The United States Dominates The 2012 London Olympics

The United States took 46 Gold Metals.China took 38 metals. The fact's speak for themselves. 104 for the US. in total medals.  87 for England. 65 for Korea 28. France took 24.Hungary took 17 overall.

Prizes are considered taxable income; based on the value of the precious metals in each gold, silver and bronze medal. Using Tuesday’s commodity prices, the value of a gold medal (14 oz., 1% gold, 92% silver, 7% copper) was about $675. The silver (14 oz.; 92% silver, 8% copper) was $385 while a bronze medal (13 oz.; 97 % copper, 2% zinc, and a trace of tin) is worth about $5.

Based on these numbers, American athletes will owe approximately $236 for each gold medal, $135 for each silver, and $2 for a bronze, assuming at maximum tax rate of 35 percent. The tax ratio is effectively $7,000 a gold metal.

Meet Azature: The World's most expensive nail polish

Los Angeles-based luxury jeweler Azature has revealed the most expensive nail polish in the world.

Containing 267-carats of black diamonds, the tiny bottle of varnish has been priced at 250,000 dollars.

Only one bottle will be produced, however, budget 0.5oz versions of the ritzy design, that each contain a single black diamond, will go on sale later this month.

Priced at more reasonable 25 dollars per diamond-shaped bottle, It will be stocked in Fred Segal stores throughout Los Angeles.

Never Throw Stones At A Glass House

US$600,000 for this three-bedroom house, designed by Italian architect Carlo Santambrogio. Just about everything is wrought from glass, from the furniture to the stairs. Available for viewing from Santambrogio’s showroom at London Portland Street, the house boasts 7mm thick walls, which the designer says can be specially heated to buffer you from the elements.

Your glasshouse can be rigged with Santambrogio's accompanying all-glass furniture range, for the ultimate in exhibitionistic living.



Brad Pitt purchase's Angelina a Patek Phillipe

Brad Pitt is quite the sophisticated horologist: the suave Hollywood A-lister has splashed out US$390,000 on a Patek Philippe as a wedding gift for fiancée Angelina Jolie.

The watch in question is a Minute Repeater from the premium Swiss manufacture, which usually comes with a two-year waitlist. Each exquisite piece is reportedly hand-examined at the Genevan headquarters by a member of the Stern dynasty, the family who owns the manufacture.

“Brad decided to buy one of the watches after meeting the Stern family at a watch fair in Basel. He wanted to buy Angelina a unique gift that very few people own, which is like a piece of art,” a source said.

“Its chimes are based on the Big Ben and the piece is constructed by hand. He went to Geneva to pick it up and it’s believed he’ll present it to Angelina as a pre-wedding gift.”

The custom-made timepiece is said to boast a yellow gold and mother-of-pearl dial, and took two months to assemble.

Jay-z and Beyonce top Forbes again

Beyoncé and her hip-hop mogul hubby Jay-Z have had a good year: they're nursing an adorable baby girl and also own bragging rights for being the highest paid celeb couple for 2012.

Clinching top spot on Forbes' just-released rankings for the Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples list, the power pop pair, who introduced the world to their too-precious-for-words daughter Blue Ivy Carterlast year, amassed a combined total of $78 million between May 1, 2011 and May 1, 2012.
According to the financial news rag, Jay-Z and Beyoncé inched out last year's winners, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen, thanks in part to a platinum album from the bootylicious singer, as well as Jay-Z's sell-out Watch The Throne tour collaboration with fellow rap artist Kanye West.

Light in Motion

Israeli-French designer Arik Levy never ceases to amaze us with his poetic juxtaposition of nature and technology. His latest feat? The modular, minimalist Rhythm designed for Vibia.
No doubt a beautiful object to fixate your eyes on, Rhythm draws a thin line between harmony and disruption. Composed of 10 modules of horizontal sticks, the lamp is capable of adopting infinite horizontal and vertical configurations. Each stick can rotate on an axis and be positioned at the desired angle, allowing a sublime multitude of looks - ranging from “soft waves to chaotic shapes” - to be created.


Rhythm is available in two different colours and finishes: beige lacquer and matt dark brown.

