Just about anyone in the jewelry business or a business dealing with precious metals knows the value of a good refiner. If you manufacture jewelry or manufacture using gold, silver or platinum you know how fast the tiny metal shavings and polishing dust adds up and before you realize it you have thousands in a small pile that looks more like vacuum bag trash than cold hard cash.

Others that don’t do a lot of heavy manufacturing still end up with broken 14k yellow gold chains, inventory that will not sell and bits and pieces from repairs and other jobs that were never picked up. With the spot metal price way over $900.00 per ounce the best thing to do is send it to a good refiner and put the cash in your bank.

Common Metals to Refine

• 14K Yellow Gold
• Platinum
• 18K Yellow Gold
• 10K White Gold
• 10K Yellow Gold
• 14K White Gold

Now comes the question of where to send it. In the past I have used several different refiners that were all known names in the jewelry industry. They did a good job but you always hear of how some will short you on the gold content or throw in a lot of extra fees because you had a tiny piece of platinum mixed in with your gold scrap. In the past I would send in several pounds of dust and a few ounces of semi-clean scrap. I would be charged from $100.00 to $400.00 depending on what was sent. Not too bad if you send in a large amount but if you have 2-3 ounces then those kind of fees will eat up your profit really fast. At that time I thought all the extra fes were just part of the refinning business.

Several days ago ( August 2009)I found a small amount of 14K gold piecesI got together a small amount of scrap 14K gold and 18k yellow gold from past manufacturing jobs and a little 10K. I also had a few pieces that I was not sure about but did not have the tools to test them. Later I tried to buy a magnet to sort out any non-gold pieces but could not find one and gave up. At the end of August I noticed the gold price was over $950.00 per ounce so I sent in all my scrap to a place called Midwest Refiners. They advertise a fixed percentage based on gold content recovered and no up front or minimum fees. I had heard of them many years ago so I thought I would give them a try.

I used 2nd Day Fedex with private insurance for my shipment. I checked the online tracking and Fedex said it left the package on the porch with a signature release. Ok I did not need my Thousand dollar package on the front porch of a business that may be closed for the weekend so I called after hours and found out they had a safety box for secure delivery of shipments. Ok at least I know it was a safe delivery. A few days go by and I start to wonder if they finished processing my scrap. Of course it was after hours again so I made a note to call the next morning. Just then the mail gets dropped off and I have a check from Midwest Refiners dated the day after they received the box. It came with a photo copy of the gold filled pieces that I had questioned ( removed from the melt) and a total weight and metal contant just over 50%. For me this was a very fair gold percentage since 14K is 58% gold and 10K is way less. Also knowing a lot of 14K is really 13K or less I was happy with the report. Bottom line was I paid a very low percentage based on the amount of gold recovered and had a check for over $1500.00 ready to deposit. If you are looking for a good and fast refiner check out Midwest Refineers in Waterford Michigan. I will be using them again.

Just a few years ago, economists and top market analysts were held in the highest regard. Not only did these brilliant members of society have a good thesis of how governments, businesses, banks and individuals should invest their money or function to reap the most rewards, but they also had the economics research and data to back it up. However, once the economy fell into a recession, the mudslingers came out in full-force, wondering why no one saw this coming or did nothing to stop it? In a recent lecture, NY Times columnist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman argued that the past 30 years of macroeconomics was “spectacularly useless at best, and positively harmful at worst.”

Macro-economics gained traction in the thirties as basic economics shifted toward understanding the causes of the Great Depression. British economist John Maynard Keynes emerged as the dominant theorist of the time, espousing his view that private sector decisions had brought down the economy as a whole. An additional reason for economic downturns was a reduction in aggregate demand, Keynes argued. So a government could then focus their policies on creating more demand (hence, tax cuts and stimulus checks). Furthermore, the government could reduce interest rates and invest in infrastructure to further aid the ailing economy. Keynes believed that economic intervention, which involves targeting taxes, handing out tax credits, legislating minimum wage, subsidizing select commodities, capping prices, setting production quotas and regulating tariffs, could ultimately prevent another Great Depression.

Another concept of macroeconomics that applies to recessions is called monetary policy. Unlike fiscal policy, which is regulated by the President and Congress, monetary policy is regulated by the Federal Reserve System, the nation’s central banking institution. During a recession, the Federal Reserve has the power to reduce the reserve ratio or lower the federal funds rate, which lets banks keep more of their assets as accessible money, rather than reserves, thereby offering more attractive loans to customers and keeping economic growth high. Another action the Federal Reserve may take is to lower the discount rate on federal loans, which can free up money for banks that have borrowed from the Reserve, thus offering consumers better loans. Lastly, the Federal Reserve may save its own money to buy government bonds and put more money into the economy. While some of these actions may sound good, they must be careful not to meddle in free markets too much or the economy may wind up in worse shape than before.

Are macroeconomics experts to blame for this catastrophe? It would be so easy to say they were asleep at the wheel or that they miscalculated and “misread” the economy. In some ways, they did, of course; but on the other hand, the current situation was sort of like the perfect storm. People thought the housing bubble would burst or that the value of the dollar might fall, but the financial system’s collapse and drying up of loans was the icing on the cake that brought the economics financial system down. Modern economists are perhaps guilty of worrying about the prices of goods and services but forgetting to watch the price of assets, which have become such a crucial part of our economic transactions.

