Should You Put the Brakes on Your Toyota Stock?

by Natalie Pace.

Includes a Lithium Stock Report Card.

Toyota FT-HS Hybrid Sports Concept Car

Wonder how the Toyota recall will affect your nest egg and if the company will ever be able to recover from halting sales on eight of their vehicles and issuing recalls on millions of other vehicles? RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Camry, Highlander, Tundra and Sequoia sales have been suspended, and approximately 4.8 million vehicles could be affected by the recall to fix the floor mat and/or "sticky accelerator pedals" of selected models. (Visit your Toyota dealer and/or read Toyota’s updates on their website to determine whether or not your vehicle is affected by the recall.)

As you might guess, investors fled the scene of the accident as soon as the recall was announced. Toyota’s share price hit the skids last week was announced, losing 16% off its 52-week high share price of $91.97, shaving $9.5 billion off in market cap. Ouch!

Even with that severe road rash, however, Toyota Motor Company is still valued at $121 billion, worth more than Honda, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors combined (as of January 29, 2010).

Further, though Toyota has been taking the heat in the headlines, Ford isn’t immune to the acceleration issue. According to Consumer Reports, there were 52 complaints logged with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over Toyota vehicles, and 36 complaints against Ford vehicles. (Ford has recalled a commercial vehicle in its Chinese market, but CEO Alan Mulally stresses that this is a precautionary measure only. There has been little mention of any issue in with Ford vehicles in the U.S. to date.) Not to be outdone in headlines, Honda weighed in on January 29, 2010 with a recall of its own. 640,000 vehicles are affected in the Honda recall of cars with a defective power window switch that can spark a fire under the wrong conditions.

As I reported in the January 2010 ezine, Ford, not Toyota, is the belle of the ball this year -- winning critical acclaim for its vehicles. Ford Fusion was Motor Trend’s 2010 Car of the Year. The Ford Focus was named "Most Significant" vehicle at the 2010 North American International Auto Show. Ford has the media spotlight with its award-winning cars and its achievement of posting the first profitable year in 2009 since 2005. (Ford’s U.S. competitors, Chrysler and General Motors were both forced into bankruptcy in 2009.)

There is no question that the current debacle is going to cost Toyota big time in 2009. The question is how much, and will it critically wound the company? Or is Toyota poised to weather the storm and hang onto its title as the world’s #1 automaker? Reading the crystal ball on these questions requires a trip to South America – where the future of automakers purportedly lies.

Current hybrid cars use nickel-metal hydride batteries, but scientists agree that electric power and plug-ins are better suited for lithium ion batteries. "This generation and the next generation of batteries in automobiles ... is going to be lithium," according to Don Hillebrand, director of the Transportation Research Center at Argonne National Laboratory. "Looking at the cutting edge stuff 10 or 30 years out, that's going to be lithium too, and probably more lithium intensive." Some of the most prolific lithium deposits are found in Chile and Argentina, and if the trend is toward plug-ins and electric cars, then securing a steady supply of lithium will be critical to success in the marketplace.

Toyota is launching plug-in hybrids along with battery-powered cars running solely on electricity starting in model-year 2012. Both will be powered by lithium-ion batteries. Toyota’s goal is to double its global hybrid sales to one million annually, with most sales occurring in North America. And to achieve that goal, the auto company has taken strong actions to secure a steady supply of lithium to power it. On January 20, 2010, a key Toyota supplier, Toyota Tsusho Corp, announced a partnership with Australian miner Orocobre Ltd. to mine lithium in Argentina.

This is still an early stage joint venture and, as with all mining efforts, will require an extensive permit review process. However, given the global meltdown and the demand for lithium, it is possible that production will be fast-tracked by nations that are hungry to achieve top line growth for their economy.

What does that mean for the investor? Over the decades one trend has remained true: when a company moves aggressively to correct its problems, those problems go away much more quickly than when a company tries to mask the problem. Johnson and Johnson weathered the storm during the tainted Tylenol scandal (that killed seven people in the Chicago area) in 1982. Merck survived the VIOXX scandal. Both companies addressed the problems quickly, and then focused on better products. Tylenol introduced new/improved packaging. Merck launched Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine. And for Toyota, it will likely be the plug-in hybrid.

