Solar Giants Contract a Small Hawaiian Company For Silicon.

by Natalie Pace.

Includes an updated Solar and Silicon Stock Report Card.

Hoku Scientific (NASDAQ: Hoku) contracts to become the polysilicon supplier to Suntech, Sanyo and Solar-Fabrik.

Dustin Shindo Chairman, President and CEO Hoku Scientific photo credit: © 2007, The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.

Solar is all the rage. Last week's Solar Power Conference attracted over 12,500 attendees to Long Beach, California. Next year's conference is likely to be three times as large, according to Robert L. Noble, the CEO and founder of Envision Solar, who attended the event. According to Mr. Noble, "You're going to start seeing solar everywhere - integrated into buildings, in parking lots, even on cars."

Solar is hot, hot, hot, which is why solar and alternative energy have been a constant theme this year in my ezine, as well as one of the top-performing industries on Wall Street. Clean energy earned the highest gains in the first quarter of 2007, and the 3^rd highest in the second quarter, behind energy and technology. And perhaps the hottest sub-segment of solar is silicon manufacturing, of which MEMC Electronics, has been a top performer, with over 67% gains in share price since last November, when it was added to my Hot News list.

But with over 200 companies exhibiting at the solar conference, which are the stars? Which will capture market share, and which will bite the dust? Many experts still believe that SunPower has the superior product, and indeed Sunpower's solar panels were the panels of choice for the winners of 2005's Solar Decathlon, which is probably also why SunPower has one of the highest share prices (by P/E) in the industry, at 367.60. It wouldn't surprise anyone to see SunPower reign supreme again in this year's Solar Decathlon, which will be exhibited in Washington D.C. on the National Mall from October 12 - 20, 2007.

Solar energy is no secret on Wall Street, and it's hard to find something exciting that is trading for a reasonable price. Most of the companies listed on the attached Solar Report Card, which includes two silicon manufacturers - Hoku Scientific and MEMC Electronics - are trading at or near their 52-week high.

Does the revenue growth support expensive price to earnings ratios, like SunPower's 367 P/E and First Solar's 137 P/E? Sunpower's sales were up 218% in the 2^nd quarter of 2007 over the year prior - to revenues of $173.8 million. Suntech was up 147% to $317.4 million, while First Solar posted revenue gains of 177%, to $77.2 million. Evergreen Solar is the only solar energy company to have lower revenue in 2007 than in the year prior (likely due to silicon supply problems). The company reported $15.4 million for the 2^nd quarter of 2007, compared to revenue of $22 million in the same quarter 2006.

As you can see, any of these companies (except Evergreen) are likely to soar for the coming years, and your best bet might be a basket of solar stocks for your own personal alternative energy fund - at a lower price point. I'd have SunPower, First Solar, Suntech, MEMC Electronics and Trina on a shopping list, instead of buying them at full price right now. I still like SunPower best overall - for value, sales, growth, vision, CEO credibility, China's commitment to solar energy, secured silicon supply and more! However, when a share price can swing between $23 and $45 (as Suntech did) or $26 and $87 (like SunPower did) in one year, I'd take my chances on a future buying opportunity.

Yes, even when you have a hot sector, the general market concerns - like subprime - can knock the entire group into buying range. Even if buying range is more likely to happen next year, patient investors are always rewarded with better gains than the shoot-from-the-hip investor. (The Santa Rally may be very kind to those who already hold positions in solar.) You can read more about Suntech and SunPower in the archived ezines, vol. 4, issue 1 and vol. 3, issue 10.

One other thing to consider in any explosive sector is that Innovation is really the "it" factor. One disruptive breakthrough will give a company ten times the customers. A silicon supply problem (as was experienced by Evergreen) can sideline a former leader. So, if you do choose to invest in a company in this sector, monitor the news and sniff out potential concerns - before it becomes a headline on a major portal. How? Read the quarterly earnings reports and any other communication that the company sends out to investors thoroughly. This industry will require a lot more monitoring than your Coca-Cola stock. Take it seriously!

First Solar has lofty goals of reducing their costs by 40-50% before 2010, but if they were assured of achieving such a colossal market advantage, would insiders be dumping $399 million worth of shares? You can't rely completely on insider selling to tell the full story, but if you do see consensus insider buying or selling, that is a sign that something is being discussed in the boardroom. Your favorite financial website should have a handy link with insider selling activity that is updated regularly. (Go to the NataliePace.com home page and scroll down to the Company Research box to access a financial page on your favorite stock.)

So, it's rare to find a company that is still flying relatively under the radar of investors, with a story as promising as Hoku Scientific. On June 13, 2007, Hoku inked a deal with Suntech Power Holdings (based out of China) to build a polysilicon manufacturing center in Ohio and supply the world's biggest solar energy company. "Securing a long-term supply of polysilicon from Hoku will enable us to continue to expand our manufacturing capacity and execute on Suntech's strategic plan," said Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech's Chairman and CEO. "We look forward to a strong and enduring business relationship with Hoku."

If the most powerful solar CEO in the world has invited Hoku to his playground, why haven't you heard of Hoku much before now? Well, the Hoku story isn't exactly impressive. First the company is based out of Hawaii - not exactly the business capital of the U.S. Secondly, Hoku's got a very young CEO - Dustin Shindo - who, though determined and full of vitality, steered the company somewhat recklessly toward a largely failed focus on fuel cells -- which seems to be mostly abandoned now in favor of solar energy. According to Hoku's 1^st quarter fiscal 2008 earnings report, "Based on discussions with potential customers during fiscal 2007, the Company determined that the potential for future fuel cell sales and revenue opportunities were uncertain."

Dustin Shindo has staffed his company with friends and family. His close friend is Chief Technology Officer Karl M. Taft III. Shindo's younger brother Ryan is Hoku's director of operations, and fellow University of Washington Darryl Nakamoto is the company's CFO. Is this a liability? Not according to Dustin Shindo, who says, "Everyone works their hearts out, like a family. We're building something together."

But Hoku's shift into solar and the milestones achieved in a relatively short period of time are truly awe-inspiring. ShindoÔs team has raised $211 million, from contracts with Sanyo, Suntech and Solar-Fabrik, to construct and equip the Hoku polysilicon facility. The total costs of the plant are expected to exceed $260 million, and Hoku intends to raise the remaining construction costs through debt financing - something that shouldn't be too difficult since he's got the weight of the contracts with Sanyo, Suntech and Solar-Fabrik as collateral. The City of Pocatello, Idaho has kicked in $25.9 million in real property tax reimbursements for infrastructure improvements and up to $17 million in real property tax reimbursements based on employment numbers.

These are serious business dealings and amazing achievements for this young team that is based out of a state better known for its Mai Tais and surfing than its martinis and business lunches. Dustin Shindo and CTO Karl Taft were joined at the groundbreaking ceremony in Pocatello, Idaho by C.L. "Butch" Otter, the Governor of Idaho, Roger B. Madsen, Director, Idaho Commerce & Labor, Roger Chase, Mayor, City of Pocatello, and Larry Ghan, Chairman, Bannock County Commissioners. Even with the prior fuel cell business, which didn't fare so well, Shindo had a knack for securing marquise clientele, including the U.S. Navy and Nissan.

SoÉ normally I'd suspect that a 30-something CEO who lived in Hawaii and had already failed to convert his core business into sales after six years of trying was spending too much time at the beach. But in this case, I think Hoku - which means star in Hawaiian and north in Japanese -- is pointing to the Promised Land.

I've added Hoku Scientific to the Hot News list this month. Note that this is a very high risk investment, as Hoku is a small cap company (valued at $162 million) with no sales to speak of. Polysilicon production is not expected to begin until 2009, which means the share price may be volatile in the meantime.

DISCLAIMER: As of the printing of this ezine, Natalie Pace does not own shares in Hoku. (She always purchases her personal shares in any company at least three days AFTER articles are published. Check the Hot News list for future updates on her holdings.)

Please note: NataliePace.com does not act or operate like a broker. We are a publishing, media and information center. This article is intended to educate and inform individual investors, and, thus, to give investors a competitive edge in their personal decision-making. The publicly traded companies mentioned in this article are not intended to be buy or sell recommendations. ALWAYS do your research and consult an experienced, reputable financial professional before buying or selling any security, and consider your long-term goals and strategies.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable however NataliePace.com does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.

Green and Fab:

by Natalie Pace.

Dream Come True LivingHome. In Half the Time.

The first Wired/LivingHomes gold LEEDS home, 4200 square feet.

Last month, Wired and Living Homes teamed up to build the first ever Wired Home in Brentwood, California. Designed by one of the world's most admired architects -- Ray Kappe, the founder of sci-arc architecture school) -- the home is a marvel of innovation, technology, warm modernist beauty and a coveted Gold LEED rating for excellence in employing green building materials and standards into the design. Perhaps the best part is that if the developers get their way, you'll have a chance to have one just like it in your neighborhood soon, for a lot less than this $4 million price tag.

Editor's Note: LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the industry standard for green building, and was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. The top rating is platinum, then gold, silver and bronze.

Yes, Living Homes is a leading pre-fab developer, so a version of this modern wonder could be yours, too, no matter where you live. You can choose from a number of design options, have the home built in a factory, after which it will be shipped in modules and installed in just one day (excluding the foundation preparation). The first Living Homes construction went through without a glitch and was "dream-like," according to project architect Amy Sims. You can see a video of its 8-hour on-site installation online at LivingHomes.net.

The living room of the first prefab green LivingHome A platinum LEEDS home.

And if that isn't enough to have you drooling with desire, the first Wired Living Home will have a total completion time of just six to seven months, from the start of the permit process to the last plug in of the Wi-Fi network - which is about Å of the amount of time it typically takes to build in Brentwood, California on a hillside. Imagine the money you can save by having your dream home completed in under six months, and the delight of not having to wire up your own TIVO and Internet and iPods! Finally, someone has figured out that those of us who'll pay double price at Whole Foods for prepared organic food, would also like a convenient way to build and live in the ultimate green, high tech home.

