Diamonds as an investment
The value of diamonds as an investment is of significant interest to the general public, because they are expensive gemstones purchased in engagement rings, due in part to a successful 20th century marketing campaign by De Beers. The difficulty of properly assessing the value of an individual gem-quality diamond complicates the situation; the end of the De Beers monopoly and new diamond discoveries in the second half of the 20th century have reduced the resale value of diamonds. Recessions have engendered greater interest in investments that exhibit safe-haven or hedging properties that are uncorrelated to investments in the equities markets. Academic studies have indicated that investments in physical diamonds exhibit greater safe-haven characteristics than investments in diamond indices. Tavernier's law is used to determine the price of a diamond; the formula is for basic calculation and demonstrates how the price of a diamond increases along with its size. Larger gemstones are rarer and go up in price.
Diamonds of 25 carats and more have their own names. P r i c e = W 2 ∗ C where: W is the weight in carats C is the basic price of a one-carat stone Here is how the price of a diamond might go up with the formula applied to a $1000-per-carat base price: 1ct = $1,000 2ct = $4,000 5ct = $25,000 10ct = $100,000Diamond prices are influenced by global trends; the largest markets are China and India. Since 2008, larger diamonds have appreciated better than smaller ones. Polished diamond prices vary depending on a diamond's carat, color and cut, sometimes referred to as the 4 Cs. In contrast to precious metals, there is no universal world price per gram for diamonds; the industry refers to price guides such as the Rapaport Diamond Report, the Troy Diamond Report, PriceScope. Rough diamond prices have been impacted by the mining companies controlling supply, most notably De Beers. However, after the dismantling of the De Beers cartel in 2001, the industry is now more fragmented resulting in a higher percentage of diamond sales taking place in the form of auctions and other forms of open-market sales.
Since the 1950s, techniques can produce diamonds of any desired chemistry or size. Although some manufacturers do label their synthetic diamonds with serial numbers there is no guarantee that a given diamond is not man made, although sometimes an unnatural chemical composition or pattern of flaws may suggest a diamond is synthetic, it is much cheaper to produce diamonds through artificial synthesis than to mine them, although the cost of synthesis is still significant. The inability to guarantee that a diamond is occurring could undermine the premium price still charged over synthetic diamonds. However, new technological advances have allowed some independent gem labs such as GIA to issue a specific Synthetic Diamond Grading Report which identifies a diamond as laboratory-grown and laser inscribes it with "laboratory grown". There are several factors contributing to low liquidity of diamonds. One of the main factors is the lack of terminal market. Most commodities have terminal markets, some form of commodities exchange, clearing house, central storage facilities.
Until this did not exist for diamonds. Diamonds are subject to value added tax in the UK and EU, sales tax in most other developed countries, therefore reducing their effectiveness as an investment medium. Most diamonds are sold through retail stores at high profit margins. Diamonds in larger sizes are rare, their price is dependent on the individual features of the diamond. Fashion and marketing aspects can cause fluctuations in price; this makes it difficult to establish a uniform and understood pricing system. Martin Rapaport produces the Rapaport Diamond Report; the Rapaport Diamond Report is expensive to subscribe to and, as such, is not available to consumers and investors. Each week, there are matrices of diamond prices for various shapes of brilliant cut diamonds, by colour and clarity within size bands; the price matrix for brilliant cuts alone exceeds 1,400 entries, this is achieved only by grouping some grades together. There are considerable price shifts near the edges of the size bands, so a 0.49 carats stone may list at $5,500 per carat = $2,695, while a 0.50 carats stone of similar quality lists at $7,500 per carat = $3,750.