Indeed, on January 28, 2010, the Wall Street Journal was already reporting that Toyota is close to developing a fix for their gas pedals. So, harsh headlines could turn to hearts and kisses for the #1 auto company as early as by Valentine’s Day. However, don’t be suckered into buying new stock in Toyota before the full impact of the recall on earnings is reported, in Toyota’s mid-year report due around June 24-25, 2010. More than likely, the impact on the top line – a dramatic drop in revenue for the first half of 2010 – will be too much for most investors to stomach, especially on an already weak economy.

In the long run, however, Toyota is poised to be the visionary company amongst its peers. The current appetite is for fuel-efficiency, plug-in hybrids and electric cars, like the all-electric Tesla roadster, and lithium ion batteries. Die-hard Toyota fans will likely see their investment in the company shrink over the next six months, but in 2012, the headlines on Toyota could well be laden with kudos and awards – once again.

In the meantime, lithium is one commodity in strong demand these days that is only likely to get stronger. Click to access a Lithium Stock Report Card that lines up the numbers on some of the top lithium manufacturers worldwide.

FMC Corporation and Sociedad de Chimica y Minera are already mining lithium, and are both on my Watch list (in the Hot News on Cool Stocks update in this ezine), largely because both corporations have lost sales this year and demand is expected to sluggish for most of 2010 (due to the economic downturn). (The U.S. Stimulus Bill should help sales later this year, once funds start getting distributed in a larger way.) Galaxy and Orocobre are both Australia based companies that are developing lithium mines and manufacturing facilities. Orocobre is working with a Toyota supplier on the feasibility of a lithium mine in Argentina, while Galaxy Resources is in the final stages of developing a lithium mine in Australia with a manufacturing plant in China, capable of producing 17,000 tpa of lithium carbonate. 

Orocobre was added to my Watch List today, anticipating that positive headlines for this early stage project will be dwarfed by the larger Toyota recall problem. Galaxy was added to the Hot List today because China is committed in a big way to electric cars (powered by lithium ion batteries) and Australian and Chinese government officials are giving the thumbs up to this project.

Full Disclosure: Natalie Pace does not own positions in any company mentioned in this article.

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and host of the Modern Girl’s Guide to Sex, Love and Money radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace! She is a repeat guest on FoxNews, CNBC, ABC TV and has contributed to Forbes.com, Sohu.com and BestEverYou.com and Magazine. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Twitter.com/NataliePace, YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM and Facebook.com/NatalieWynnePace. For more information please visit, http://www.nataliepace.com.

Please note: NataliePace.com does not act or operate like a broker. We report on financial news, and are one of the most trusted independently owned and operated financial news corporations in the U.S. 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.

Investors should NOT all in on any asset class, including gold. Your retirement plan should reflect a long, safe strategy, which has been designed with the assistance of a financial professional who is familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge and patience.

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.

Haiti. Your Contribution is Probably Tax Deductible on Your 2009 Tax Return.

by Natalie Pace.

Learn which nonprofit organizations qualify and which don’t.

Haiti will be in our thoughts and prayers for many months to come. If you have already given to UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross or another emergency aid program, then your contribution has been a part of saving countless lives. For many who donate, there is another benefit. It could be tax deductible!

Helping those in dire straits is always the right thing to do… You never know how the blessings come back to you, but you can be assured that they do. But that warm feeling in your heart might be matched by a warm feeling in your wallet, if your contribution means you get more money back from the IRS this year. If you make your contribution between January 11, and March 1, 2010, then you can write the deduction off on your 2009 taxes, according to a new law enacted on January 22, 2010.

Not all organizations and contributions that are helping out in Haiti qualify as a tax write-off, however. Your contributions to Haiti Relief, helping those affected by the natural disaster get the rice, medical care and water they need to survive until the rebuilding begins, are tax deductible provided they meet the following criteria.

According to the IRS update on Haiti contributions, "Contributions to domestic, tax-exempt, charitable organizations that provide assistance to individuals in foreign lands qualify as tax-deductible contributions for federal income tax purposes, provided that the U.S. organization has full control and discretion over the uses of such funds. Contributions to foreign organizations generally are not deductible. Contributions to benefit specific individuals or families are also not deductible."