If you are one of the first to own a LivingHome, chances are you'll pay more for it than customers will in a few years (as is always the case with new products), but you could also have a rare, valuable dwelling that will outperform the marketplace well beyond your own lifetime. The average cost today is $300 per square foot, not including the foundation. A 2400 square foot home rings up to be $720,000. Not exactly the price range you associate with a factory-built home. However, when you consider that you are getting:

1. a Ray Kappe design, which will be customized to your site
2. a LEEDS rating (all kinds of perks there, including an expedited permit process),
3. six months or more savings on construction time,
4. top-shelf cradle to grave green building materials,
5. almost free utilities (from your solar-paneled roof-top shading),
6. completely wired technology,
7. a beautiful self-watering atrium (health benefits),
8. the home of your dreams
9. reclaimed water system (lower water bills)
10. AND that yours will be one of the first homes of this hot new company,

the value and price start looking more affordable.

LivingHomes platinum LEEDS home, 2400 square feet Photo credit - Berg / Divis Photography.

LivingHomes currently has completed two homes (including the Wired Home) and has 14 additional homes under contract. So far, each new visionary homeowner is actually participating in a Beta process that demands a certain level of customization, which will not be available once the company succeeds in becoming a strictly pre-fab business. (Don't tell them that I suggested this to you. Please. They may stop taking my phone calls.) They are interested in working with developers on LivingHomes communities, as well.

So who is responsible for making green construction easier and, at least in the future, more affordable for the average person? The LivingHomes founder and CEO, Steve Glenn, is a Lego fiend, an architecture-lover and a man with a calling. Inspired by the quote, "the journey is the reward," Steve Glenn decided that his latest foray into business should contribute to a better world. As his reward, he gets to live in the first Living Home, which will always have the coveted title of being the world's first Platinum LEED rated home. (Amy Sims, a LivingHomes project architect, confided to me that having the home close to the office awarded them quite an edge in the rating - something to consider when you are building your own dream home as well. See the adjoining article for other Green Tips from Amy.)

Could owning the 16^th Living Home be rewarding, and perhaps even lucrative, even in a softening real estate landscape? Architecturally significant homes are an added premium in the real estate marketplace, as is "green," and, especially if the current softening cycle continues, could be your competitive edge now and into the future. According to Finn Kappe (Ray Kappe's son and a LivingHomes project architect), "I actually think Living Homes is going to be unaffected. The current environment might help us. We're not shooting for a broad market."

Living Homes has been capturing headlines across the nation, and the Wired Home has been featured on the home page of Wired.com and in a full-page ad in the magazine for the last six months (even though the home is privately owned). This kind of publicity definitely increases the level of interest in the home, which typically translates to a premium on the price, regardless of which neighborhood you live in. And those headlines are likely to continue well into the future. The Eames Case Study Home, which was built between 1945 and 1949 in Pacific Palisades, California, is still frequently mentioned in architectural books and media, as are other homes built by esteemed architects doing cutting-edge design.

It's the new world paradigm: visionary entrepreneurs like Steve Glenn satisfy the consumer's needs and desires, the deeper fulfillment of the soul, the world at large and the bottom line. And the outcome is you get to own the most beautiful, technologically advanced home on the block - without the headache of researching and building it all on your own.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint!

by Natalie Pace

10 Green Tips for Your Life and Home.

Living Homes Project Architect Amy Sims, whose first LivingHomes project earned the first LEED platinum rating in the world - the highest green honor available - shares her wisdom on simple ways to reduce the carbon footprint of your own lifestyle and home.

Even if you cannot rush right out and order your own brand new Living Home, you can go green in your own private sanctuary, with these tips from LivingHomes project architect, Amy Sims.

1. Cut down on the commute. Whether you telecommute a day (or more) a week, or can afford to relocate your offices closer to home, this simple step eliminates more pollution, waste and fossil fuel consumption than practically anything. According to Amy Sims, "We got a lot of [LEED] points for the physical citing of the lot." Other ways to cut down on commuting? Walk, bike or bus. If you live near public transportation or within walking distance of your favorite restaurants and errands, use leg-power instead of gas.
   
   
2. Use overhangs and sunlight: Overhangs and shading can cool your place down. Sunlight on a concrete slab can heat things up. The LivingHomes prefabricated models have skylights in the bathrooms, with shade screens that roll out to keep it from getting too hot on sunny days. The solar panels on the rooftop garden acts as a shading canopy, providing a beautiful, functional way to integrate the panels into the construction.
   
   
3. Cradle to Grave Recycling: The materials used in the LivingHomes were selected to be recycled on both ends of the life cycle. Amy Sims selected old redwood, and other materials that started out as something else, and then ensured that in the end, the materials wouldn't end up in landfills. Two companies that specialize in these kinds of products are: Ice Stone countertops and Terra Mai reclaimed woods from around the world.
   
   
4. Try a Solar Water Collector: Amy installed one on the roof of her Living Home. Why not let the sun heat your water? The manufacturer of the solar water collector on the Living Home is Apricus.
   
   
5. Solar Panels: In the first Living Home, solar panels provide 60-75% of the energy consumption of the home. Off the grid! Meaning your energy is produced free of charge (once the solar panels have paid for themselves). When you consider the price of the panels, your investment should take about five to eight years before you get to enjoy free energy - a small investment for the lifetime of your home, and much better for our world.
   
   
6. Solar Panel Integration: Amy Sims chose solar panels from Schott for her shade canopy because they have a beautiful glass underbelly. Pugh & Scarpa (architects) used solar panels for the skin of the house in their Solar Umbrella home. Whether you are buying a LivingHomes prefab or adding on another floor or bedroom, integrating solar panels doesn't mean just sticking them on the roof anymore.

The Solar Umbrella House by Larry Scarpa

Photo Credit: Marvin Rand, c/o Pugh + Scarpa Architects

7. Ask for Green Products at your favorite home improvement store: According to Amy, Home Depot has jumped on board to do more sustainable products. They are committed to launching thousands of new "green" products, and the company already offers some responsibly harvested woods. Your city may have a home improvement store that specializes in green. There is Living Green, with locations in Culver City and Santa Barbara, California. Environmental Home Center is located in Seattle, Washington. EarthSource Forest Products, located in the Bay Area of California, specializes in green wood products. You can find more national retailers and consumer information listed on the Green Home Guide. And I encourage you to share your own green building tips on the NataliePace.com Sharing Wisdom bulletin board.
   
   
8. Dual Flush Toilets and Reclaimed Water Systems: Now there's hope for your black thumb as well as your water bill! The LivingHomes atrium is maintained using reclaimed water, which means you never have to worry about over-watering, when to water and whether or not you're killing your plants. In many metropolitan areas, clean water is a precious commodity. Caroma has an entire line of dual-flush toilets that work in hand with these reclaimed water systems.
   
   
9. LED lighting: LED lights are up to three times as efficient as fluorescent, according to Amy Sims. They also provide a nice, warm illumination for the home. There are many options for LEDs these days, so you may be able to find what you need at your local home improvement store. Permlight offers a good catalog of products online.
   
   
10. Green Vehicle: Whether you want to be the first to own a Tesla Roadster, the world's first all electric sports car, or just tool around town in your Xebra (a whimsical design in a golf cart like vehicle), or load up your sturdy Phoenix Motor Cars electric sports utility truck, or make a statement with a hybrid or hydrogen car, having solar panels on your home means that you could be powering your vehicle with the sun, instead of oil from the Middle East. The first Wired Living Home boasts that the owners will drive the new BMW Hydrogen 7, and that the car emits nothing but water vapor. There are options to the traditional gas guzzler these days, and the cars are fast, sturdy and sleek (with the exception of the Xebra) - proving you do not have to sacrifice style and beauty when you do the right thing by the environment. In downtown Santa Monica, California, more and more locals have taken to pedaling their bikes around town to run errands, meet friends at the local watering hole and enjoy a ride along the beach.

Go green. It's good for your wallet, your health, your energy bill and could even improve your love life. It's also easier and cheaper than ever to incorporate into your home. For more information on the Living Homes LEED platinum rating, go to the LivingHomes.net website.

Share your Green Living tips on the NataliePace.com Sharing Wisdom bulletin board! List local home improvement stores, contractors, etc., that you've had a great experience with. Share other tips on brown, grey and black water reclaiming systems. Share your wisdom! (This board is password protected to keep out the porn and scams. You can register for free on the home page at NataliePace.com and select the passwords of choice at that time.)

Subprime Loans Helped a Lot of Americans Get into Their Dream Home.

by Kassie Welch

- But Will Your Dream Last? Learn what you can do now to keep your dream from going up in smoke.

Credit conditions are tightening and real estate markets are softening. Acting now to make sure you have a loan you can live with could keep your dream alive.

With all the press on the "subprime" lending crisis over the last few months, I've received many calls from homeowners who obtained financing from other lenders and are now in trouble. Not only do they need help keeping their homes, but they're looking for answers. They also want to know why their prior loan officer, who is nowhere to be found, would give them this type of loan, specifically an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage) that is increasing faster than they can sometimes afford to pay.

Here's my response.
Most of the people who are finding themselves in trouble didn't fully understand the loan program they were getting and some may have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous or inexperienced loan officers. Notice I said loan officer and not lenders, which seem to be the scapegoats in this subprime lending "witch hunt." I'll explain later in depth that people, not institutions, make "bad loans."

Many of these loans were 100% financing, interest only ARMs, with short term fixed rate periods. In my opinion and experience of using the product, they're not intended to be held for extended periods of time. Most borrowers take them with the intention of refinancing once they have more equity and/or have better credit, as the result of credit repair and the effect of owning a home.

The problems that are occurring now are with people who didn't refinance in time either because they didn't clean up their credit as they expected/planned, or got into the market too late to obtain the appreciation they needed to refinance, or had a pre-payment penalty, which discouraged them from refinancing earlier.  And now their start rate or sometimes called a "teaser" rate is over and their loan begins to adjust.

We've been hearing a lot about "teaser" rates, but usually the rate of the above mentioned loans are higher than on prime 30-year fixed loans made with down payments. The real problem isn't the initial rate being too low, but lies in the margin or amount added to the index, which determines the future interest rate. Most of subprime loans have high margins, which result in high interest rates/payments once the loans begin to adjust, especially for those borrowers with less than prime credit rating.  

The best example I can give you is of a potential client I tried to help a few months ago. I was able to secure the exact same interest rate/payments except that the new loan was a 30-year fixed versus his two year fixed that would later adjust and could be as high as 15%. At the time, he refused my proposal because he was under the impression he should be able to save $1,000 a month because that's what his other lender had originally told him.  He's "taking his chances" that the market will improve and he'll be able to refinance at a later date, versus spending the money and locking into permanent financing now, even though there'd be no savings.

