Month: June 2016

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Like all mattress manufacturers, Stearns and Foster changes the names of its collections on a seeming monthly basis. It is not the only manufacturer that does this. Many change names, call them completely different names when there is basically no difference between them, and create unique collection names for specific stores. This is done to make it almost impossible for the consumer to compare one against another. So when doing a review of Stearns and Foster mattresses ignore 'collections' and concentrate on the basic constituents of the mattress.

First off, a Stearns and Foster mattress is one of the best bed mattresses on the market today. However, with the company offering over 1,200 mattress sets it's virtually impossible to rate one against another and decide if it is good value for money. So, when shopping, look at the constituents of the mattress and know exactly what you're paying for.

There are 4 parts to a mattress set. There's the boxspring (this is discussed later) and the mattress, which consists of Mattress Style, Comfort Layers and Core Support.

Starting from the top of the bed mattress we have the Mattress Style. First there's the fabric that covers it. The fabric can be many things including, polyester, silk, cashmere, alpaca and silk to name a few. The fabric used can increase the cost significantly, so, if you're trying to find the best deal, ask yourself if you really need silk; polyester will last just as long as any other, more expensive fabric – no matter what the salesperson tells you.

The main determining factor of the style is what 'comfort' surface has been attached to it. There are five finishes; Tight Top, Pillow Top, Euro Pillow Top, Euro Top and Box Top. The Tight Top is a plain bed mattress. A Pillow Top is an added layer of comfort material that's been attached and has gusseted corners, making it look as though a large flat pillow has been placed on top. A Euro Pillow Top is one with more comfort materials. A Euro Top has the same amount of comfort material but has been attached directly – it looks like a thin mattress has been placed on top of the bed mattress. Finally, The Box top is the same as the Euro Top but is has even more comfort materials.

These various Tops have become quite popular lately. However, there are two things to consider; one, these do increase the cost; two, it is almost guaranteed that these Tops will be the first part of the mattress to wear out and because the are directly attached you'll have no choice but to replace the whole thing.

If you want to save money and prolong the life of your bed mattress, buy a Tight Top and buy an additional Top. Ones like the Tempurpedic mattress topper is very popular as its memory foam is body conforming and provides excellent comfort and support.

Lastly, the Core Support consists of, among other things, the innersprings. You can rest assured that an S and F comes with the best you can buy.

Now, there's the question of the boxspring. S and F advises customers to always purchase a new boxspring along with the mattress. It claims the boxspring gives additional support and can prolong the life of the mattress. There are many who disagree. If a Stearns and Foster mattress is the best – as it claims – surely a mattress of this quality, being more than 12 "thick, using the best coil springs should be more than capable of giving you all the support you need.

Companies like to sell boxsprings because it's additional sales revenue. If you're a fan, then by all means get one, but if you are not or are undecided, forget about it and save yourself a lot of money.

I hope this buying review of a Stearns and Foster mattress has been helpful. The company's products are excellent; but by knowing what to look for you can save money and make up you own mind if it's the best bed mattress for you.

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Source by Robin Cassidy

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If you want to buy the best bed mattress then few would argue that a Stearns and Foster mattress is not worth the money. Although expensive they are mattresses of the finest quality and will give you years of restful sleep. Many mattresses now come with pillow tops and other types of comfort tops, but these tops are proving to be an expensive mistake and are shortening the lifespan of a mattress. If you're going to be spending upwards of a thousand dollars you're better off buying one with a plain Tight Top.

Until recently, the only type of innerspring mattress you could buy was a Tight Top. This is the type of mattress we're all familiar with. Basically, a piece of fabric covers the top, side and bottom of the mattress. The fabric – usually referred to as the ticking – can be anything from foam-backed vinyl, found in cheap mattresses, to polyester on mid-range models, to Damask, silk, cashmere and other exquisite fabrics found in the most luxurious. Many Stearns and Foster mattresses use beautiful fabrics that are fully embroidered with delicate single-needle patterns. The company touts its more expensive collections as being heirloom pieces.