If you have a question about whether or not your favorite nonprofit organization qualifies for a tax write-off, consult your local tax professional, the organization in question and the IRS directly. Sometimes it’s trickier than you think. For instance, Doctors Without Borders is an international organization, but they have organizations within each country that have control over that country’s donations. Thus, Doctors Without Borders contributions are tax deductible.

For more information on tax-deductible donations, visit IRS.Gov and search on the words, Haiti and Contributions.

I’m proud to live in a land that was the first to respond to the disaster, with so many individuals still working so hard to rescue and rebuild in this impoverished nation.

$8000 Reasons to Buy a New Home Now.

by Natalie Pace.

Team California’s Refract House won the Architectural Design award at the 2009 Solar Decathlon. Construction price of the home is $450,000-$650,000.

Yes. You saw it right. New homebuyers (defined very leniently as you haven’t owned a home in the past three years) can still receive $8000 to buy a home. Existing homeowners can upgrade and receive up to $6,500 in tax credits or refund. Certain rules apply, so be sure to read the fine print on the IRS website (just click on the blue-highlighted link to access it.)

Below are just a few of the criteria:
1. You must be 18,
2. The home must cost less than $800,000
3. You must enter into binding contract to buy a principal residence – on or before April 30, 2010.
4. You must close on the home on or before June 30, 2010.

If you preview the terms and are sure you qualify, the question becomes, should you take advantage of this offer right now? And to help determine the viability of any investment, I recommend putting it to the test of the 3-Ingredient Recipe for Cooking Up Profits, which is outlined in greater detail in my new paperback, You Vs. Wall Street.

This recipe works for any kind of investment, whether it is real estate, stocks, Beanie Babies, postage stamps or classic cars…

3-Ingredient Recipe for Cooking Up Profits
1. Start with what you know and love
2. Pick the Leader
3. Buy low; sell high

Details. Details. The Devil is in the details…
1. Start with what you know and love
Chances are you know which neighborhood you want to live in, even if you’d all but given up the idea of affording to live there. But, have you checked on prices there recently? Prices dropped a whopping -12.4 percent in 2009, on average, with distressed homes accounting for 36 percent of total sales, according to the National Association of Realtors. This follows a drop of -9.8% in median home prices in 2008 and -1.8% in 2007, for a total discount of -24% over the last three years (nationwide, on average, i.e. some places are much worse off; some are better.)

Chances are what seemed so out of reach in 2005-2006 is now more affordable. And with almost 4 million homes receiving a foreclosure filing in 2009 (according to RealtyTrac), there are likely to be even more short sell opportunities before April, for you to take advantage of. Dare to dream and cruise neighborhoods where you want to live, checking out open houses and the new pricing of real estate.

Be inspired by Cheyenne’s Story, which I told in volume 6, issue 11. She moved into the neighborhood she wanted, in a home with more bedrooms, for the same price as the old home, which wasn’t nearly as much of a sanctuary for her soul. (And if you do the same this year, you’ll get some dough from the IRS!)

2. Pick the Leader
There’s a joke in real estate about the three things you look for – location, location, location, and this is true. But also look for things that really make your place stand out from the rest of the neighborhood. (Don’t choose the termite-laden hut; perhaps go for the pristine "green" home instead that has solar panels and excellent insulation – with reduced energy usage and costs and architectural appeal…)

This will enrich your own life while you live there, and up the odds that your home gets sold in the event that there are multiple homes for sale at the same time in the future when you desire to sell your place. Even if you’re the fixer-upper type, you still want to start with the place that has the most potential. For example, don’t pick the dungeon condo in the building – go for the penthouse there. And try to avoid the house on a busy street corner.

3. Buy low; sell high
Now is the time when people truly understand exactly why buying low and selling high is so easy to say and hard to achieve. When everyone is having a tough time getting credit and four million homes are in foreclosure, it’s a buyer’s paradise! But no one has the dough or the credit to capitalize on the opportunity!