He was one of the unlucky borrowers who bought too late in the housing boom and didn't improve his credit enough to get what he was "promised" by his former lender. He bought in April of 2006 with a low FICO, due to a bankruptcy two years prior.  He did 100% financing with a 2/28 (2 year fixed, 28 year adjustable) with a five-year interest only option on the first and a 20% 30 due in 15 (balloon payment) fixed rate second.

You can see from the lingo that this is difficult to understand and that the buyer might not have fully understood how his first trust deed worked. What this essentially means is that his payments started increasing in the 3^rd year (when the adjustable kicked in), followed by a much bigger payment in year 5 (when he had to readjust the loan to a potentially higher interest and principal reductions). The second trust deed has stable payments, however at the end of the 15^th year, the outstanding balance of the second would be due in payable. This typically equates to 75-80% of the original loan balance since the bulk of loan repayments are made in the last 20% of the amortization schedule.

His current rates are 8.5% and 10.75%. His rate next year could be as high as 10.5% on the first and then 12.5% the following year and 14.5% the next until it hits it's ceiling of 15+%.

Ugly, ugly loan and one I tried to replace, but to no avail because of his unrealistic expectations.  Because he is a friend of a friend, I pleaded with him repeatedly to take the 30 year fixed at 8.5% that I could offer last spring, which NO LONGER EXISTS today. I want to mention that he did a "full document" loan using Bank Statements (deposits less 20% for business/operating expenses) and this type of documentation has higher payments, too. To complicate matters more, he doesn't have much in the way of cash reserves, so it's unlikely he'll be refinancing soon, since most lenders are now requiring 6 months PITI (Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance) after close of escrow.
 
There are so many variables for each borrower, but the above gives you an example of the types of problems homeowners are experiencing today. I've had done similar loans in the past, (although the rates were lower) that refinanced with ease. However that was under different market conditions (rapid appreciation) and lender requirements, which were much more lenient compared to today's restricted lending environment.

It seems everyone is looking for someone to blame right now for the "subprime crisis" we've found ourselves in. Currently, the lenders are taking the brunt of the blame. I believe individuals played a part, however, as well as loan officers -- many who are probably out of the business due to inexperience or after making their money and running. There were some companies as well, who built their business around subprime loans that are now out of business, but made profits before going bankrupt. The crisis is at least partially due to individuals who misused the loan instruments and the borrowers who were naive, hopeful or just plain ignorant and did not properly evaluate market conditions or weigh their obligations to repay these risky loans.

Many borrowers got carried away by the high, sometimes double digit appreciation viewing the real estate market as another "gold rush." Many relied exclusively on recent trends to make their home buying decision versus considering historical long-range appreciation cycles or the future cost of money. For anyone interested in real estate statistics that are reliable, simply go to REALTOR.org, the website of the National Association of Realtors. Be sure to look for local statistics for your area since appreciation varies greatly throughout the United States.

The bottom line is that everyone is responsible for her own personal decisions, especially when it comes to signing on the dotted line. The mortgage business is a highly regulated industry and everything is disclosed.  There are Truth-in-Lending Disclosures, Good Faith Estimates and HUD 1 Settlement Statements that give the borrower all the facts and figures.  Even stated income loans, which are another major "culprit" in the subprime disintegration, require a borrower to sign a loan application at closing, which clearly indicates the stated income required to qualify for the loan obtained.  Lastly, the borrower always knows what the payments are in the interim, while they're waiting for the refinance that will supposedly "right" their choice as well as estimates of future payments based on the index at the time of closing.
 
Many of the people who were and will be hurt are those that "trusted" someone and/or, in my opinion, abdicated their personal responsibility.  I believe this is in part of the "housing" craze, not just in buying, but in building, remodeling, and redecorating that permeates our culture. Turn on your TV and you can view all the decorating shows, segments on all the talk shows and two entire networks (HGTV and DYI - maybe more that I'm unaware) dedicated to the craze.  I suspect many people got lost in the frenzy, especially when they saw all their friends, co-workers and family buying/decorating/remodeling homes and wanted into the game, the ultimate "keeping up with the Jones."

The 100% financing and interest only programs aren't bad programs if/when used properly. They're just a tool, like a hammer that can be used to build or destroy depending on the USER.  Same is true of the stated income loans, which were specifically designed for people who have unclaimed income, but were still expected to state what they truly earned.  I always found this ironic because one would think the government would want to know about any unclaimed income.
 
The last piece of the lending crisis, which I truly believe is becoming much bigger than for the subprime market, are people who have been using their home as ATMs. Over the last 5-10 years, too many have done repeated cash-out refinances, essentially living off their equity.  Although most will explain away their debt as this emergency or this need or that, the truth is that life is filled with emergencies. That's what savings accounts are supposedly for. The home equity should only be tapped under the most dire of circumstances, like a long-term illness, or if planned for properly, like sending your children to college.

As a culture we spend more than we make and over extend ourselves via credit, whether it's consumer credit cards or the equity in our homes. We're definitely living in interesting times and I believe we're getting closer to "paying the piper" more each day.

It doesn't matter what happened in the past or even why, as much as what you'll do in the future to protect your home and your family. Each borrower's situation is individual, so there aren't any "pat" answers. Explore your options while you still have them (credit options are tightening up daily) and work with only reputable individuals and institutions to obtain a mortgage review.

5 Tips For Borrowers who are in danger of losing their homes

1. Don't wait to refinance, hoping that better rates and terms are on the horizon. Interest rates are still near their 40-year low without much room to go much lower, while, in the meantime, credit standards are tightening up fast and values are softening. If you can qualify for a new, longer-term loan that keeps you in your home at a price you can afford, take it NOW.
   
   
2. If a long-term loan is too expensive, consider a negative amortization loan, if you have enough equity to qualify. Although you'll be giving up equity in the short term, you'll be able to stay in your home. For many giving up equity is a better alternative than having a cash crunch that could make it impossible to make your mortgage in the future and possibly losing their home.
   
   
3. Consider downsizing to a less expensive home. Remember to factor in the cost of selling a home (listing and buyer's agent commissions as well as closing cost) when determining what you'd have as a new down payment. The cost of selling might leave you with less cash than you think, but it's worth exploring.
   
   
4. If downsizing doesn't make sense, compare your current housing cost factoring in the tax advantages of home ownership to renting a comparable home. Depending on your needs, you may not be able to rent for much. If you still feel you cannot afford your home, LIST YOUR HOME IMMEDIATELY at a price that will attract a buyer and quick sale.
   
   
5. If you're unable to sell and payoff your mortgage with the proceeds, contact your lender as soon as possible. Many lenders are establishing Payment Restructure Departments to create payment plans. If your lender doesn't have payment restructuring, find out about their "short sell" policy. Determine the ramifications of a short sell or deed in lieu of foreclosure. Some real estate agents specialize in negotiating with lenders and might be a good choice if you end up selling your home.

Online Chat with Mortgage Loan Specialist Kassie Welch
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
8:45AM through 9:30AM PT
Having trouble with your new ARM payments? Wonder if you should hold out hope that real estate will rise rapidly in the coming months? Get options from a veteran mortgage loan consultant.

A twenty-year veteran of the real estate industry, Kassie is trained in all areas of mortgage banking, from processing to loan servicing/securitization and holds certifications in appraisal, underwriting and fraud detection/prevention from the Mortgage Bankers Association in addition to her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. Kassie regularly teaches seminars, publishes articles on mortgage related topics, and has been a "mortgage expert" on NPR's Marketplace Morning Report. During her non-working hours, Kassie volunteers as a disabled ski instructor in Mammoth, teaches financial literacy courses for LINC Housing, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing for families and seniors across California, as well as being on the Advisory Committee of LINC Cares, a subsidiary organization, providing enhancement programs to the LINC Housing residents. For more information, you may reach Kassie at KassieWelch@aol.com or visit her website at www.DreamHomeOwnership.com.

Socially Conscious Investing.

by Natalie Pace.

According to the Social Investment Forum (at SocialInvest.org), $2.3 trillion (out of $24.4 trillion under professional management) was traded with socially conscious screens in the United States in 2005 - nearly one out of every ten dollars. Socially conscious investing can include screens for environmental impact, repressive regimes, terrorist states, corporate governance, sustainability, employees, community, human rights, health and safety. When the phrase is used, it implies companies with a focus on open and transparent business practices, ethical values, respect for employees, communities and the environment and with a vision of working for the world at large, as well as shareholders.

Whew! Quantum physics might be easier by comparison. Fortunately, there are a lot of watchdog organizations that make the socially conscious mutual fund manager's job easier than it sounds. And, thankfully, there are a number of companies that offer socially conscious mutual funds, so you don't have to do any extra work at all.

In 2007, the best-known socially conscious funds were Domini and Calvert. I'd love to report that green is good for your wallet, but over a ten-year period, those funds underperformed the marketplace, meaning the opposite. Ouch for those socially conscious visionaries of the late 1990s.

That might not be the case in the future, however. The top performing industry in the first quarter of 2007 was alternative energy, after being virtually non-existent for the prior three decades. With the explosion of interest in alternative energy and green investing in 2005 and going forward, a number of new socially conscious mutual funds and ETFs have begun to sprout and more will likely follow.

There are a few more reasons why I think that socially conscious funds might start to make headlines. Green became everyone's favorite color in 2006 when many scientists and policymakers began acknowledging that our world's climate was changing and that human interference might have something to do with that. Alternative energy, sustainable living, etc. became so pervasive that the man synonymous with capitalism - Rupert Murdoch - was even quoted as saying, "Everyone is green these days." Additionally, American women, who have been building their own careers since the 1970s, are now entering the marketplace of investing and estates, and 40% of the female investors that I've surveyed list socially conscious investing as a top priority. (This is a statistic that I've tested repeatedly, in various settings, and it has held true in each - so far.) So, if you weight toward socially conscious now, you could benefit from an emerging trend, which is always an easy way to make money.

There will be a slew of brokers and friends who are anxious to warn you that this approach was a loser in the past. Remind them that driving while looking in the rearview mirror is a good way to crash. The Internet was a colossal loser for investors from 2000-2002, before Google went on to become the most successful IPO of all time. Apple Computer single handedly resurrected the music business, when the music companies tried to sue their customers into paying for free downloads and Tower Records had to shut its doors. Don't be stuck in the past, ever.