However, there may be a problem with this claim. Many of its mattresses come with pillow tops and, while the inner coils and comfort layers may last many years, many consumers are finding that within months, craters can form on the pillow top. This problem occurs across all brands – even with the best bed mattresses costing thousands of dollars.

But before we discuss why this might be, we'll first take a look at the tops available with a Stearns and Foster mattress. There are 5 styles: Tight Top (as mentioned above), Pillow Top, Euro Pillow Top, Euro Top, and Box Top.

The Pillow Top has become very popular in recent years and all manufacturers offer mattresses with this feature. Consumers like them because of the extra layer of comfort fabric that helps offset the firmer feel of the inner core support. With this top, a layer of comfort material, featuring gusseted corners, is attached on the top side. The Euro Pillow Top is the same but there's even more comfort material.

The Euro Top also comes with more comfort material – like the Euro Pillow Top – but it is directly attached to the top of the mattress. It resembles two mattresses that have been stitched together, with a thick lower one and a thin top one. Finally, the Box Top is the thickest of the lot and like the Euro Top, it is directly attached to the mattress.

Various comfort materials are used including wool, foam, latex and memory foam. The problem with these materials is that over time they will all show signs of sagging. Depressions appear under the sleeper and this not only looks unpleasant but also makes sleeping uncomfortable.

Because of the way these tops are stitched on to the mattress, replacing them is not an option; a new mattress is required, even though the rest of the mattress is sound. Naturally, if you've paid a large amount of money for your mattress you expect it to last many, many years. Pillow tops are the weak point of even the best bed mattress.

Therefore, if you are considering buying a Stearns and Foster mattress it might be a better idea to purchase a Tight Top version and a separate topper; that way if the topper sags you can easily replace it. Memory foam is becoming very popular as many like the body shaping properties and support of this material. Why not consider a Tempur-Pedic mattress topper – this is the number one manufacturer of this new foam and is considered to be the best.

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Source by Robin Cassidy

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Okay, the clock is ticking and you want to see if you can make money fast – real fast. Here is one idea for you to play with the speed of the clock in order to make $ 5,000 in one hour online the fast and easy way.

01 Contact a wholesale supplier of any product that they are trying to MOVE. They will usually offer amazing discounts – as much as 50% off wholesale. Agree to purchase $ 5,000 in product giving you 10,000 worth of inventory. Let's assume that each product cost you $ 50 each, but you got it at 50% below the wholesale cost so that means your retail value is $ 150 and you have 100 products.

02 Purchase an e-mail list. You can buy 500,000 for $ 500 and some offer less. Just make sure that they are Can Spam or Permission based e-mail lists.

03 Write up a super simple to the point sales letter that will be in e-mail that includes the following:

Killer Headline that gets the buyer to WANT to read
Why they should read and ACT now
Benefits and a specific call to action

You may not want to spend a lot of time here but note that if you mess this part up, you could have wasted all your efforts. So get it right. The fastest way to do this is to take an e-mail sales copy you received and use it as a model.

You also need to include a payment option. Since you did not want to spend hours setting up a Web site you need to throw up your item onto Google checkout, Amazon, Pay Pal or sites like Ebay.

NOTE: you can also just collect that persons information by having them fill out a form or simply state – in order to keep this product cost at the lowest possible price we are only accepting e-mail orders. Also simply can You request The That they 're send an e-mail by to ________@gmail.com and stat That you will send them an invoice from your secure server …

Okay, now back to your product. You want to make money fast and you do NOT want to sit on your products. So, what you are going to do is pass that savings you got from your supplier over to your customer by offering a $ 150 product for only $ 100. You still have a 100% return and thus double your money.

Because you only have a limited number of products, be sure to explain this in your e-mail Sales Copy.

04 Send out the e-mail and sit back and collect your income. Let's do a little math:

You send out 500,000 e-mails. But let's assume that only 20% actually read them. That leaves us with 100,000 people reading your e-mail super sale. Now let's say that out of that 100,000 20% decide to buy. That gives you about 20,000 orders. Certainly way too many. So let's be pessimistic and say that only 10% of the people read your e-mail, giving us 50,000 readers and 10% of those purchase your products and you have 5,000 in sales. But you do not need 5000 in sales as you only have 100 products so let's be even more pessimistic and say that only 5% of the people will read your e-mails -25,000 and only 5% of those will purchase. This still gives us way too many people looking to buy as we are at 1250. However, let's just say we will sell out of our product and have to turn away some customers.

