Silver Investments
Silver Investments, like other precious metals, silver is an investment. For more than four thousand years, silver has been a form of money and store of value. Like most commodities, the price of silver is by speculation and supply and demand. Compared to gold, the silver price is notoriously volatile. This is because of lower market liquidity, and demand fluctuations between industrial and store of value uses. At times, this can cause wide-ranging valuations in the market, creating volatility. Silver often tracks the gold price due to store of value demands, although the ratio can vary. The average gold/silver ratio during the 20th century was 1:47. A traditional way of investing in silver is by buying actual bullion bars. In some countries, like Switzerland and Liechtenstein, bullion bars is over the counter at major banks. Physical silver, such as bars or coins, may be stored in a home safe, a safe deposit box at a bank, or placed in allocated or unallocated storage with a bank or dealer. Various sizes of silver bars: 1000 oz troy bars – These bars weigh about 68 pounds avoirdupois (31 kg) and vary about 10% as to weight, as bars range from 900 ozt to about 1,100 ozt (28 to 34 kg). These are COMEX and LBMA good delivery bars. Hundred ozt bars – These bars weigh 6.8 pounds (3.11 kg) and are among the most popular with retail investors. Popular brands are Engelhard and Johnson Matthey. Those brands cost a bit more, usually about 40 cents to 2.00 dollars per troy ounce above the spot price, but that price may vary with market conditions. Odd weight retail bars – These bars cost less and generally have a wider spread, due to the extra work it takes to calculate their value and the extra risk due to the lack of a good brand name. Buying silver coins is another popular method of physically holding silver. One example is the 99.99% pure Canadian Silver Maple Leaf. Coins may be as either fine silver or junk silver, the latter being older coins with a smaller percentage of silver. U.S. coins 1964 and older (half dollars, dimes, and quarters) are 25 grams per dollar of face value and 90% silver (22½ g silver per dollar). All 1965-1970 and one half of the 1975-1976 Bicentennial San Francisco proof and mint set Kennedy half dollars are "clad" in a silver alloy and contain just under one half of the silver in the pre-1965 issues. Junk-silver coins are also available as sterling silver coins, which were until 1919 in the United Kingdom, Canada, and 1945 in Australia. These coins are 92.5% silver and are in the form of Crowns, Half-crowns, Florins, Shillings, Sixpences, and three pence. The tiny three pence weighs 1.41 grams, and the Crowns are 28.27 grams Canada produced silver coins with 80% silver content from 1920 to 1967. Other hard money enthusiasts use .999 fine silver rounds as a store of value. A cross between bars and coins, silver rounds are produced by a huge array of mints, generally contain a troy ounce of silver in the shape of a coin, but have no status as legal tender. Rounds can be with a custom design stamped on the faces or in assorted batches.
Attorneys Fee
Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney lawyer or law firm for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Attorney fees are separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and except in Nevada from court costs in a legal case. Surveys suggest that fees range from $150 to $1000 per hour when billed hourly. Under "the American rule" attorney fees are usually not paid by the losing party to the winning party in a case, except at the federal level or for specific statutory reasons.
The phrase is a legal term of art in American jurisprudence in which lawyers are collectively referred to as "attorneys", a wording practice not found in most other legal systems. Attorney's fees or attorneys' fees, depending upon number of attorneys involved, or simplified to attorney fees are the fees, including labor charges and costs, charged by lawyers or their firms for legal services provided by them to their clients. They do not include incidental, non-legal costs e.g. expedited shipping costs for legal documents. Generally Nevada being an exception, attorney fees are tabulated separately from court costs, and are also separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and other monies in a legal case not enumerated as court costs.
The analogous concept has differing names and applicability in common law systems such as in most of the Commonwealth of Nations, and in civil law systems such as those of most of Europe and many former European colonies. For example, in a court case under English law, the fees of solicitors and barristers two types of lawyer are combined with court costs and various other expenses into a combined "costs", while non-court solicitor expenses may be separately billed as per-hour charges and those of barristers as daily brief fees. The losing party in a case in most common law systems pays for the costs including fees of both parties.
State laws or bar association regulations, many of which are based on Rule 1.5 of the American Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct, govern the terms under which lawyers can accept fees. Many complaints to ethics boards regarding attorneys revolve around excessive attorney's fees.
In some American jurisdictions, a lawyer for the plaintiff in a civil case can take a case on a contingent fee basis. A contingent fee is a percentage of the monetary judgment or settlement. The contingent fee may be split among several firms who have contractual arrangements amongst themselves for referrals or other assistance. Where a plaintiff loses, the attorney may not receive any money for his or her work. Many countries prohibit contingent fees as unethical. Most jurisdictions in the United States prohibit working for a contingent fee in family law or criminal cases.
In the United States, an up-front fee paid to a lawyer is called a retainer. Money within the retainer is often used to "buy" a certain amount of work. Some contracts provide that when the money from the retainer is gone, the fee is renegotiated. This is to be differentiated between a retainer in Commonwealth states, where a retainer is the contract that is initially signed by a client to engage a lawyer. Money may or may not be paid up front, but the lawyer is still "retained".