Just to illustrate how hot companies that take the high road are becoming, consider one of the top performing stock picks in 2007 - World Water & Power. I featured the company in my April 2007 ezine. Just one month later, from May 29 to May 31, Quentin T. Kelly, World Water Chairman and CEO, traveled in Toronto and Vancouver with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Governor's Trade Mission to Canada. Mr. Kelley was selected due to World Water & Power's leading role in building prominent solar energy projects in California, including the Fresno airport solar complex, as well as the largest solar-powered agricultural system in the world and only self-sustaining water utility. On August 9, 2007, the company announced that they would be delivering 10 Mobile MaxPure units for use in Darfur, Sudan. The portable solar driven water pumping and purifying units will provide approximately 30,000 gallons of safe drinking water daily at each of 10 sites across the ravaged desert region. This is the kind of company that thrills the socially conscious investor and the capitalist alike.

Now, I bring this up because World Water was trading off the boards during that time period (and still is), meaning that, if you were perusing technical charts or earnings reports or analyst recommendations, you would have given it no shot as the company to get the call from the governor. The only way of discerning what a player that World Water was becoming was by looking at the products, the customers and the forward-thinking projects that the CEO was engaged in.

Additionally, as the ultra high-risk investment, World Water would typically be the first stock dumped in a panic, if there was any concern in the larger stock markets. However, instead of showing weakness during the subprime mortgage concerns of the summer of 2007, World Water held up very strong, while the blue chip stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a beating. It started at 59 cents in April when I first featured the company, soared to $2.52 on news of the Schwarzenegger tour and then settled back in at $1.50 range during the volatile downturn of July and August 2007. The stock markets look like a flat line by comparison to the stellar returns that World Water posted and sustained during the period between my feature article in April and September 18, 2007, when Chairman Bernanke and the Federal Open Market Committee cut the Fed Funds rate by 50 basis points in an attempt to restore confidence in the capital and credit markets.

Source: www.MoneyCentral.MSN.com

To my reasoning, that means that investors who take positions in these green, socially conscious companies are less willing to give them up -- even in uncertain times. In that case, new investors are going to have to pay a higher price - something we all love when we've bought our positions early.

Interested in socially conscious investing, but want to try a newer fund? Doing a search for socially conscious mutual funds or ETFs on your favorite engine should yield results. Also, it is your broker's job to know what funds are out there, so s/he should be helpful in your search as well. PowerShares has two Exchange Traded Funds in the socially conscious space -- WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (AMEX: PBW) and the Cleantech Portfolio (AMEX: PBZ). According to the PowerShares website, "A company is considered to be part of the clean tech industry if it produces any knowledge-based product or service that improves operation, performance, productivity or efficiency, while reducing costs, inputs, energy consumption, waste or pollution."

Even if you don't want to become an activist investor, chances are you would be more active than you are right now if you realized that chances are VERY HIGH that you are already invested in all kinds of corporations that you may not wish to support. If you have a retirement plan at all (whether it is a 401 (k), annuity, IRA or pension plan), you are invested in mutual funds, and each mutual fund invests in hundreds of publicly traded companies. Every wonder how Philip Morris could make it through those decades of lawsuits by the cancer victims? With your money. Ever wonder how Fannie Mae could still have a market value close to what it was five years ago, through fraud claims, accounting scandals and a scathing indictment and ousting of former CEO and Chairman Franklin Raines? With your money.

Natalie's Note: Mutual funds are simply a mass-marketed financial product that contains hundreds of publicly traded companies. For instance, the most popular mutual fund - American Funds Growth Fund of America - owns stock in Microsoft, Google, Schlumberger, Roche, Oracle, Lowe's, Target, Fannie Mae, General Electric, Sprint, Cisco, Medtronic, Altria (Philip Morris tobacco company), American International Group, Texas Instruments, Nokia, and hundreds of other companies. So, when you buy shares of that mutual fund, you in essence own shares of all of the other companies.

In September of 2007, Altria (Philip Morris) was one of the top holdings in the four most widely held mutual funds, while Fannie Mae was a top holding of the top three most widely held funds. Translation: if you own a mutual fund, chances are you own Philip Morris tobacco company, whether you like it or not, and all kinds of other companies and activities that you may not want to support - whether you are anti-oil companies or just sick of watching a tanned Larry Ellison (CEO, Oracle) buy Malibu real estate and race sailboats.

Before you burn this book for giving you too many things to worry about, again, screening to see what companies you own is as easy as two clicks on your computer. Literally. That easy. You can simply enter the symbol of the mutual funds that you currently own on any major financial site and then click on Top 25 Holdings to see what companies you are supporting. And if you don't want to own those kinds of mutual funds, then simply tell your broker that you want to own funds that are more socially conscious (and find a broker to work with you on that). There are index funds, exchange-traded funds and tons of easy options for you to choose from that target companies more in your sweet spot. Or, you could create your own nest egg with a basket of carefully diversified stocks, with the help of a professional. It's not that hard, and a good broker will be a valuable asset in this.

Again, with your nest egg, once you get it tucked in properly, you just keep feeding it monthly and check up on it twice a year. It is very easy and very rewarding.

If Al Gore is as prescient about global warming as he was about the Internet, going green is a good bet, even if you're only doing it to capitalize on an emerging trend. It's funny to think of Gore as a visionary - when his reputation as such a spastic dancer at the Inaugural Balls is so ingrained -- but history may regard him in a much more glowing light than Americans currently afford him. And if that is the case, making your "calls" on green investing now could be very rewarding.

Do What Makes Money First.

by Chellie Campbell, author of Zero to Zillionaire.

Chellie Campbell, author of Zero to Zillionaire.

If you are in business for yourself, it is easy to let work fill every waking hour of your life. Starting a business involves a huge investment of time in getting all your systems set up, trial and error on what works and what doesn't work to serve your customers, networking, research and development of new ideas, staying abreast of current trends in your industry, etc. The problem is that when you spend so much time in the beginning building your business, spending 80-hour weeks becomes your new habit. That's what your mind begins to tell you is necessary for your business survival. Then fear of financial insecurity runs your business and that's when your business starts running you.

But corporate ladder-climbers often work the same long hours, and so do lots of administrative wage earners who care about doing a good job. I'm not saying not to give. I'm saying not to over-give. The number of hours are not the appropriate measure, anyway.

There comes a time when you have to break that habit in order to create more time for your life in your work schedule. If you pay attention to what makes money in your business and spend the majority of your time and energy on those things, you can streamline all your systems so that your business serves your life instead of vice versa. You can convince clients and bosses of this if you gather the proof and then make the sale. That's what I want you to do.

There are three rules for making money in business:

1. Do what makes money now. Can you pick up the phone today, make a call, make a sale and get money right now? Can you have a discount sale this weekend and have cash that day? Can you work a part-time job and get money in a regular paycheck at the end of the week if you are just getting your business off the ground or sales are slow? You know what your budget is, and you need to do whatever it takes to make money now so you can pay your bills now. You need bread and butter canoes that keep you solvent from day to day.
   
   
2. Do what makes money soon. These are marketing activities that don't directly produce income now, but produce contacts that will produce money soon. These are networking activities, newsletters, and emails that are going to produce money eventually, but not necessarily today. If you spend time arranging speaking engagements a couple of months in advance, they will produce "Soon Money" after the speaking event has been held. These are your schooners.
   
   
3. Do what makes money later. Some of your bigger sales will take longer to close. Big ships sail slower. If you are selling a 10,000 order to a department store, the sale will take longer and the money will come in later than if you just sell one item to a customer today. This book is a perfect example of "Later Money". Yes, I got some money as an advance upon signing the contract, but the majority of my money will come later in the form of royalties, which only get paid every six months. This is potentially good money, but I will starve to death at the dock if I ignore the canoes that bring in money today and only focus on the cruise ships that bring in money far off in the future.

But whatever you do, in any case, do what makes money first!

It is also important to spend a portion of your time on residual income-producing activities, so that you aren't totally dependent on working each day in order to make money. When I decided to write a book, I had to reorganize my time priorities list in order to include it. Writing became my fourth priority. I have to keep my main business profitable so that I still make a living while I write my book, but if I don't put writing time in my schedule, there won't be a book. Getting paid for the book is mostly "Later Money", but it also creates an additional income stream that I call "making money while you sleep." When my book is in the bookstores, it is being sold by people all over the world, 24 hours a day, even while I am asleep. My books can be producing income for meÑand my heirsÑfor years into the future, long after I am no longer working.

Actors have known this for years, and that's why they negotiated residual income to be paid to them when their movies are sold in other markets or run on television. But that isn't enough. There is a reason that famous celebrities design clothing lines, or perfumes, or write songs they publish as well as sing. They are creating residual incomes that will last long after their careers have fadedÑeven after their death. Elvis Presley and Graceland is a good example of that.

The motion picture industry often makes as much or more money from ancillary products as they do from the movies themselves. You can invest in real estate, stocks, bonds, etc. You can design a web-based business, with products, e-books, and on-line training courses that people can buy automatically at any time. Then you spend your time marketing to get people to the web site. If you join a multi-level sales organization, you can train other people and make a profit from their sales as well as your own.

Every other business activity is administrivia and can be put off, delegated, boiler-plated, streamlined, and otherwise made efficient and fast. Administrivia is the biggest time waster. We want to make our papers perfect, because then we feel like we're doing a good job at our work. But the real reasonÑthe hidden reasonÑwe love to shuffle our papers is because it makes us feel like we are working, when really we are avoiding.

So the way we spend our time actually breaks down like this:

1. Time spent doing things that make money
2. Time spent doing things that cost money
3. Time spent doing things that make you feel like you're working but are really an avoidance of A.

What we are avoiding is the real work of the businessÑno, not the delivery of the product or serviceÑwe adore that part! That's what we're in business to do and why we started our business in the first place. There isn't one business owner I know who wouldn't love to have a roster full of clients all ready to pay money for us to do what we love doing. But we won't have them unless we do the most difficult and confrontational part of the business: We have to find prospects and sell them our products or services, which is what turns them into clients. The hard partÑthe confrontational partÑof business is sales. We don't always like that so much. But that's the A workÑand that's where the money is. And so that's where your time should be spent.