So, how much money did you make? Well since your markup was 100% your return will be 10,000 and so your profit is $ 5,000 for about an hour's worth of work. You will have to play with this strategy until you have a solid system and like any good idea, there are always kinks to work out. However, for those that really want to earn money fast and easy, this is an idea that could make you very rich. Question is, do you want to make $ 5,000 in 1 hour online?

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Source by Richard Essex

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The DXY is an indicator that many market watchers and commentators reference and quote. So what is the DXY or US Dollar index?

The DXY is a geometrically weighted index of some of the major trading partners of the United States. The composition if the DXY Index is heavily weighted towards the Euro and European countries that have not joined the European common market. The components of the DXY Index are (by weighting): Euro (57.6%), Japanese Yen (13.6%), Great Britain- Pounds Sterling (11.9%), Canadian Dollar (9.1%), Swedish Krona (4.2%), and swiss Franc (3.6%). Because of the composition of the DXY, it is sometimes referred to as the Anti-Euro Index.

The DXY is a convenient index to use as a simple method for referencing strength and weakness of the US Dollar (USD). But its ubiquity disguises the fact that it does not reflect the value of the dollar against a broad enough basket of currencies. The DXY was created by JP Morgan in 1973, and it has only been updated once, for the introduction of the Euro currency.

The DXY is heavily weighted towards European currencies, it underweight's the Canadian Dollar, as a proportion of US trade, and it largely ignores important Asian and Pacific trading partners, including Korea, Australia, Taiwan and necessarily China. Even if one were interested in including the Chinese Renminbi (Yuan) it would be both difficult and of questionable informational value to include the Renminbi because China keeps their currency pegged to a range that is based on the dollar.

A more accurate basket of currencies to track the relative value of the USD would be to value the dollar against the top US trading partners. The top 6 US trading partners, from high to low are: Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, Germany and the UK. It's hard to say why JP Morgan created this index and how it came into such prominence. One odd thing about this index is you can not trade it. There is no market that you can go to and buy the DXY. The closest you can get are futures and options contracts traded on the InterContinental Exchange (ICE).

If it's so inaccurate, then why is it so widely quoted? While there are more accurate ways to benchmark the USD, absolute precision is not always important for an indicator. Many traders and institutions likely have their own indices that they use to track the USD, but for the sake of comparison, it is very convenient to have a common index. The DXY is also highly correlated to a trade-weighted index most of the time. Relative strength or weakness moves by the USD represents huge flows of money. As I've written previously, the recent + 10% move by the DXY represents more than $ 1 trillion of nominal wealth destruction. Moves of this magnitude do not happen in a vacuum and the relative weakness of the DXY is mirrored by corresponding weakness in the trade-weighted index.

While there are shortcomings, the DXY does serve as a reliable indicator of USD strength and weakness and can be used as such, as long as one keeps in mind that it will occasionally be skewed if there are large currency moves that occur in the Euro.

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Source by Christian Koch

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Most Business Strategy Game classes have quizzes separated in difficulty known as "BSG Quiz 1" and BSG Quiz 2 ". The quizzes have many in game questions relating to the rules, and some questions can be very difficult. Especially in BSG Quiz 2, the answers will need to be solved using basic business knowledge. Here is an example of a question in BSG Quiz 2.

Given the following exchange rate changes:

Year 1 Year 2
Euros (EUR) per US $ 0.8230 0.8165
Sing $ per Brazilian real 0.5860 0.5710
Brazilian real per euro (EUR) 3.7030 3.7180
US $ per Sing $ 0.5940 0.5980

Then, as explained on the Help screen for the Branded Sales Report, it follows that:

* The euro has grown weaker versus the US $.

* The Brazilian real has grown stronger against the Sing $.

* The Brazilian real has grown stronger versus the euro.

* The euro has grown stronger against the US $.

* The US $ has grown stronger versus the Sing $.