This difference seems surprising, but in reality stones near the top of a size band tend to be uprated slightly. Some of the price jumps are related to consumer expectations. For example, a buyer expecting a 1 carat diamond solitaire engagement ring may be unwilling to accept a 0.99 carats diamond. There are numerous diamond grading laboratories, with each offering investors and dealers similar diamond-grading and verification services, including the Gemological Institute of America and the CIBJO known as the World Jewellery Confederation.. If the standards set by such organisations are called into question, ramifications are felt throughout the diamond industry. In 2005, the GIA was sued by a dealer who had supplied diamonds to the Saudi royal family after the accuracy of GIA-issued certificates was questioned; as a result of a subsequent investigation, four GIA employees were fired for breach of the GIA's ethical codes. The GIA claims to have changed some of its procedures to prevent such occurrences from happening a
Good Delivery
The Good Delivery specification is a set of rules issued by the London Bullion Market Association describing the physical characteristics of gold and silver bars used in settlement in the wholesale London bullion market. It puts forth requirements for listing on the LBMA Good Delivery List of approved refineries. Good Delivery bars are notable for high purity, they are the type used in the major international markets and in the gold reserves of governments, central banks, the IMF. The entire Good Delivery specification is contained in the LBMA document titled The Good Delivery Rules for Gold and Silver Bars: Specifications for Good Delivery Bars and Application Procedures for Listing; the document includes specific requirements regarding the fineness, dimensions, appearance and production of gold and silver bars. It specifies procedures for weighing and delivery, it describes policies for ensuring refiners' compliance with the specifications. The current edition of the Good Delivery Rules was published in March 2015.
Fineness: minimum of 995.0 parts per thousand fine gold Marks: serial number, refiner's hallmark, year of manufacture Gold content: 350–430 troy ounces Recommended dimensions Length: 210–290 mm Width: 55–85 mm Height: 25–45 mm Fineness: minimum of 999.0 parts per thousand silver Marks: serial number, refiner's hallmark, year of manufacture Silver content: 750–1,100 troy ounces. A bar's weight may change by handling or sampling, thus invalidating the original mark. Bars that do not comply with Good Delivery rules are termed Non–Good Delivery. If they are similar to Good Delivery bars but do not meet the requirements, they must be stamped with "NGD" to distinguish them from conforming bars; the LBMA maintains two Good Delivery Lists of approved refineries that meet certain minimum criteria and have demonstrated their ability to produce Good Delivery bars. Listed companies agree to submit to monitoring by the LBMA; those listed companies that refuse to participate in regular monitoring are removed from the Good Delivery List and added to the Former List.
Five companies are accredited by the LBMA as Good Delivery Referees in order to supervise the Good Delivery System and monitor the companies with Good Delivery certification. The referees' main functions are: Technical assessment of applicants for listing Proactive monitoring of refiners on the Good Delivery List Provision of technical advice on a range of topicsThe companies accredited as referees are: Argor-Heraeus SA Metalor Technologies SA PAMP SA Rand Refinery Ltd Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K. K. Gold as an investment Silver as an investment Platinum as an investment Palladium as an investment Gold reserve Gold bar Doré bar Gold standard Silver standard Refining London Platinum and Palladium Market The Good Delivery Rules for Gold and Silver Bars LBMA - Good Delivery Explained LBMA - Good Delivery Rules LBMA - The Good Delivery List
Goizueta Business School
Emory University's Goizueta Business School is the private business school of Emory University located in Atlanta, United States. It is named after Roberto C. Goizueta, former president of The Coca-Cola Company. On February 18, 1919, the dean of Emory College, Howard Odum, recommended the creation of a "school of economics and business administration" to the Board of Trustees. Thus, in the fall of 1919, the new school worked with Emory College to offer courses in economics and business law. By 1925, there was full-time assistant, five staff members and 145 students. In 1926, eight students received the Bachelor of Business Administration degree. Two decades after the school awarded degrees in business administration, the school accepted its first female student in 1954. In the same year, the MBA program commenced, with 19 registered students. In 1992, the evening MBA program was introduced; when the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business began accrediting master’s programs, Emory’s program was one of the first to be approved.