Chellie Campbell is the author of Zero to Zillionaire and The Wealthy Spirit. She created and teaches the Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops, on which her book is based, in the Los Angeles area and gives programs throughout the country.

If you are stuck in a rut in your business or life and/or having too much "month at the end of your money," Chellie's workshop might be just what you need to get things on the right track. You can sign up for Chellie's Ezine and workshop at www.chellie.com.

Play Dough:

by Natalie Pace.

Bewitching Delights on Both Coasts. On Your Way to Riches, Don't Forget to Enjoy Life.

Bobbing for the Big Apple
6 outrageous experiences to have in New York City, the city that never sleeps, along with three important tips on how to make your stay unforgettable. New York City is vibrant and alive these days, and the real Mecca for the world's conversations on some of the most important topics of today. At the same time, it is still leading the world in cultural experiences - from ballet, to opera, to theatre, to fine art and some of the most exciting "green" skyscraper and architectural designs around.

Best Hotel, Breakfast and Burger: Le Parker Meridien with breakfast at Norma's and Lunch at Burger Joint. Imagine being 39 floors up, with a view of Central Park. Downstairs you have the choice of the best breakfast on the planet at Norma's, or the best burger in mid-town at The Burger Joint (hidden behind the concierge desk). After you've stuffed yourself silly, you can take a yoga class, or a spinning class or indulge in two floors of aerobic options, training machines or free weights. The gym at the Parker Meridien is larger than those of all of the local 5-star hotels put together - tres indulgent for the fitness lover - and even includes a penthouse swimming pool! The bellman always remembers your name. There's a New York Times waiting outside your door every morning. A mid-town location and a line-up of cabs out front, or a subway right around the corner, mean that all of Manhattan is accessible within just a few minutes. Whether you are an executive on business or a couple indulging in a romantic weekend or a family taking in the Big Apple, Le Parker Meridien is the only place to stay in New York City. Upgrade to a park view. It's worth it.

Best Drink: Caiparinhas at Circus. The caiparinhas at Circus will almost make you feel that you're watching Gisele Bundchen slink across a sandy beach in Rio, with "Girl from Ipanema" playing in the background. The Brazilian food is fresh, inspired and delightful as well. Definitely a night out on the town not to be missed! 132 E 61st St New York, NY. (212) 223-2965.

Best Museum Experience: Pyramids at the Met. They say that the Egyptian Book of the Dead contains the ancient stories upon which the Bible and most other religious tomes were based. It's humbling, if not perplexing, to read translations of the hieroglyphics from over four thousand years ago that read, "I gave bread to the poor. I took a man across the river in my boat" - especially for those of us who thought one religion had a copyright on those sentiments. Oh, and the paintings aren't so bad either. http://www.metmuseum.org/

Best Dinner: Blue Ribbon. This is the restaurant where chefs sneak away to treat their taste buds. Where else can you get bone marrow and oxtail marmalade beside your Pu-Pu platter? (212) 274-0404. 97 Sullivan St New York, NY.

Best Calendar Listing: Time-Out Magazine. Broadway, Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, dancing, food, local festivities! You won't miss a thing with Time-Out Magazine.

Best Restaurant Guide: Zagat. If a restaurant doesn't have a Zagat rating sticker in their window, just walk a few more steps to the one that does. There are hundreds of restaurants in every neighborhood, and they all know that Zagat is the standard by which they are judged. If the restaurant has been overlooked, there's a good reason for it.

Bagel Shops and Pizza/Salad Walk-ins: You don't need to eat $28 breakfasts and lunches every day. There are bagel shops and pizza stands (usually with fresh salad options inside) on every corner. Even Starbucks has breakfast these days for under $5!

Beach Town Bliss: Santa Monica.
New York City is our home away from home, but Santa Monica is our hometown, so we have a lot of wonderful experiences to share with you. You can count the many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities we list below if you wish - they are too numerous for us - but they add up to priceless memories that you'll have for the rest of your life. Everyone deserves a week in one of the world's most magical, spiritual, cultured cities in the world - Santa Monica, California. And remember, California is moderate, year-round climate. It's 80 degrees and sunny year-round, except for every few years when we get rain between November and February. Coming during the off-season means that you get to experience paradise without the crowds and traffic.

Best Beachfront Drink (Expensive): Geoffrey's, Malibu

Best Beachfront Drink (More Reasonable): The Sunset Restaurant, Malibu.

Wedding at the Sunset Restaurant, Malibu, California

Best Penthouse View of the Entire City: The Penthouse at the Huntley Hotel. (The Huntley Hotel would easily qualify as "Most Creative Use of the Piranha." Don't miss the wall of fish in the lobby.)

Best Drink: the Ivy Gimlet at Ivy at the Shore and the Ivy on Robertson. Also, great place to catch a glimpse of your favorite celebrity. The food is amazing, but very expensive.

Best Dinner with a View: The Lobster, Santa Monica Pier. Surprisingly delightful fare, made from fresh organic produce and fresh seafood. Beachfront. Overlooking the pier.

Best Restaurant: Josie's Restaurant, Santa Monica. Fresh, local produce inspire orgasmic fare from one of the most gifted chefs and team in the world.

Best Dinner Ambience (Fire Pit): Ocean and Vine, Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel.

Best Breakfast: Figtree's Café on the Venice Boardwalk. Don't miss the cornmeal blueberry and banana pancakes. Lunch is amazing as well - especially the tofu quesadilla and the stir-fry.

Best Local's Hang for Dinner: Piccolo Ristorante, 5 Dudley on Venice Boardwalk.

Best Mexican breakfast: Gilbert's El Indio, Santa Monica. Cheesy refried beans, fresh guacamole, salsa Diablo, juevos con chorizo and more.

Coolest Home: The first Platinum LEED rated home is a prefab! Check it out at LivingHomes.net

Best New Artist: Michel Tabori at TaboriStudio.com. Find out why his shows are all selling out - nationwide. See his masterpiece - "BeBop" - at Hal's Bar and Grill, on Abbott Kinney Blvd., in Venice.

Los Angeles Opera: Placido Domingo, the Executive Director at the LA Opera, has turned Los Angeles into one of the top cultural centers in the world. Don't miss this seasons spectacular performances, including Puccini's La Boheme, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Otello and more.

The Getty Center: Where architecture, landscape, photography and fine art collide. Free admission. (Paid parking.)

Rollerblading on the Beach: With over 300 days of sunshine every year, Santa Monica Beach is the best place to get your blade groove on. Blade, bike or jog along the longest beachfront path on the West Coast. Less than $15 buys you an unforgettable hour; there are bike and blade rental shops all up and down the bike path. Head down to Venice for culture and curves, and up toward the Pacific Palisades for beach volleyball and less sand in your ball bearings.

Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith's Agape Sanctuary: Visit the sanctuary of the star of The Secret, where The Rev and his wife, the gifted Dr. Rickie Byars Beckwith, rock with famous singers, and inspire with messages of bringing more heaven to our Earth. Culver City, California.

Rawvolution: You don't have to be a raw food vegan to enjoy the delicious creations and fresh coconut milk (served in the coconut) at Rawvolution. Healthy, fresh and filling. Euphoria Loves Rawvolution. (310) 392-9501. 2301 Main St Santa Monica, California.

What to avoid:

Most ridiculous meal: Capo. No Italian would ever want to go to a place named Capo, and if the prices don't scare you off, the attitude of the staff will.

Play dough: Don't forget to enjoy life! This one is all you have (this time around).

The Pearl of Havana:

A Cuban Fantasy Gala to Benefit Single Parents and Their Catastrophically Ill Children on an Exclusive Estate in Santa Barbara, California.

On October 20, 2007, celebrities, philanthropists and bon vivants will gather in Santa Barbara, CA for an elegant evening of mambo, music and showgirls to benefit the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation. Cocktails flow at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner, with a silent & live auction and Casino stage show swinging in at 7:30 p.m. With celebrities like Andy Garcia, Mary Hart of "Entertainment Tonight" and Lawrence Bender (the producer of Pulp Ffiction) lending their names to the event, and the indulgent setting of a private Santa Barbara estate, it's likely to be quite a memorable evening. Of special note, Desi Arnaz, Jr. will make a rare appearance, and tribute his dad with the Babaloo number on the congas.

Tickets for this once-in-a-lifetime gala experience start at $500 and go up. Corporate Sponsors are also being sought. This benefits a very worthy cause -- The Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation, which pays urgent expenses so single parents can stay at the side of their catastrophically ill children. Of course, your support, even if you are unable to attend this very special gala, is greatly appreciated, and you can make a donation online at http://www.andreriveroflife.org. So, consider mamboing with other stylish philanthropists in Santa Barbara in" The Pearl of Havana ~ A Cuban Fantasy" (designed by Cuban-born Hollywood legend, Luis Estevez). Go to: www.thepearlofhavana.com NOW, for your invitation.

Helping Others: A Foundation that Supports Single Parents Through Their Worst Nightmare: The Terminal Illness of a Child.

by Kate Vozoff, with Valerie Sobel, founder of the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation.

Valerie Sobel experienced the worse nightmare of every parent when she lost her teenage son Andre to an inoperable malignant brain tumor. She and her family have endured the kind of reversal that results only from this kind of nightmare. Her husband and mother lost their lives within the year following Andre's death, and her daughter Simone has not quite forgiven for the emotional abandonment siblings experience from their perspective.

The work of the Foundation bearing Andre's name was shaped by this family's saga, yet its mission reflects on a void that was not part of their experience. Their family was privileged with emotional support and financial wherewithal, but Ms. Sobel posed the question: how can single parents possibly manage without those? She found the answer to be: NOT WELL.  

After helping more than 3,000 people since the year 2000, when the foundation was established, the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation has become the experts in the emerging pediatric field of single caregivers. Statistics show 78% of couples separate or divorce in the first year of a child being diagnosed with a life threatening illness. This problem, once defined, demonstrates there is a new and less visible challenge. Because parents must continue to try and go to work to provide for their family, there are children dying alone. The single parent's choices are to quit their jobs and plummet financially, or continue working and spend much-needed funds on in-home care by others.

Valerie recalls a conversation with one woman in this dilemma when she asked how much money would allow her to stay at home with her child. The answer: $800 month. "Just imagine the senselessness of forcing a mother to leave her dying child and go to work, so she can pay a stranger to do the thing she wants to do most," says Ms. Sobel.