This is how you answer this question. If year 1 values ​​are lower than year 2, that means it takes more money to purchase another currency in the present year. Or in effect, that the currency will grow weaker.

If year 1 is higher than year 2, that means it takes less money to purchase another currency. Or in effect, that the currency will grow stronger.

So let's deduce which one is the right answer.

"The euro will grow weaker versus the US $."

This can not be right, as the numbers have gotten smaller in the second year, which actually means the currency has gotten bigger.

"The Brazilian real will grow stronger against the Sing $."

As the second number has gotten smaller that means the currency has gotten stronger. But the currency in question is the Sing being stronger, and the words are reversed in this answer. This answer is wrong.

"The Brazilian real will grow stronger versus the euro."

The second number is larger than the first, which means that the currency has gotten weaker. Another wrong one.

"The euro will grow stronger against the US $."

By deducing the first answer, it made this answer automatically right. As the first number is higher than the second, which means the currency has gotten stronger.

"The US $ will grow stronger versus the Sing $."

As the second number has gotten bigger, this means the currency has gotten weaker, and this answer is wrong.

Tough stuff eh? It's not that hard if you walk away and come back to it. But this is how tricky the quiz can get.

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Source by Bryan Lance Lee

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Milk prices reported in the media can be confusing and misleading information for farmers, the dairy industry, and the public. The basis of measurement and reporting varies widely within many countries, let alone when currency is taken into account.

Most commonly milk price is reported as a value per volume or weight of milk. For example: cents per litre (cpl); dollars per hundredweight ($ / cwt); or euro per 100 kilograms. The major problem with these price bases is that actual payments for milk are typically for the components of fat, protein and other solids – very few dairy processors pay for water! You need to know the composition of the milk and this composition changes from farm to farm and from country to country. There is no one standard composition when it comes to comparing local and international prices. Presented here are some of the factors that need to be taken into account when making comparisons.

Currency: This is an obvious issue but consideration needs to be given to a choice between: the current daily rate; the annual average conversion rate; the weighted average conversion rate. In the latter case the currency exchange rate should to be weighted to the timing of payments to farmers.

Fat and Protein Composition: It is normal for farmers to be paid on the basis of the milk fat and protein composition. This can have a dramatic affect on the milk price when expressed in cpl. So for example the cpl milk price for a jersey cow with high milk components can be more than 50% higher than a fresian / holstein cow.

Typical composition of cows milk in the major global dairy exporters are: Europe – 4.2% fat, 3.4% protein; USA 3.7% fat, 3.0% protein; New Zealand – 4.7% fat, 3.7% protein; Australia 4.1% fat, 3.3% protein.

To add to the confusion, reported USDA milk prices in $ / cwt are based on a fat composition of 3.5% and the Eurostat milk prices are based on 3.7% fat.

There is no standard for Australian and New Zealand milk price and the safest measure of local price is when expressed as $ / kilogram of milk solids ($ / kg MS). Milk solids is defined as the sum of fat and protein measurement in milk.

Mass or Volume Measurement: As well as the fat and protein composition of milk you also need to know whether the test measurement is expressed as mass / mass (eg. Kg / kg) or mass / volume (eg. Kg / litre). The typical density of milk is close to 1.03 grams / litre so an error here can affect the milk price calculation by 3%.

True or Crude Protein: Crude protein is an estimate of milk protein composition based on nitrogen measurements (typically by Kjeldahl nitrogen testing). The milk protein content is calculated from an international standard factor of Nitrogen x 6.38.

True protein is an estimate of the actual milk protein based on calibrated near infrared measurement. The difference between crude and true protein equates to what is termed "non protein nitrogen" (NPN).

It is estimated that true protein measurement will give a result 0.1 – 0.2% lower than crude protein. This can affect the calculation of milk price by as much as 5%.

In the US and Australia milk protein content is typically reported as true protein whereas in the EU and NZ, more often crude protein is used.

Example Calculation: Here is an example of how you might convert a reported milk price from one country to another taking account of the factors above:

A US farmer gets paid $ US 11.50 / cwt for milk with a composition of 3.7% fat and 3.0% true protein on a mass / mass basis.