Four years Emory appeared on the list of the top American colleges and universities producing U. S. executives. This newfound position accompanied new programs, such as the concentration within the MBA program for professional accounting and, in 1979, the Executive MBA program. At this time, the school created a plan to allow students to complete both the MBA and Juris Doctor degree within four years. Rankings of the school’s programs highlight the results: in 1986, the Executive MBA program was ranked in the top 15 in a Business Week survey. In 1994, the school was renamed for Roberto C. Goizueta, the CEO of The Coca-Cola Company; the millennium brought about a new PhD program in business administration and a new program in Real Estate. The school installed its current dean, Professor Erika James, in 2014; the BBA program is designed for students who have spent at least a year at Oxford College. As it is a two-year program, most students apply to enter Goizueta in their junior year, though students may enter in the spring semester of their sophomore year if they have achieved junior standing.
Students are required to have completed at least 60 credit hours of course work and to have completed a series of prerequisite courses, including Financial Accounting and Economics, to be considered for admission. The BBA office will take into account a student’s performance in business prerequisite courses, campus involvement, internship experiences, strong letters of recommendation when determining acceptance; the BBA class of 2011 averaged a 1371 on their SATs and a 3.6 GPA. The undergraduate program is a two-year program through which students receive a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. Students take a core curriculum of classes, which includes courses such as Corporate Finance, Strategic Management, Business Communications, Business Law. Students concentrate in one or more area depth. Area depths include Accounting, Marketing, Strategy & Management Consulting, Information Systems & Operations Management. Students are able to double major and earn a degree from Emory College. There are leadership opportunities available for undergraduate students, through participation in clubs such as Goizueta Investors and Goizueta Marketing Club, or through the BBA council, Goizueta’s student government body.
The undergraduate program offers an exchange program, with 35% of undergraduate students going abroad for at least one semester. Businessweek ranked the BBA program #3 in the nation in 2011. There are numerous MBA programs offered at Emory, including Full Time and Executive programs. All applicants must complete the GMAT, non-native English speaking applicants must complete the TOEFL or equivalent test. Evening MBA applicants must work in the metro Atlanta area; the average accepted Full Time MBA for the class of 2012 had a GMAT of 680, a 3.4 Undergrad GPA, 5 years of work experience. The Full-time MBA program places emphasis on leadership development; the Goizueta Advanced Leadership Academy provides development in team leadership. There are clubs for students to join and lead, including Entrepreneurship Club and Microfinance Club. MBA students have access to the Career Management Center, which provides students career counseling as well as connecting them to companies to help ease the job search.
87% of the MBA class of 2013 reported receiving job offers upon graduation and 98% had received offers by 3-months after graduation. Goizueta’s Evening MBA program, ranked in the top 25 nationally since 1995, is designed for professionals living and working in the Metro Atlanta area; the standard length of the Evening MBA program is 32 months, though it can be completed in as little as 24. Each course meets once a week, with core classes being taken with other Evening MBAs and electives being taken with students from other MBA programs and class years; the Evening MBA program offers International Study Abroad options via annual one-week overseas learning opportunities, which allow students the means to observe and learn first-hand current business challenges in countries such as Argentina, Brazil and The Netherlands. Evening MBAs have full access to the Career Management Center including dedicated personnel in the CMC for Working Professionals to help with resume editing, interviewing preparation, career development and coaching and access to on-campus recruiting.
Goizueta’s Executive MBA program, ranked by Businessweek as the 15th best program worldwide in 2011, offers a Modular Executive MBA and a Weekend
Family office
The term family office can refer to a family controlled investment group, the two major terms: single family office or multi-family office. The distinction is important since, despite the similar names, they provide different services; this article refers principally to single family offices, which are the predominant forms of family offices today. An SFO is a private company that manages trusts for a single family; the company's financial capital is the family's own wealth accumulated over many family generations. Traditional family offices provide personal services such as managing household staff and making travel arrangements. Other services handled by the traditional family office include property management, day-to-day accounting and payroll activities, management of legal affairs. Family offices provide family management services, which includes family governance and investment education, philanthropy coordination, succession planning. A family office can cost over $1 million a year to operate, so the family's net worth exceeds $100 million in investable assets.