If you are the person with the extra cash and outstanding credit lying around, now’s your chance to "buy lower" than prices have been in years – at interest rates that are lower than they have been in 40 years!

You are getting your new home (or upgrade home) 24% cheaper than those who bought in 2006, and securing a loan at interest rates that are almost free. Lock in a fixed loan, if you can, to really make your home affordable. Even if prices continue to fall in 2010 (currently prices are predicted to stabilize by the end of 2010, if not sooner), your low interest rate will more than make up the difference going forward, since the majority of what you pay on your home is interest on the loan.

4. What are the two commandments of prosperity?
Never pay retail. And never pass up free money (unless it will cost you more tomorrow if you take the free dough today). And that is the million-dollar question! No one knows where real estate prices will be in a year, but we do know that, on average, for the last 30 years, real estate earns about 4.4% annually, meaning that if you buy a place you plan to live in for a decade, your investment should pay off.

Plus, in the U.S., you will be able to write off the interest you pay on your mortgage, while you live in a home that you own (instead of renting). All in all, the $8000 First Time Homebuyer’s Credit, which is being offered by the Obama Administration, is a great deal -- as long as you purchase something you can afford to keep and live in for a while.

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and host of the Modern Girl’s Guide to Sex, Love and Money radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace! She is a repeat guest on FoxNews, CNBC, ABC TV and has contributed to Forbes.com, Sohu.com and BestEverYou.com and Magazine. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Twitter.com/NataliePace, YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM and Facebook.com/NatalieWynnePace. For more information please visit, http://www.nataliepace.com.

Ask Natalie:

What Do You Do When Your Tiger Becomes a Cheetah?

Dear Natalie:
Like Elin (and Elizabeth Edwards), I thought I married a Tiger, but I ended up with a Cheetah. Is this a deal breaker? Should we stay for the money? For the children? Because we promised till death do us part?

Dear Cheetah Lover:
It’s sobering and sad to experience such a deep level of betrayal, as both you and Elin (and Elizabeth) have endured. However, my guess is that there were clues all along that you were always dealing with a Cheetah, not a Tiger. So, this wake-up call is a blessing and an opportunity to right some very serious wrongs rather than continue on with your head in the sand.

Most of the free advice lavished on Elin these days focuses on money, and that is very shortsighted. No amount of money can heal a screwed up marriage and the at-risk kids that kind of life creates. Betrayal, car accidents, "sexting" on the sly, arguments that escalate into screaming and/or violence, et al. is the opposite of what kids should see their parents doing.

Sanctuary Home.
A home is where the soul is nourished or polluted. Betrayal is toxic. The primary question for Elin (and you) to answer is, "Is our home a sanctuary?" And more importantly, "Can my children learn to become healthy, loving people in this home?"

Parents are role models and nurturers. In order to do their job right, companions must immerse themselves in an abundance of trust and loyalty, with a healthy dose of humor. In short, their union must be sacred – above all other allegiances. Not at the sacrifice of his/her own individuality – but as a compliment and foundation for each partner’s own greatness. Something the kids aspire to in their own lives.

Pleasure seekers do not make great sacred companions. Discord, deceit, lies, cheating and the corresponding bickering that behavior creates are horrible examples for children. (Duh!) You pay a high price when an ugly relationship is glued together with "money." Abuse (physical, verbal, emotional or monetary), ridicule, underlying and chronic unhappiness, addiction and violence – these horrors become what the children know as normal and will go on to replicate in their own lives as adults. The children of pleasure seekers -- who drown themselves in drugs/alcohol/sex and lies – too often end up addicted to this kind of life, too. And so the cycle of violence continues.

From the outside, it’s hard to know how many of these very serious and tragic circumstances Elin endures (or you endure), but Elin’s primary job (and your job) is to break the generational chain – if not for herself, then for her children. She should not "stay" for the money. She should create a sanctuary home immediately for her children, away from the seeds of discord. Her Cheetah may promise to become a Tiger again, and even take radical steps to renew the sacred union. But sex addicts are commonly trapped in a never-ending cycle of addiction and bad behavior, followed by remorse and regret. Neither Elin nor you should fall for promises of change. By his actions, over a very long period of time, you will know him. And in the meantime, the relationship cannot be rebuilt upon such a damaged foundation.