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There are many online dropshippers that are running business of selling pet products online. Most of the people are making more and more money with the help of dropshipping process these days. Dropshipping proves to be very advantageous for the small retailers to earn more money by sitting back at their homes. To start online business with the help of dropshipping, you must have full and complete knowledge about dropshipping and what is a dropshipper? For your information, dropshipper are the wholesale companies that offers the products to retailer on wholesale price and the retailer further sell these products on retail or profitable price online. In dropshipping the retailer takes orders of the products from the customers online and sends these orders to dropshipper. When the dropshipper get the order and the payment of the product he ships the product directly to the customer. In this process of dropshipping the retailers can earn a lot of profit by selling the product on retail price to the customer and the sales of dropshipper also increase up to the mark. While searching for the online dropshipper on websites, you should be very careful and smart to avoid the scammers. You must know that there are number of scammers online who claims to be the real wholesalers and selling items on high rates than the original wholesales rates of the products. You should be aware of such scammers and keep in mind that if you deal with such scammer then you will never earn a profit on sales of the product and it also affects your business and sales.
The best and safest way to find online dropshipper is to get access to online directories. These online directories are not for free and you have to pay some dollars to get access. These online directories contain list of best and most reliable dropshipper and all their contact details. You can search and contact the dropshipper which you find interesting. However, there are many scammers who sell contact lists that contain total wrong details of dropshippers. To run your business effectively, you must have good and trustworthy relationship with your dropshipper. It is necessary to earn more money and become successful in your business. Other things that you must consider are the quality of the product that you are selling and the wholesale prices that your dropshipper is offering you. You should keep in mind that your dropshipper is providing you the best wholesales rates as well as the best quality products in order to earn a profitable amount and to maintain a good reputation of your business among customers and other retailers. You can easily run your business as online dropshipper by finding best wholesale dropshipping companies online.

A liquor store business is one of the more common sights within a retail landscape and they are often a valued component of your neighborhood strip mall. The majority of people seem to think that liquor stores represent cash machine businesses which are less prone to economic downturns. Note that there are quite a lot of factors to take into consideration when buying a liquor store and you must bear in mind that in most cases this is not a good “hands-off” business.

One of the most crucial issues to carefully consider, and maybe even more essential than the location, is getting you hands on a license. The steps required to acquire the all-important license to run a retail liquor store can be quite complicated, so much so that the endeavour sometimes results in people walking away from buying a liquor store entirely.

Always ensure that you develop a clear understanding of the circumstances that will effect your chances of acquiring the essential licenses to run a liquor store:

• Generally, every authority – city, county or state – operates a different set of rules and guidelines.

• Some areas will allow you to transfer a license without any problem, while others dictate that you need only apply for a new one.

• On the opposite end of the spectrum, some municipalities specify a moratorium on new licenses, meaning that the store cannot even be sold!

• Retail liquor store licenses can be held in such high demand in other locations that they are treated just like stocks on the open market.

If demand is high, costs can be over $1 million, representing more than the actual price of the business.

Ensure that you’ve got a clear understanding of the details relating to the licensing in your specific location. Perform this research yourself with the applicable government agencies, and don’t ever take someone else’s word for it.

Generally speaking inventory is turned over, in a good liquor store, between eight and 10 times per year. While there may be a good amount of inventory included in your deal, make sure that it is current and readily saleable. In most instances, liquor stores are priced at business value with inventory value added on top of this number, but make a note that this complete price can be split up to fit within your own investment limits.

In this kind of business, you shouldn’t even consider the idea of becoming an absentee owner. Liquor stores demand a hands-on approach. Take a moment and think about the situation – there are lots of cash sales, valuable merchandise is filling the shelves, there are regular late night operational hours and the business is susceptible to all kinds of crime. You will have to do your best to ensure that you hire really competent and trustworthy employees, as the working hours can be quite long.

Make sure that you select a store that has a good product mix. These days, its just not enough to have a store full of booze in an average location. People’s tastes are changing and they’re becoming more sophisticated, with wine boutiques and megastores growing rapidly. A wide variety of specialized products and flavors are now highly in demand by the masses.

If you’re considering buying a liquor store which has an excellent reputation which is based on knowledge and the available selection, you should ensure that you have, or can employ individuals who have, the same caliber of product knowledge as the current owner.

A good liquor store may work well in any environment and location may not be the most critical element here. If you provide a fantastic selection of products (a good mix between wine, liquor and beer) plus in demand items like lottery tickets and a complete tobacco selection, you could easily be onto cash machine. If you will need to compete solely on price, however, then you must pick the right location. Negotiate the best lease contract with the most favorable terms.

Remember, that if the seller cannot prove it then you can’t pay for it! Liquor store owners can be notorious for keeping poor records or skimming off cash. This is very negative for a number of reasons:

• It may well be almost impossible to determine the real profits.

• The seller will want to factor in unreported income to his asking price but this can be completely unreasonable.

• If the seller is stealing cash, other staff may be as well.

Don’t take them at their word when they say that there will be “a lot of cash” that never shows up on the books, unless they are just telling you that and not including this consideration in the asking price. They cannot have it both ways; if they avoided taxes on the income, they cannot get paid again by building in some mystery revenue to the sale price.

Richard Parker is the President and founder of the Diomo Corporation – The Business Buyer Resource Center. His inspiring materials, seminars and consulting have assisted thousands of business buyers with achieving their life long dream of buying a business.