PROJECT AZZAM: Exclusive footage in Hamburg of the ultra secret 590 foot yacht; the largest yacht in the world

                       

The Mortgage Forgiveness Act's Set To Expire

Until now people whom had sold there home via short sale did not have to count the forgivable unpaid debt as income on there tax returns. This is because of the mortgage forgiveness act of 2007. This act ends on December 31st of this year. An example of what that means to you is Jeff Shingledecker. His home went on the market in April of 2012. Within 24 hours the home had a full price offer of $105,000 and currently still under contract. This left him, as with so many other Americans, with a debt of $118,000 still not paid to the lender to be forgiven. If he sold the home prior to the end of the relief act he will not owe any money on the relief of that debt. If the home sells after the relief of the debt he will owe the government $29,500 in tax's on the cancelled debt given his tax bracket. That is nearly 30 percent of the debt the government will now collect. During the firth three months alone, 6649 short sales where completed in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties. With home price's already rising and inventory already depleting there is no measurable way to grasp what this will do when people look at whether to do a short sale all together. Most people will consider options, including simply filing for bankruptcy and keeping the house as opposed to having to pay nearly $30,000 in a year for every $100,000 the bank forgave on a 30 year loan.

2004 Kalimna Block 42

An Australian winery Friday unveiled 12 bottles of a rare vintage for sale at  Aus$168,000 (US$170,350) each.

The wine is held in a unique hand-blown glass “ampoule” designed to provide the ideal environment for the liquor, and this is suspended inside a bespoke glass container which sits inside a wooden cabinet.

“It is our understanding this is one of the most expensive Australian wines released in this unique format,” said Penfolds spokeswoman Ildi Ireland.

But when the buyer decides to crack open the high-priced vintage, he or she will have to call out a senior member of Penfolds’ wine-making team, the only person with the correct training to uncork the prized bottle.

The wine expert will travel to wherever the customer is to remove the ampoule from its glass casing and open the bottle using a specially-designed device.

“The wine contained within the ampoule, first released in the 1950s, holds a particular significance among generations of Australian and international wine collectors,” Penfolds said in a statement.

The wine, a 2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon, is a rare single-vineyard wine which is only released in stellar vintages.

The Block 42 vineyard, planted in the mid-1880s, is in South Australia’s Barossa Valley and Penfolds said it is thought to have some of the oldest continuously-producing Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world.

“There is something really magical about the 2004 Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet,” said Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago.

“It has an ethereal dimension and a saturated blackness on the palate, it’s extraordinarily perfumed with layer upon layer of flavour.”

Four artisans were commissioned to produce the ampoule and casings which feature fixtures made from precious metals that help anchor the glass sculpture to the jarrah wood box.

Penfolds, which has been producing wines since 1844, is known for its Grange wines — Australia’s most famous.

One of the ampoules will remain at Penfolds’ Magill Estate Winery in South Australia, and one will be kept by luxury retailer DFS and feature at the Master of Spirits event in Singapore early in the New Year, Penfolds said.



   

Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami all ranked in the top 30 housing markets in The United States. The West Palm Beach/Boca Raton market lead the way with a 14.0 percent increase in home price's from one year before. Home price's rose 1.29 percent from just a month before. Listing inventory in is down 19.79 percent from the year before and down 3.22 percent from the month before.

The market in Fort Lauderdale came in directly behind Palm Beach County. While the market only rose 6.91 percent from the year prior and .06 percent from the month before, the inventory in Fort Lauderdale 28.70 percent from the year before.  

Miami’s home price rose 15.4 percent from the year prior while inventory was down 32.0 percent from the year prior. All of these are extremely strong indicators that the market has not only recovered but is going well in the other direction.

Marrol’s Boutique Hotel In Bratislava Slovakia



Warren Buffet Goes Big On Housing

Warren Buffett seems pretty confident the housing market has cameback. How confident? Well, he just ponied up $3.85 billion for a mortgage company. The move reflects the same kind of optimism about the near-future housing market that Buffett has been displaying for months. 

In a letter Buffet wrote: "Every day we are creating more households than housing units," Buffett wrote, explaining why he expected housing demand to roar back soon enough. "People may postpone hitching up during uncertain times, but eventually hormones take over".  He also went on to say he would of purchased hundreds of thousands of individual homes but with the difficulty to manage buying into the mortgage business is highly justified. 

Several years ago, Warren Buffett was asked how he and his partners managed to make so much money investing in the markets.

Buffett confidently answered, “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”

At Investment U, our readers hear a lot about this type of investing. It’s better known as “Contorian Investing.”

And on Monday, Buffett proved once again that he’s one of the biggest contrarians in the world.

That’s because Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) put in a $3.85-billion bid to buy a mortgage business and loan portfolio from now bankrupt Residential Capital LLC.