The real objective therefore of the ASRL foundation is to provide emergency financial help, thereby allowing the parent to care for his/her critically ill child. Our gift is that of more time for the parent and child to be together, and our belief is that this should be the basic right for all.

The hallmark of the program is assistance within 24 hours. The social workers at 12 pediatric Hospitals apply for help on behalf of a family once they have run out of other resources to turn to.

Valerie Sobel wishes the fund could save children's lives, but by softening the crisis for their single parents, the help they provide is invaluable for the overall sanity of the family. It is a practical mission that helps immediately and demonstrates how a crisis in her opinion should be handled: without heartless red tape. Having experienced this journey with her Andre, she understands there is little emotional room left for facing bureaucracy.

This deep-felt awareness helps explain why the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation supports everything from food and shelter to ballet lessons for a patient's sibling, transportation for chemotherapy appointments, alternative therapies, and even burial costs. "We try to be sensitive to what government can never be expected to support," says Ms. Sobel. "Our society is only as humane as our treatment of those so diminished by crisis they cannot speak for themselves."

To help the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation help single parents during their worst moments, visit http://www.andreriveroflife.org

To RSVP for the Pearl of Havana gala in Santa Barbara, CA on October 20, 2007, visit http://www.andreriveroflife.org. Or call ASRL offices at 310 276 7111 and ask for Ursula Dillard, or e-mail her at Ursula@andreriveroflife.org

 

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.

by Ishmael Beah.

This is part of our ongoing series on peace = prosperity.

Excerpt reprinted with permission of Sarah Crichton Books (an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Reprinted with permission. © Sarah Crichton Books Farrar, Straus and Giroux

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah is the gripping story of a child's journey

through hell and back.

There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. He is one of the first to tell his story in his own words.

In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-six years old, tells a riveting story. At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. Eventually released by the army and sent to a UNICEF rehabilitation center, he struggled to regain his humanity and to reenter the world of civilians, who viewed him with fear and suspicion. This is, at last, a story of redemption and hope.

Chapter One excerpt:
There were all kinds of stories told about the war that made it sound as if it was happening in a faraway and different land. It wasn't until refugees started passing through our town that we began to see that it was actually taking place in our country. Families who had walked hundreds of miles told how relatives had been killed and their houses burned. Some people felt sorry for them and offered them places to stay, but most of the refugees refused, because they said the war would eventually reach our town. The children of these families wouldn't look at us, and they jumped at the sound of chopping wood or as stones landed on the tin roofs flung by children hunting birds with slingshots. The adults among these children from the war zones would be lost in their thoughts during conversations with the elders of my town. Apart from their fatigue and malnourishment, it was evident they had seen something that plagued their minds, something that we would refuse to accept if they told us all of it. At times I thought that some of the stories the passersby told were exaggerated. The only wars I knew of were those that I had read about in books or seen in movies such as Rambo: First Blood, and the one in neighboring Liberia that I had heard about on the BBC news. My imagination at ten years old didn't have the capacity to grasp what had taken away the happiness of the refugees.

The first time that I was touched by war I was twelve. It was in January of 1993. I left home with Junior, my older brother, and our friend Talloi, both a year older than I, to go to the town of Mattru Jong, to participate in our friends' talent show. Mohamed, my best friend, couldn't come because he and his father were renovating their thatched-roof kitchen that day. The four of us had started a rap and dance group when I was eight. We were first introduced to rap music during one of our visits to Mobimbi, a quarter where the foreigners who worked for the same American company as my father lived. We often went to Mobimbi to swim in a pool and watch the huge color television and the white people who crowded the visitors' recreational area. One evening a music video that consisted of a bunch of young black fellows talking really fast came on the television. The four of us sat there mesmerized by the song, trying to understand what the black fellows were saying. At the end of the video, some letters came up at the bottom of the screen. They read "Sugarhill Gang, ÔRapper's Delight.'" Junior quickly wrote it down on a piece of paper. After that, we came to the quarters every other weekend to study that kind of music on television. We didn't know what it was called then, but I was impressed with the fact that the black fellows knew how to speak English really fast, and to the beat.

Later on, when Junior went to secondary school, he befriended some boys who taught him more about foreign music and dance. During holidays, he brought me cassettes and taught my friends and me how to dance to what we came to know as hip-hop. I loved the dance, and particularly enjoyed learning the lyrics, because they were poetic and it improved my vocabulary. One afternoon, Father came home while Junior, Mohamed, Talloi, and I were learning the verse of "I Know You Got Soul" by Eric B. & Rakim. He stood by the door of our clay brick and tin roof house laughing and then asked, "Can you even understand what you are saying?" He left before Junior could answer. He sat in a hammock under the shade of the mango, guava, and orange trees and tuned his radio to the BBC news.

"Now, this is good English, the kind that you should be listening to," he shouted from the yard.

While Father listened to the news, Junior taught us how to move our feet to the beat. We alternately moved our right and then our left feet to the front and back, and simultaneously did the same with our arms, shaking our upper bodies and heads. "This move is called the running man," Junior said. Afterward, we would practice miming the rap songs we had memorized. Before we parted to carry out our various evening chores of fetching water and cleaning lamps, we would say "Peace, son" or "I'm out," phrases we had picked up from the rap lyrics. Outside, the evening music of birds and crickets would commence.

On the morning that we left for Mattru Jong, we loaded our backpacks with notebooks of lyrics we were working on and stuffed our pockets with cassettes of rap albums. In those days we wore baggy jeans, and underneath them we had soccer shorts and sweatpants for dancing. Under our long-sleeved shirts we had sleeveless undershirts, T-shirts, and soccer jerseys. We wore three pairs of socks that we pulled down and folded to make our crapes* look puffy. When it got too hot in the day, we took some of the clothes off and carried them on our shoulders. They were fashionable, and we had no idea that this unusual way of dressing was going to benefit us. Since we intended to return the next day, we didn't say goodbye or tell anyone where we were going. We didn't know that we were leaving home, never to return.

To save money, we decided to walk the sixteen miles to Mattru Jong. It was a beautiful summer day, the sun wasn't too hot, and the walk didn't feel long either, as we chatted about all kinds of things, mocked and chased each other. We carried slingshots that we used to stone birds and chase the monkeys that tried to cross the main dirt road. We stopped at several rivers to swim. At one river that had a bridge across it, we heard a passenger vehicle in the distance and decided to get out of the water and see if we could catch a free ride. I got out before Junior and Talloi, and ran across the bridge with their clothes. They thought they could catch up with me before the vehicle reached the bridge, but upon realizing that it was impossible, they started running back to the river, and just when they were in the middle of the bridge, the vehicle caught up to them. The girls in the truck laughed and the driver tapped his horn. It was funny, and for the rest of the trip they tried to get me back for what I had done, but they failed.

We arrived at Kabati, my grandmother's village, around two in the afternoon. Mamie Kpana was the name that my grandmother was known by. She was tall and her perfectly long face complemented her beautiful cheekbones and big brown eyes. She always stood with her hands either on her hips or on her head. By looking at her, I could see where my mother had gotten her beautiful dark skin, extremely white teeth, and the translucent creases on her neck. My grandfather or kamorÑteacher, as everyone called himÑwas a well-known local Arabic scholar and healer in the village and beyond.

At Kabati, we ate, rested a bit, and started the last six miles. Grandmother wanted us to spend the night, but we told her that we would be back the following day.

"How is that father of yours treating you these days?" she asked in a sweet voice that was laden with worry.

"Why are you going to Mattru Jong, if not for school? And why do you look so skinny?" she continued asking, but we evaded her questions. She followed us to the edge of the village and watched as we descended the hill, switching her walking stick to her left hand so that she could wave us off with her right hand, a sign of good luck.

We arrived in Mattru Jong a couple of hours later and met up with old friends, Gibrilla, Kaloko, and Khalilou. That night we went out to Bo Road, where street vendors sold food late into the night. We bought boiled groundnut and ate it as we conversed about what we were going to do the next day, made plans to see the space for the talent show and practice. We stayed in the verandah room of Khalilou's house. The room was small and had a tiny bed, so the four of us (Gibrilla and Kaloko went back to their houses) slept in the same bed, lying across with our feet hanging. I was able to fold my feet in a little more since I was shorter and smaller than all the other boys.

The next day Junior, Talloi, and I stayed at Khalilou's house and waited for our friends to return from school at around 2:00 p.m. But they came home early. I was cleaning my crapes and counting for Junior and Talloi, who were having a push-up competition. Gibrilla and Kaloko walked onto the verandah and joined the competition. Talloi, breathing hard and speaking slowly, asked why they were back. Gibrilla explained that the teachers had told them that the rebels had attacked Mogbwemo, our home. School had been canceled until further notice. We stopped what we were doing.

According to the teachers, the rebels had attacked the mining areas in the afternoon. The sudden outburst of gunfire had caused people to run for their lives in different directions. Fathers had come running from their workplaces, only to stand in front of their empty houses with no indication of where their families had gone. Mothers wept as they ran toward schools, rivers, and water taps to look for their children. Children ran home to look for parents who were wandering the streets in search of them. And as the gunfire intensified, people gave up looking for their loved ones and ran out of town.

"This town will be next, according to the teachers." Gibrilla lifted himself from the cement floor. Junior, Talloi, and I took our backpacks and headed to the wharf with our friends. There, people were arriving from all over the mining area. Some we knew, but they couldn't tell us the whereabouts of our families. They said the attack had been too sudden, too chaotic; that everyone had fled in different directions in total confusion.

For more than three hours, we stayed at the wharf, anxiously waiting and expecting either to see our families or to talk to someone who had seen them. But there was no news of them, and after a while we didn't know any of the people who came across the river. The day seemed oddly normal. The sun peacefully sailed through the white clouds, birds sang from treetops, the trees danced to the quiet wind. I still couldn't believe that the war had actually reached our home. It is impossible, I thought. When we left home the day before, there had been no indication the rebels were anywhere near.

"What are you going to do?" Gibrilla asked us. We were all quiet for a while, and then Talloi broke the silence. "We must go back and see if we can find our families before it is too late."

Junior and I nodded in agreement.