The range of fees charged by lawyers varies widely from one city to the next. Most large law firms in the United States bill between $200 and $1,000 per hour for their lawyers' time, though fees charged by smaller firms are much lower. The rate varies tremendously by location as well as the specific area of law practiced. Typically insurance defense firms have lower hourly rates than non-insurance firms, but are compensated by having steady, regular paying work provided. Locations like Salt Lake City will average $150 per hour for an associate's time on a basic case, but will increase for larger firms.
Many surveys of hourly rates are done. The American Intellectual Property Law Association "AIPLA" commissions a survey of its members every 2 years and it publishes these in what it calls a "Report of the Economic Survey". The latest one is dated June 2007. Rates are collected for 14 geographic areas and by associate or partner. Many courts have followed the rates shown by these AIPLA surveys and they are highly-regarded for Intellectual Property litigation.
The State Bar of Oregon and the Colorado State Bar also have published a survey of rates for various areas of Oregon and Colorado and these are available online.
Perhaps the most widely followed set of rates are what is called the Laffey Matrix that is available from the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. These have been available since 1982 and are updated each year. The hourly rates are shown by years of experience. For June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007 the rates are as follows: 20+ years of experience, $425 per hour; 11–19 years, $375; 8–10 years, $305; 4–7 years, $245; 1–3 years, $205; and Paralegals/law clerks $120. The Laffey Matrix appears to be growing in acceptance by many courts throughout the United States, but the matrix must be adjusted to account for higher or lower costs for legal services in other areas.
Hourly rates are increasing almost every year and some lawyers charge substantially higher than the rates shown by the Laffey Matrix. The first American attorney to regularly charge a four-digit hourly fee $1000 and higher was Benjamin Civiletti in late 2005.
With the ongoing recession of the 2000s, corporate clients began driving attorneys increasingly toward alternative fee arrangements, or AFAs. AFAs can include flat fees per matter, fixed fees for a "book" of matters, success bonuses, and other options beyond straight hourly billing.
Diamonds occur in a variety of colors — steel gray, white, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, pink to purple, brown, and black, virtually in every color of the rainbow. Colored diamonds contain interstitial impurities or structural defects that cause the coloration, whilst pure diamonds are perfectly transparent and colorless. Pax Prentiss Gold mining companies are an investment method for gold. These do not represent gold at all, but rather are shares in gold mining companies. If the gold price rises, the profits of the gold mining company to rise and the share price may rise. Pax Prentiss Gold certificates allow gold investors to avoid the risks and costs associated with the transfer and storage of physical bullion by taking on a different set of risks and costs associated with the certificate itself. Banks may issue gold certificates for gold, which is allocated or unallocated. Pax Prentiss Gold is the most popular precious metal investment. Investors generally buy gold as a hedge or safe haven against any economic, political, social, or fiat currency crises. The gold market is also subject to speculation as other commodities are, especially with futures contracts and derivatives. Pax Prentiss A gold coin is a coin made mostly or entirely of gold. Gold has been for coins practically since the invention of coinage, originally because of gold's intrinsic value. In modern times, most gold coins sold either to collectors, or to be used as bullion coins— coins whose nominal value is irrelevant and which serve primarily as a method of investing in gold. Pax Prentiss A gemstone is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks and organic materials are not minerals, but are for jewelry, and are therefore often gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are in jewelry because of their luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Pax Prentiss Gold is a safe-haven asset that can actually increase in value during stock market slides and times of recession. For centuries, buying gold is one of the best ways to preserve one's wealth and purchasing power. Gold is a unique investment, one that has served humankind well for thousands of years. Pax Prentiss Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical element of high economic value, which is not radioactive. Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high luster, are softer or more ductile, and have higher melting points than other metals. Historically, precious metals were important as currency is as investment and industrial use. Pax Prentiss Diamond Investments have been as gemstones since the ancient times. Popularity of diamonds has risen since the 19th century because of successful advertising in spite of a greatly increased supply. Diamonds are not normally as a mainline store of value during times of crisis, because of their lack of fungibility and low liquidity. Pax Prentiss Platinum has a much shorter history in the financial sector than either gold or silver, which to ancient civilizations. Platinum is relatively scarce even among the precious metals. Pax Prentiss Jewelry is a form of personal adornment, manifesting itself as necklaces, rings, brooches, earrings and bracelets. Jewelry made from any material, usually gemstones, precious metals or shells. Factors affecting the choice of materials include cultural differences and the availability of the materials. Pax Prentiss The jewelry store is the number one of all jewelry stores that guarantees the best in quality, service at the most competitive prices. The store has the most exquisite and wide selection of jewelry gifts and gold. The extensive array of beautiful earrings, rings, pendants, necklaces and Christmas jewelry make the ideal gift for any occasion. Pax Prentiss Diamonds occur in a variety of colors — steel gray, white, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, pink to purple, brown, and black, virtually in every color of the rainbow. Colored diamonds contain interstitial impurities or structural defects that cause the coloration, whilst pure diamonds are perfectly transparent and colorless.