Some family offices have accepted non-family members - starting with a club investment structure. These hybrid family offices fall between a pure single family office & a traditional multi family office setup. More the term "family office" or multi family office is used to refer to financial services for wealthy families. According to The New York Times the Rockefellers first pioneered family offices in the late 19th century. Family offices started gaining popularity in the 1980s, since 2005, as the ranks of the super-rich grew to record proportions family offices swelled proportionately. A traditional single family office is a business run for a single family, its sole function is to centralize the management of a significant family fortune. These organizations employ staff to manage investments, philanthropic activities and legal matters; the purpose of the family office is to transfer established wealth across generations. The family office invests the family's money, manages all of the family's assets, disburses payments to family members as required.
The Family Office Council, the membership group for single family offices, defines a single family office as "An SFO is a private organisation that manages the investments for a single wealthy family. The assets are the family’s own wealth accumulated over many family generations. In addition to investment management some Family Offices provide personal services such as managing household staff and making travel arrangements. Other services handled by the traditional Family Office include property management, day-to-day accounting and payroll activities, management of legal affairs. Family Offices provide family management services, which includes family governance and investment education, philanthropy coordination, succession planning."The office itself either is, or operates just like, a corporation, with a president, CFO, CIO, etc. and a support staff. The officers are compensated per their arrangement with the family with overrides based on the profits or capital gains generated by the office.
Family offices are built around core assets that are professionally managed. As profits are created, assets are deployed into investments. In addition, a more aggressive and well-capitalized office may be engaged in private equity and venture capital opportunities, as well as sponsoring hedge funds and owning large amounts of commercial real estate. Many family offices turn to hedge funds for alignment of interest based on risk and return assessment goals; some family offices just allocate funds to outside managers. Defining the service proposition is not straightforward and a common phrase used by industry insiders is: "When you have seen one family office you have seen one family office"; some firms seek to distinguish themselves with unique offerings such as personality profiling of family members to support better alignment and communications for multi-generational wealth management. Some professionals have created models to try and explain the types of family offices which exist and different levels of services offered.
Scott Gardner, President of Sterling Wealth Management, separated into four classes:Class I Family Offices provide estate and financial services and are operated by an independent company that receives direct oversight from a family trustee or administrator. A typical Class I family office: Offers comprehensive financial oversight of all liquid financial assets. Offers daily management of all illiquid assets, such as real estate. Can administer and manage the entire estate with little to no supervision. Charges a flat monthly fee for all family office services. Offers advice will not sell products. Offers a comprehensive monthly report of all estate activity for no additional fee. Class II Family Offices are known as Virtual-Family Offices. A typical Class II family office: Assists in the financial oversight of all liquid financial assets. Assists in the daily management of all illiquid assets, such as real estate. Assists in the administration of the family estate with little to no supervision.
Charges a flat monthly fee for all family office services. Offers advice will not sell products. Class III Family Offices focus on providing financial services and are operated by a bank, law firm, or accountant firm. A typical Class III family office: Offers investment advice for a fee. Can offer products and services outside the scop
Derivative (finance)
In finance, a derivative is a contract that derives its value from the performance of an underlying entity. This underlying entity can be an asset, index, or interest rate, is simply called the "underlying." Derivatives can be used for a number of purposes, including insuring against price movements, increasing exposure to price movements for speculation or getting access to otherwise hard-to-trade assets or markets. Some of the more common derivatives include forwards, options and variations of these such as synthetic collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. Most derivatives are traded over-the-counter or on an exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange, while most insurance contracts have developed into a separate industry. In the United States, after the financial crisis of 2007–2009, there has been increased pressure to move derivatives to trade on exchanges. Derivatives are one of the three main categories of financial instruments, the other two being stocks and debt.