Excerpted from A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. Copyright © 2007 by Ishmael Beah. Published in February 2007 by Sarah Crichton Books, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2001-2003 Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

You can make a difference for children worldwide. UNICEF depends entirely on voluntary contributions for all of their work. You can donate, or purchase UNICEF cards and gifts, or become a volunteer. Click to Support UNICEF, the organization which helped to rehabilitate Ishmael Beah.

"Free Lunch" Investment Seminars.

ÑAvoiding the Heartburn of a Hard Sell. Investor Alert from FINRA.org. (the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency).

Investors frequently get invited to free seminars that promise to educate them about investing strategies or managing money in retirementÑoften with an expensive meal provided at no cost. But just because someone buys you breakfast, lunch or dinner doesn't mean you have to buy what they are sayingÑor selling.

We are issuing this Alert because, in many cases, free-meal investment seminars are not solely about education. Their ultimate goals are to recruit new clients and sell productsÑand while some pitches can be easy to swallow, the consequences can be hard to bear.

They're Popular
Free investment seminars are widespread. According to a recent survey by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, four out of five investors age 60 and above (78 percent) got at least one invitation to a free investment seminar in the past three yearsÑand three out of five (nearly 60 percent) got six or more. Not all of these invitations are being tossed out: nearly 25 percent of all those investors said that they went to at least one seminar in the three years. On the other hand, the good news is that relatively few older investors who do attend seminars actually buy anythingÑonly about 9 percent.

If you haven't been invited to a free-meal investment seminar yet, you likely will be. And if you decide to go, you need to be prepared.

What's Wrong with a Free Meal?
Potentially nothing. But problems can sometimes arise when the sponsor of the event or one of the lead speakers has something to sell, even though the invitation might state otherwise. Other times, problems can arise after the seminarÑduring follow-up contacts from the speaker or sponsor.

Securities regulators, including FINRA, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and state regulators, recently conducted more than 100 examinations involving free-meal seminars. In half the cases, the sales materialsÑincluding the invitations and advertisements for the eventsÑcontained claims that appeared to be exaggerated, misleading or otherwise unwarranted. And 12 percent of the seminars appeared to involve fraud, ranging from unfounded projections of returns to sales of fictitious products.

So, before you attend a free-meal investment seminarÑwhether for fun, good food, or to learn moreÑbe aware that you may well be presented with a hard sell effort. Here are a few key points to keep in mind:

* Seminars are designed to sell. Even when advertised as educational, many investment seminars are intended to sell somethingÑfinancial products or the speaker's books or services. Keep in mind that, at times, sales pitches might include confusing comparisons of dissimilar products or misleading information about the safety, performance and returns of the products touted.

* Good shows aren't always good deals. It's human nature to be impressed with a well-dressed speaker in a high-end venue and to take their advice more seriously. That's why it's no mistake that many investment seminars are held in upscale restaurants or hotels and may offer even more than a free mealÑsuch as door prizes, free books and vacation dealsÑto get you to attend and listen to the pitch. But you'll want to take time to thoroughly assess whether the opportunity is right for you.

* The lead speaker might not be the actual sponsor. Even if you recognize the names of the individuals who invite you to a seminar or speak at the event, they might not be the actual sponsors. At times, insurance companies or mutual funds finance the events, expecting that the speaker will use the event to drive sales of their products.

Education Is a Great IdeaÑSo Be Sure to Learn About Persuasion
Before you consider attending an investment seminar, take the time to learn about the persuasion tactics and influence techniques that sellers, both legitimate and not-so-legitimate, use. These include:

* Phantom RichesÑdangling the prospect of wealth, enticing you with something you want but can't have. "These gas wells are guaranteed to produce $6,800 a month in income."

* Source CredibilityÑtrying to build credibility by claiming to be with a reputable firm or to have a special credential or experience. "Believe me, as a senior vice president of XYZ Firm, I would never sell an investment that doesn't produce."

* Social ConsensusÑleading you and your fellow seminar attendees to believe that other savvy investors have already invested. "This is how ___ got his start. I know it's a lot of money, but I'm in this investment and so is my mom and half her church Ñ and it's worth every dime."

* ReciprocityÑproviding something, such as a meal or prize, that makes you feel obligated to reciprocate or offering to do a small favor for you in return for a big favor. "I'll give you a break on my commission if you buy now Ñ half off."

* ScarcityÑcreating a false sense of urgency by claiming limited supply. "There are only two units left, so I'd sign today if I were you."

Here are three key strategies you can use to help counter these persuasion tactics and to distinguish potentially good investment offers from bad ones:
1. Do your homework before the seminarÑA legitimate securities salesperson must be properly licensed, and his or her firm must be registered with FINRA, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or a state securities regulatorÑdepending on the type of business the firm conducts. And an insurance agent must be licensed by the state insurance commissioner where he or she does business. Here's how to check out seminar speakers and sponsors:

* For a broker, use FINRA BrokerCheck or call toll-free (800) 289-9999.
* For an investment adviser, use the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure Web site.
* For an insurance agent, check with your state insurance department. You'll find contact information through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
* For all sellers, be sure to call your state securities regulator. You can find that number in the government section of your local phone book or by contacting the North American Securities Administrators Association or (202) 737-0900.

2. Ask questions while you're thereÑTurn the tables on the speaker, and ask questions. Ask as many as you want until you are satisfied you know what you are buying and understand the risks and costs:

* What are the risks of this investment?
* How much does it cost initially to purchase the investment?
* What, if any, additional or ongoing costs will I have to pay?
* How liquid is this investment? If I need to sell or cash in the investment, how readily can I do so?
* Will my investment be tied up for period of time? If so, for how long?
* What happens if I decide to sell or cash in my investment? Are there surrender charges? Other fees?
* For what type of investor is this investment a good idea? For what type of investor is this investment a bad idea?
* Is the investment registered? If so, with which regulator? (See below for tips on how to confirm what the speaker says.)

If the speaker can't or won't answer your questions to your satisfaction, then the investment is not right for you.

3. Decide now to decide later, and do more homework after the eventÑCommit to yourself before the seminar that you won't purchase anything or open an account on the spot. Bear in mind that the seminar might actually be an initial "soft sell"Ña lure to introduce you to the product. The hard sell might come later during subsequent contacts from the person or firm selling the product. That's why it important to take time after the event to do some research on your own. Be sure to consider all the pros and cons, especially the following:

* Is the investment registered? Most investors will want to buy securities products that are registered with the SEC or with state regulators. With very few exceptions, companies must register their securities before they can sell shares to the public. You can find out whether a product is registered with the SEC by using the EDGAR database. Also call your state securities regulator to find out what they know about the company that issues the investment.
* What are the risks? While the prospect of high rates of return might sound tempting, remember that there may be additional risksÑor costsÑassociated with the product.

The bottom line is that savvy investors refuse to be rushed. RarelyÑif everÑdo you have to invest your money on the spot. A good investment will be available tomorrow or next week or next month, when you are ready and understand where your money is going. While a free meal or prize might be enticing, remember that there are unbiased, noncommercial places to go for information about investing, including regulators such as the SEC, FINRA and state securities regulators.

If a Problem Occurs
If you believe you have been defrauded or treated unfairly by a securities professional or firm, please send us a written complaint. If you suspect that someone you know has been taken in by a scam, be sure to give us that tip. Here's how:

Online:
File a Complaint (for you)

Mail or Fax:
FINRA Complaints and Tips
9509 Key West Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
Fax: (866) 397-3290

Additional Resources
* FINRA Fraud Fighting 101: Smart Tips for Older Investors
* FINRA Investor Education Foundation

Don't Harvest your Fall Profits Before the Santa Rally.

by Natalie Pace.

Includes my Hot News on Cool Stocks list. 

48% of the companies featured in my stock newsletter between 2002 and 2005 -- 25 out of 52 companies -- DOUBLED from the time we listed them in our feature article to the time when I took the company off of the Hot News on Cool Stocks list. (See the chart in the article, "25 of our Companies Have Doubled," from volume 4, issue 4, the April 2007 ezine, for a listing of companies.)

Additionally, the market performance of the companies that are featured in my Hot News on Cool Stocks list are still keeping me at the top of over 830 A-list pundits on TipsTraders.com in annualized gains. Over the last few years, I've been in and out of the #1 position, according to that independent tracking firm. TipsTraders has me listed, again, as one of the top 10 stock pickers in terms of all-time performance, with compounded cumulative gains since 2003 of 205%. The Hot News lists below feature 41 companies earning great gains, versus just three that are headed in the opposite direction.

Market Report:
The Federal Open Market Committee decided on September 18, 2007 to lower its target for the federal funds rate 50 basis points to 4-3/4 percent. Was it the right thing?  Cast your vote in our survey on the home page.

The stock market immediately rallied on the news. (We hope that you were prompt about reading our mid-month Hot News update on the 17th, the day before the FOMC action, and with your buying that morning before the rally!) The rally continued through the last half of September and surged again on the morning of October 1, 2007, topping the 14,000 mark in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.   

As a point of reference on how powerful these Fed decisions are, oil also hit $81 on September 18, 2007. Typically that would be enough to stop the dancing of the bulls, but the tune struck up by a 50 points reduction was enticing enough to seduce even recalcitrant investors from the sidelines.

Will someone please, please invent the solar plane and ask Tesla Motors to mass produce their beautiful electric sports car and make it more affordable, so that we do not have to worry so much about the price of oil? And yes, with the modernization of China and India, demand is going to be tough on oil, meaning the pressure on prices is to stay elevated.

At any rate, however, there's not much competition in real estate or bonds, so the stock market is likely to be the default investment of choice for money managers who cannot afford to keep their client's dough on the sidelines. I'm optimistic for a strong Santa Rally, especially in select industries, particularly clean energy. Buying in at a good price is KEY. Don't get sucked into a high price to earnings ratio in an economic environment that is seeing less than 4% growth in GDP.

If you don't know what GDP or price to earnings ratio are, and you are active about investing, you should strongly consider coming to my January 2008 Living the Rich Life Retreat. Learn more about it in my teleconference on November 7^th, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. PT. Email Heather@NataliePace.com to get the call-in instructions. Details of the retreat are also found on the home page at NataliePace.com. Just click on the Living the Rich Life banner ad.

General Stock Market Performance

Many Companies Featured in 2007 by Natalie Pace are far outperforming the general markets.  Go to the archived editions to review the headline articles on each company.  The current October ezine is on the home page at NataliePace.com.  (Just scroll to the bottom.)

