical gold are India, China, the Middle East, Singapore, Turkey, Italy and the United States.

FUTURES MARKETS

Investors can also enter the market via futures exchanges, where people trade in contracts to buy or sell a particular commodity at a fixed price on a certain future date.

The COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange is the world's largest gold futures market in terms of trading volume. The Tokyo Commodity exchange, popularly known as TOCOM, is the most important futures market in Asia.

China launched its first gold futures contract on Jan. 9, 2008. Several other countries, including India, Dubai and Turkey, have also launched futures exchanges.

EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS

The wider media coverage of high gold prices has also attracted investments into exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which issue securities backed by physical metal and allow people to gain exposure to the underlying gold prices without taking delivery of the metal itself.

Gold held in New York's SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed ETF, rose to a record high of 1,320.436 tonnes in June. The ETF's holdings are equivalent to more than half global annual mine supply, and are worth some $54.9 billion at today's prices.

Other gold ETFs include iShares COMEX Gold Trust , ETF Securities' Gold Bullion Securities and ETFS Physical Gold, and Zurich Cantonal Bank's Physical Gold.

BARS AND COINS

Retail investors can buy gold from metals traders selling bars and coins in specialist shops or on the Internet. They pay a small premium for investment products, of between 5-20 percent above spot price depending on the size of the product and the weight of demand.

KEY PRICE DRIVERS:

INVESTORS

Rising interest in commodities, including gold, from investment funds in recent years has been a major factor behind bullion's rally to historic highs. Gold's strong performance in recent years has attracted more players and increased inflows of money into the overall market.

U.S. DOLLAR

Despite the recent drop in the usual strong correlation between gold and the euro-dollar exchange rate, the currency market still plays a major long-term role in setting the direction of gold.

Gold is a usually popular hedge against currency weakness. A weak U.S. currency also makes dollar-priced gold cheaper for holders of other currencies and vice versa.

This link sometimes breaks down in times of widespread financial market stress, however, as both gold and the dollar benefit from risk aversion. Their ratio turned positive in late 2008 and early 2009 after the Lehman Brothers crisis.

OIL PRICES

Gold has historically had a correlation with crude oil prices, as the metal can be used as a hedge against oil-led inflation. Strength in crude prices can also boost interest in commodities as an asset class. More recently this correlation has weakened, with gold prices continuing to rise in the last two years as oil prices retreated from record peaks.

FISCAL AND POLITICAL TENSIONS

The precious metal is widely considered a "safe haven", bought in a flight to quality during uncertain times.

Financial market shocks, as seen in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and more recently in the case of burgeoning euro zone debt problems, tend to boost inflows to gold.

Major geopolitical events including bomb blasts, terror attacks and assassinations can also induce price rises.

CENTRAL BANK GOLD RESERVES

Central banks hold gold as part of their reserves. Buying or selling of the metal by the banks can influence prices.

On Aug. 7, 2009, a group of 19 European central banks agreed to renew a pact to limit gold sales, originally signed in 1999 and renewed for a further five years in 2004.

Annual sales under the pact are limited to 400 tonnes, down from 500 tonnes in the second agreement, which expired in late September . Sales under the new pact have been low, however.

HEDGING

At the beginning of the 21st century, when gold prices were languishing around $300 an ounce, gold producers sold a part of their expected output with a promise to deliver the metal at a future date.

But when prices started rising, they suffered losses and there was a move to buy back their hedging positions to fully gain from higher market prices, a practice known as de-hedging.

Significant producer de-hedging can boost market sentiment and support gold prices. However, the rate of de-hedging has slowed markedly in recent years as the outstanding global hedge book shrank.

The world's biggest gold miner, Barrick Gold, cut its gold hedges by about 3 million ounces to eliminate its entire hedgebook in the fourth quarter of last year.

SUPPLY/DEMAND

Supply and demand fundamentals generally do not play as big a role in determining gold prices as those of other commodities because of huge above-ground stocks, now estimated at around 160,000 tonnes -- more than 60 times annual mine production.

Gold is not "consumed" like copper or oil.

Peak buying seasons in major consuming countries such as India and China exert some influence on the market, but others factors such as the dollar and financial risk carry more weight.