The oldest example of a derivative in history, attested to by Aristotle, is thought to be a contract transaction of olives, entered into by ancient Greek philosopher Thales, who made a profit in the exchange. Bucket shops, outlawed a century ago, are a more recent historical example. Derivatives are contracts between two parties that specify conditions under which payments are to be made between the parties; the assets include commodities, bonds, interest rates and currencies, but they can be other derivatives, which adds another layer of complexity to proper valuation. The components of a firm's capital structure, e.g. bonds and stock, can be considered derivatives, more options, with the underlying being the firm's assets, but this is unusual outside of technical contexts. From the economic point of view, financial derivatives are cash flows, that are conditioned stochastically and discounted to present value; the market risk inherent in the underlying asset is attached to the financial derivative through contractual agreements and hence can be traded separately.
The underlying asset does not have to be acquired. Derivatives therefore allow the breakup of ownership and participation in the market value of an asset; this provides a considerable amount of freedom regarding the contract design. That contractual freedom allows derivative designers to modify the participation in the performance of the underlying asset arbitrarily. Thus, the participation in the market value of the underlying can be weaker, stronger, or implemented as inverse. Hence the market price risk of the underlying asset can be controlled in every situation. There are two groups of derivative contracts: the traded over-the-counter derivatives such as swaps that do not go through an exchange or other intermediary, exchange-traded derivatives that are traded through specialized derivatives exchanges or other exchanges. Derivatives are more common in the modern era. One of the oldest derivatives is rice futures, which have been traded on the Dojima Rice Exchange since the eighteenth century.
Derivatives are broadly categorized by the relationship between the underlying asset and the derivative. Derivatives may broadly be categorized as "lock" or "option" products. Lock products obligate the contractual parties to the terms over the life of the contract. Option products provide the buyer the right, but not the obligation to enter the contract under the terms specified. Derivatives can be used either for speculation; this distinction is important because the former is a prudent aspect of operations and financial management for many firms across many industries. Along with many other financial products and services, derivatives reform is an element of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010; the Act delegated many rule-making details of regulatory oversight to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and those details are not finalized nor implemented as of late 2012. To give an idea of the size of the derivative market, The Economist has reported that as of June 2011, the over-the-counter derivatives market amounted to $700 trillion, the size of the market traded on exchanges totaled an additional $83 trillion.
For the fourth quarter 2017 the European Securities Market Authority estimated the size of European derivatives market at a size of €660 trillion with 74 million outstanding contracts. However, these are "notional" values, some economists say that this value exaggerates the market value and the true credit risk faced by the parties involved. For example, in 2010, while the aggregate of OTC derivatives exceeded $600 trillion, the value of the market was estimated much lower, at $21 trillion; the credit risk equivalent of the derivative contracts was estimated at $3.3 trillion. Still, eve
Real estate
Real estate is "property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water. Also: the business of real estate, it is a legal term used in jurisdictions whose legal system is derived from English common law, such as India, Wales, Northern Ireland, United States, Pakistan and New Zealand. Residential real estate may contain either a single family or multifamily structure, available for occupation or for non-business purposes. Residences can be classified by. Different types of housing tenure can be used for the same physical type. For example, connected residences might be owned by a single entity and leased out, or owned separately with an agreement covering the relationship between units and common areas and concerns. Major categoriesAttached / multi-unit dwellings Apartment or Flat – An individual unit in a multi-unit building; the boundaries of the apartment are defined by a perimeter of locked or lockable doors. Seen in multi-story apartment buildings.
Multi-family house – Often seen in multi-story detached buildings, where each floor is a separate apartment or unit. Terraced house – A number of single or multi-unit buildings in a continuous row with shared walls and no intervening space. Condominium – A building or complex, similar to apartments, owned by individuals. Common grounds and common areas within the complex are shared jointly. In North America, there are rowhouse style condominiums as well; the British equivalent is a block of flats. Cooperative – A type of multiple ownership in which the residents of a multi-unit housing complex own shares in the cooperative corporation that owns the property, giving each resident the right to occupy a specific apartment or unit. Semi-detached dwellings Duplex – Two units with one shared wall. Detached dwellings Detached house or single-family detached house Portable dwellings Mobile homes or residential caravans – A full-time residence that can be movable on wheels. Houseboats – A floating home Tents – Usually temporary, with roof and walls consisting only of fabric-like material.