January 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 1): Suntech Power Holdings. +29%.
February 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 2): Apple Computer.  +80%.
March 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 3):  Wisdom Tree.  -55%.
April 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 4):  World Water & Power.  227%.
May 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 5):  Novastar Financial (Short).  68% (negative returns, which we predicted)
June 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 6): Altair NanoTecnology (+5.4%), Satcon (-8%) and UQM (-7.5%)
July 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 7):  Smith & Nephew (flat)
August 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 8):  Echelon Corporation  +25%.
September 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 9):  Macerich +150% and National Health Investors (+3%)
October 2007 (vol. 4, iss. 10):  Hoku Scientific (just added)

Average Performance of Companies Featured in 2007: 43%  (or almost 4 times the average performance of the Dow and NASDAQ in 2007)

Peace and Prosperity,

Natalie Pace

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITES AND INFORMATION:

1. Interest Rates: In a Pause Pattern. The Federal Open Market Committee cut the Fed Funds rate by 50 basis points on September 18, 2007, to 4 û%, after pausing nine times in a row (in August, June, May, March and January 2007, and December, October, September and August 2006). The federal funds rate remains at 4-3/4%.
   
   
2. FOMC Information: Interested in reading the press release of the September FOMC meeting for yourself? You can. It is available online. Click on FOMC, or go to FederalReserve.gov, to read! According to the Federal Open Market Committee's press statement, "The tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing correction and to restrain economic growth more generally." The committee lowered the Fed Fund rate by 50 basis points "to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time."
   
   The tentative FOMC meeting schedule for the 2007 calendar is: October 30-31 (Tuesday-Wednesday), December 11 (Tuesday), January 29-30, 2008 (Tuesday-Wednesday). The fact that the Federal Open Market Committee decided to increase the number of 2-day sessions from two to four in 2007 is an indicator of the concern in the economy at this juncture.
   
   
3. Calendar Section: Conferences, Online Chats and more: Check out the Calendar section of NataliePace.com regularly. There are many wonderful opportunities to chat one-on-one with millionaire money managers, economists, respected money gurus, real estate veterans and CEOs! Be sure to check out the Solar Decathlon if you live on the East Coast and the California Governor and First Lady's Conference for Women if you live on the West Coast. Two VERY BIG, very important events with world leaders and visionary policymakers. Also, don't miss my investor teleconference on November 7^th, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. PT. Your chance to get your questions answered one on one, and learn how to become a top stock picker yourself.

Bottom Line: NataliePace.com is providing you with news and important information, but you need to consult your financial planner to determine your best strategy for using the information. Your investments and portfolio should take into account your age, your retirement goals, your risk tolerance and portfolio diversification. The stock portion of your portfolio is a higher risk classification, where you ideally seek to gain higher returns. As the NASD said in a recent investor alert, don't bet the farm on the stock market.

NataliePace.com is NOT a brokerage and doesn't operate or act like one. We are an online media service with a mission of providing the news and information you need to make better choices in business, investing and personal prosperity. Always consult a trusted financial professional before buying or selling any security.

The Hot News on Cool Stocks List

Full disclosure: I have listed the companies that I currently own under the column "NP OWNS?" (I may have bought and/or sold a stock prior to this publication.)

Hot Stocks List
Investors who "never pay retail," note that highlighted stocks are trading at their 52-week lows or near the price featured in NataliePace.com's article. This may be a good buying opportunity. The companies that are listed below which are not highlighted may not be in a good buying range, but they appear to be poised to continue performing well (if you have already purchased them). There are never any guarantees in life, and all stocks are risk-based investments. Consult your certified financial planner before making any changes to your investment strategy.

Highlighted Companies (Hot List):
AU Optronics (AUO)
Citigroup (C)
Hoku Scientific (HOKU)
Jet Blue (JBLU)
UQM Technologies (UQM)
WisdomTree (WSDT)

Recent Additions/Deletions:
Only AU Optronics is highlighted on the Hot News list because Macerich and National Health Investors are not considered to be in buying range.

1. AU Optronics was added on October 3, 2007. I originally featured this company that makes LCD screens for flat panel tvs, computers and cell phones back in 2002. I'm re-adding the company because I believe it's poised for strong performance in the seasonally strong final quarter of the year. See below for the company fundamentals.

2. Macerich (Deletion, profit-taking range). Read more on this company beneath the Hot News List and in the September 2007 REITs article.

3. National Health Investors (Addition, near profit-taking range). Read more on this company in the Hot News List below and in the September 2007 REITs article.

Hot News on Cool Stocks List

Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) both had great runs for the list! LifeCell (NASDAQ: LIFC) posted over 180% gains before being moved to the Cooling Off list. Bioteq Environmental (TSE: BQE) had 144% gains. Rio Tinto was removed on 11.15.2006 with 145% gains. Las Vegas Sands was removed on January 5, 2007 with 139% gains, Agilent on 2.1.07 with flat performance, and RELM Wireless was taken off with 3% gains on 2.1.07. Blockbuster ran up 82.5% in gains, which we cashed in on February 12, 2007. Intuit, deleted in June 2007, was a wash for us - up and down. Macerich posted 150% gains between May 2003 (when it was first featured) and September 2007 (when it was removed from the list).

Recently Deleted:

Stocks to Watch
Great Companies. The companies that are listed are worthy of watching. Some we're watching to add to the Cooling Off list and some for the Hot List.

Recent Additions:
Macerich added on 9.1.07
Boston Properties added on 9.1.07
General Motors added on 10.01.07

Cooling Off Stocks List (may be Poised for a Decline in Share Price).
Note: The companies listed in bold have recently been added to this cooling off list and/or may be currently poised for a decline in value. Investors who have them in their portfolio should read the recent news and consider whether it is time to sell and take profits, dump losses, short the position and/or simply weather the storms, while keeping the company in their long-term portfolio. At any rate, always consult your certified financial partner before making adjustments to your portfolio. (Again, note, that the stocks on this chart are expected to go DOWN in price.)

Highlighted Companies (Cooling Off List):
None

Recent Deletions:
General Motors

The following companies were taken off of the Cooling Off list effective 10.16.06: Verisign (+15%). IMClone (-11%). Yahoo (-28%). LifeCell was removed on 7.2.07 with -4.5% overall performance. (The cooling off list anticipates that a company will lose share price value.) Google was added on 7.16.07 and then removed on 8.1.07 with losses of -6.7%. General Motors was removed on 10.01.07 with mixed performance.

Please note: NataliePace.com does not act or operate like a broker. We are a publishing, media and information center. This article is intended to educate and inform individual investors, and, thus, to give investors a competitive edge in their personal decision-making. The publicly traded companies mentioned in this article are not intended to be buy or sell recommendations. ALWAYS do your research and consult an experienced, reputable financial professional before buying or selling any security, and consider your long-term goals and strategies. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable however NataliePace.com does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.

NataliePace.com Calendar:

Check Out the Largest Women's Conference in the U.S., a Bewitching FOMC meeting and the Biennial Solar Decathlon in D.C.

The NataliePace.com Calendar section features conferences, retreats, educational opportunities, cultural events, galas and online chats with executives and VIPs. Stay plugged in! Visit our calendar section often.

See below for just a few of the amazing educational and networking opportunities that world-class organizations are offering for you. To access links to the event website and registration, go to the Calendar section at NataliePace.com.

Peace in Burma: Please help now!
Friday, October 5th, 2007
After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma (now called Myanmar) are rising - and they need our help. Link to Avaaz.org to sign a petition now to let them know the world is watching and will not stand idly by while peaceful monks are slaughtered.

Oxygen Network's Mentor Walk, Los Angeles, CA
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Oxygen's Mentors Walk: Bringing Along the Next Generation is an event that brings high-profile women business leaders from a variety of professions to walk--and talk--with other women who share their passion and dream of breaking into that field.

Twelfth Night: Stratford Upon Avon, England
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
John Lithgow becomes Malvolio in a performance to make Shakespeare proud. Playing NOW through October 6th ONLY. This is a play and a performance of a lifetime. (Take me with you, Please!)

Photo Credit: Stefano Paltera/Solar Decathlon The Virginia Tech team won first place in the Architecture and Dwelling Contest of the Department of Energy's 2005 Solar Decathlon

Pearl of Havana Benefit Gala, Santa Barbara, CA
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
Celebrities, philanthropists and bon vivants gather in Santa Barbara, CA for an elegant evening of mambo, music and showgirls to benefit the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation.

California Governor and First Lady's Conference for Women
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
First Lady Maria Shriver hosts a day of breakout sessions and keynote speakers like no other conference in the U.S.! From Queen Rania Al Abdullah, to Laila Ali and Tony Blair, prepare to be inspired and wow'd.

Hip Resurfacing Meeting, Miami, FL
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
Smith & Nephew's 10th Anniversary Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System Meeting in Miami FL at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel will feature a lecture from Dr. Vijay Bose, the most experienced BHR surgeon in the world!

Online Chat with Mortgage Loan Specialist Kassie Welch
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
8:45AM through 9:30AM PT.
Having trouble with your new ARM payments? Wonder if you should hold out hope that real estate will rise rapidly in the coming months? Get options from a veteran loan consultant.

Global Full Moon Meditation
Friday, October 26th, 2007
between 7:00PM and 8:00PM PT
On each full moon, people worldwide meditate at the same time, to promote greater health within and greater peace throughout the world. Meditate for 5 minutes or quiet your mind and focus on peace for the full hour.

Lulu Bandha's Ojai Yoga Crib in Ojai, CA
Friday, October 26 thru Sunday, October 28.
Join Lulu Bandha's for the fifth Ojai Yoga Crib and spend a magical weekend in the glorious Ojai Valley. The Crib is a yoga pilgrimage, built upon Ojai's rich spiritual history. Cost: $400.

FOMC Meeting Tuesday
Tuesday, October 30^th and Wednesday, October 31^st 2007
After a BIG, Fat rate cut in September, the Federal Reserve Board governors meet again to determine whether inflation is more of a factor than the housing pullback and subprime defaults. Will the Feds keep the rate where it is, raise it or lower it? Experts say that the pressure is to keep our Treasury bills attractive to foreign investors (at higher interest rates), so another cut is not expected.

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