A New Zealand farmer wants to know what this equates to in $ NZ / kg MS with the milk solids being equal to fat + crude protein. Assuming an exchange rate of $ NZ 1.00 = $ US 0.70, and that crude protein = true protein + 0.15%, the calculation is as follows:

$ US 11.50 / cwt = $ NZ 16.43 / cwt

Milk composition = 3.7% fat + (3.0 + 0.15)% crude protein = 6.85% milk solids mass / mass

1 cwt milk / 220.4 = 45.4 kilograms

$ NZ $ 16.43 / cwt / 45.4 / .0685 = $ NZ 5.28 / kg MS CP (crude protein)

For an Australian Farmer there is no need to adjust for crude protein – milk solids =% 3.7 + 3.0% = 6.7%. Assuming an exchange rate of $ AU 1.00 = $ US 0.87:

$ US 11.50 / cwt = $ AU 13.22 / cwt

$ AU 13.22 / cwt / 45.4 / .065 = $ AU 4.35 / kg MS TP (true protein)

A UK farmer wants to know what this is in pence cents per litre at their typical milk composition of 4.2% fat and 3.4% crude protein (~ 3.25% true protein). This question is a bit harder because we do not know the value of the individual fat and protein components. The best we can do is assume that the value of milk solids is the same. That will give a reasonably close approximation if the ratio of fat to protein is similar in both cases. So assuming: $ US 1.00 = 63 English pence

$ US 11.50 / cwt = 724.5 pence / cwt (7.25 English pounds / cwt)

724.5 pence / cwt / 45.4 = 16.0 pence / kilogram

16.0 pence / kilogram x 1.03 = 16.4 pence / litre

This is however the price at a composition of 3.7% fat and 3.0% true protein. To get an estimate at the component pricing of the european farmer apply the relative ratio of total milk solids:

16.4 pence / litre x (4.2 + 3.25) / (3.7 + 3.0) = 18.2 pence per litre.

Over on the European continent they think in euros / 100 kg of milk. We'll take a shortcut here and convert from pence per litre to Euros / 100 kg assuming the same milk composition as the UK farmer. With an exchange rate of 1.00 euro = 92 English pence:

18.2 pence per litre = 19.8 euro / 100 litres

19.8 euro / 100 litres / 1.03 = 19.2 euro / 100 kg

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Source by Jon Hauser

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1. Loss of Independent Monetary Policy. On joining the EURO interest rates would no longer be set by the MPC. They would be set by the European Central Bank. The ECB look at the whole EURO economy and not what is best for the UK. Thus if the UK joined now interest rates would fall from 5.25% to the ECB rate of 2.25%. This fall in interest rates could cause and further boost the buoyant Housing Market and cause future inflationary pressures.

2. Difficulty in getting out of a recession . On the other hand if the UK suffered a recession they would be unable to cut interest rates. It would be difficult to boost demand and get out of the recession. To an extent this occurred in 1992; the UK was in a recession but because they were in the ERM (2) they were trying to maintain a high value of £ the. Thus interest rates were far too high (15%) these high interest rates exacerbated the UK's recession.

3. Sensitivity to interest Rates. The nature of the UK housing market means the UK economy is sensitive to changes in interest rates. Unlike European countries most UK householders own their own house, their variable mortgage is a high% of their income. Thus even a 0.25% change in interest rate can significantly affect disposable income. If the UK were to join now and interest rates were to fall by 2% it would very likely cause a further boom in the housing market which would feed through into higher inflation.

4. Loss of independence of Fiscal Policy. The growth and stability pact limits the levels of government borrowing to 3% of GDP. This is another difficulty in getting the economy out of a recession. However it would not affect the UK at the moment. Also France and Germany have conveniently been able to sidestep this rule when necessity demanded.

The UK economy is doing relatively well, by historical standards the UK economic performance is quite remarkable. Thus there seems little incentive for a British politician to take on the entrenched Euro scepticism prevalent in British media and society. There is little to be gained by joining and there are many potential problems, the Queen's head is safe for the foreseeable future.

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Source by Richard Pettinger