The size of an apartment or house can be described in square meters. In the United States, this includes the area of "living space", excluding the garage and other non-living spaces; the "square meters" figure of a house in Europe may report the total area of the walls enclosing the home, thus including any attached garage and non-living spaces, which makes it important to inquire what kind of surface area definition has been used. It can be described more by the number of rooms. A studio apartment has a single bedroom with no living room. A one-bedroom apartment has a dining room separate from the bedroom. Two bedroom, three bedroom, larger units are common. Other categoriesChawls Villas HavelisThe size of these is measured in Gaz, Marla and acre. See List of house types for a complete listing of housing types and layouts, real estate trends for shifts in the market, house or home for more general information, it is common practice for an intermediary to provide real estate owners with dedicated sales and marketing support in exchange for commission.
In North America, this intermediary is referred to as a real estate broker, or a real estate agent in everyday conversation, whilst in the United Kingdom, the intermediary would be referred to as an estate agent. In Australia the intermediary is referred to as a real estate agent or real estate representative or the agent
Investment wine
Investment wine, like gold bullion, rare coins, fine art, tulip bulbs, is seen by some as an alternative investment other than the more traditional investment holdings of stocks, cash, or real estate. While most wine is purchased with the intent of consuming it, some wines are purchased with the intention to resell them at a higher price in the future. Wine investment is conducted through one of two main methods; the first involves reselling individual bottles or cases of particular wines. The other option is purchasing shares in an investment wine fund. In the former instance, it is recommended that inexperienced investors work with a broker, merchant, or a consultant, to minimize risk. Many authorities publish independent guides for the investor to help navigate this investment class. Indeed, complex models and formulae have been applied to tracking investment wine's historical returns. While there may be tens of thousands of wine producers across the globe, it is estimated that only 250 produce the sort of premier wines that are worth considering as a financial investment.
It is estimated that about 90 percent of the world's investment grade wine is produced in the Bordeaux region of France, which explains why the region is the main target for investment wine fraudsters. Vintage ports have made up much of the rest of the market inventory, but now more and more varied and global selections of wines are finding their way into the investor market. Outstanding vintages from the best vineyards may sell for thousands of dollars per bottle, though the broader term "fine wine" covers bottles retailing at over about US$30–50. Investment wines are considered by some to be Veblen goods; the most common wines purchased for investment include those from Bordeaux, cult wines from Europe and elsewhere, Vintage port. While premium wines have been around for centuries, the formal and organized sale and resale of the best wines for profit became a more established phenomenon in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Indeed, at least in the United States in the 1960s and early 1970s, newspaper articles about investing in wine were more to warn that it is illegal for individuals to sell wine, that the "investment" would be drunk by the investor.
However, by the mid-1980s, in the state of Illinois, in special cases in California, it was legal to sell wine without a retail license, more investors were learning how to transact their trades through legal brokers with the necessary licenses. In Europe, laws are much less restrictive regarding wine reselling. Wine as an investment does have some concerns, including the fact that stored wine produces no return for the investor until it is sold, insurance and storage costs will mean the investor is losing money while waiting for the wine's value to appreciate. There is low liquidity in US wine inventory, as most US states will only allow private wine sales through auctions, which themselves may take a commission of 15% to 25%. Investment in fine wine has attracted fraudsters both in the UK and US, who prey on their victims' ignorance of this sector of the wine market. Losses by investors to rogue wine investment firms can be significant, made more acute by the fraudsters willing to re-offend.
Wine fraud works by charging excessively high prices for off-vintage or lower-status wines from famous wine regions, while claiming that it is a sound investment unaffected by economic cycles. Efforts made by regulators to stem losses to rogue investment firms include the closing down of companies in the public interest, cease and desist orders. American Association of Wine Economists London Association of Wine Investment