There’s no doubt the housing market in America is still in a very shaky state. As The Wall Street Journal reports, “Pessimists insist that… prices will continue falling – perhaps as much as 20% or more.”

Plus, it’s not even the first time Buffett placed a bet on the U.S. housing recovery and lost. His predictions early last year were premature.

But this year, his premonitions just may be spot on. And there are five little-talked-about reasons why…

• Housing Recovery Fact #1: In May, more permits to build homes and apartments in the United States were requested than in the past three and a half years. And the U.S. Commerce Department also confessed that April was much better for housing starts than first thought – increasing figures to 744,000 from 717,000.
• Housing Recovery Fact #2: Earlier this week, the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University released a report revealing new home inventories are at record lows. This is important for housing’s rebound because declines in listed inventory lead to less pressure on falling home prices. In fact, it’s a big reason why average U.S. home prices actually edged higher the last two months.
• Housing Recovery Fact #3: So far, in 2012, U.S. employers added over one million jobs. As a result, the unemployment rate has dropped a full percentage point since August, from 9.1% to 8.2% today. And as this number heads lower, you can be sure the housing recovery will gain momentum.
• Housing Recovery Fact #4: Last week, mortgage rates hit their lowest number since offering long-term mortgages began in the 1950s. For potential homebuyers, figures like these are simply impossible to ignore. Plus, in many places paying a mortgage today is even cheaper than renting a home of the same size. (Although, always remember, you have to pay for everything that happens to your home when you own it.)
• Housing Recovery Fact #5: Peruse online and chat with industry professionals and you’ll see sentiment about the housing market is changing. Today major media outlets like MSN, The Economic Times and The Wall Street Journal are all reporting that right now is the time to buy a home. And it helps that investors like Buffett are backing them.

As the economy improves, bargain home prices and record-low mortgage rates will bring consumers back into the market and help home prices jump higher sooner than most people think.

This scenario is also set to benefit housing stocks, as well, many of which are down over 50% from their pre-crisis highs.

The highest level unit in the state of Florida is up for sale at The Penthouse of the Four Seasons Brickell for $13.5 Mill

If you want to live higher than anyone else in Florida, you’re going to have to shell out some big bucks for your view. The Four Seasons Tower in Brickell is the tallest skyscraper in the state of Florida and its three-story penthouse is on the market for $13.5 million.

Completed in 2003, the Four Seasons Tower is a multi-functional building that includes ten floors of office space, the Four Seasons Hotel and thirty floors of luxury condominiums. The building reaches a staggering 70 floors and is reinforced with dense steel and designed to withstand hurricane strength winds.

Previous owners of the impressive 70th floor penthouse had combined the PH units of B, C, and D to create the 6,000 square foot spacious overlook. The floor-to-ceiling windows reveal the entire city of Miami and views of an endless ocean—the definite selling point.

LVMH - Louis Vuitton/Moet open Hotel in St Tropez on the Place Des Lices

The world leader in luxury with a unique portfolio of over 60 prestigious luxury brands, Louis Vuitton - Moët Hennessy, better known as the LVHM group, is now all set to pamper its high-heeled clients with its first ever hotel named as White 1921. Located in the heart of Saint-Tropez, on the renowned Place des Lices, the White 1921 now opens its doors in the former Maison Blanche. Apparently, the fashion world is playing a major role in setting the trends for the luxury hospitality industry, as we get to see some of the most luxurious designer hotels like Giorgio Armani in Milan, Bottega Veneta Hotel, besides the luxury residences like the world's first Herme's apartment in Singapore, Missoni Luxury Residences in Manila and the limited edition Versace homes, to name a few.

Located in the heart of Saint Tropez, on the well-known Place des Lices, the White 1921 opens its doors in the former Maison Blanche.

Designed by architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the bar set in the mansion’s garden invites you to a festive break. The 82-seat bar offers the finest champagnes by the glass, including a rare vintage Moet from 1921.

2013 Pagani Huayra

Pagani Automobili S.p.A, the Italian supercar manufacturer publicly introduced their all-new Huayra supercar to influential car enthusiasts prior to the well-known Concours d’Elegance as well as the Geneva Auto Show. The Huayra incorporates an innovative design, revolutionary mechanics, and houses a Mercedes-AMG engine with more than 700 horsepower. The vehicle has top speeds over 230 mph. The introductory price is $1,177,114 plus taxes. Also available in carbon fiber.