Get out immediately, which is the only way healing can begin (for both the Cheetah and the Cheated On). Not necessarily divorce immediately, but separate now, so that if the union is renewed, it is rebuilt upon a stronger and more sacred foundation. Ask the Cheetah to leave or go to your mother’s if you must (like they used to in the olden days).

Elin can and should get enough money to provide for herself and her children, regardless of whether she stays or divorces, and the same goes with you, too! Focus on the sanctuary home and thriving, while at the same time making sure that you protect the lives and livelihood of the kids. Cheetahs are dangerous to have in the home, and the fiscal fallout of their risky behavior can be far more expensive -- in time, money, postponed happiness and bailouts for messed up teens -- than any near term pay day can afford.

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and host of the Modern Girl’s Guide to Sex, Love and Money radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace! She is a repeat guest on FoxNews, CNBC, ABC TV and has contributed to Forbes.com, Sohu.com and BestEverYou.com and Magazine. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Twitter.com/NataliePace, YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM and Facebook.com/NatalieWynnePace. For more information please visit, http://www.nataliepace.com.

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This Valentine’s Day: Love Yourself:

by Staff.

10 Tips to Living the Love Affair of a Lifetime – Your Personal Grand Adventure.

A Queen, A First Lady, Oprah and other Stars and CEOs Reveal Their Secrets For Success in Business and Personal life.

1. "It doesn’t matter whether you are a waitress or a CEO—the question is are you true to yourself? Are you improving the quality of life of those you meet and work with? Are you a force for good in a world in desperate need?" Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan

2. "Don’t compare yourself to other women. There is no woman in reality that looks like she does in a magazine. Concentrate on being the best that you can be." First Lady Maria Shriver

3. "There is a calling for your life. I go to work. It doesn’t feel like work. It feels like breathing. That’s when you know you’re home." Oprah

4. "Dream big, bold dreams. Dream as far as your imagination will take you." Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO, Avon

5. "Whatever you do, enjoy yourself by laughing more easily, moving more slowly, connecting with others and expressing yourself authentically." Cecile Andrews, author, Simplicity in a Complex World

6. "No matter how smart you are, you get more done as a team. Whether a team member or team leader, value everyone – and every contribution." Jane Beseda, Group VP and GM, No. American Parts Operations, Toyota

7. "Have your first child before 35; don’t wait until your late thirties or forties before trying to have that first child." Sylvia Ann Hewlett, economist and founding president, Center for Work-Life Policy

8. "Kindness works. It’s like a boomerang: it ALWAYS comes back to you, even if not from the person you gave it to." Gayle King, editor-at-large, O Magazine

9. "Be Choosy About the Role You Let E-mail Play. Use it as a tool to drive your agenda, not to define your agenda. It is a poor substitute for the nuances of interpersonal communications that require leadership and finesse." Susan Decker, former president, Yahoo

10. "Choose to be better, not bitter. If you experience trauma, be sure to give yourself at least one year to grieve and begin the healing journey before throwing yourself into volunteerism. If you don’t take time to focus on yourself before focusing on others, it can make you bitter and angry, rather than positive and productive." Wendy Hamilton, Past National President, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)

Love.

by Gary Kobat.

The Fire in Your Soul that Fuels Your Life.

Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, starring Leonardo di Caprio and Claire Danes.

What do you really want? Are you pursuing something you love and want passionately, or have you gotten stale and leveled-off in performance? What really excites you to move forward? Are you ready for a breakthrough, or are you holding back? Are you living life on-fire, or just lukewarm?

Are you worthy and willing to change?

Significant increases in human performance, quantum leaps, are an act of love, a passionate statement of who you are, how you care, and how much you believe in your future. Higher levels of performance and happiness are driven by the love, passion, desire, and deep precious reasons that live as a fire in your soul; a fire hot enough to protect you from the chilling effects of anxiety, uncertainty, and self-doubt. Only love can create that kind of heat.

One of the most mysterious energies in the world, love is a force so powerful, so electric, so compelling that, once you have felt it, you will never want to live without it again. Could it have been anything but love that inspired Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel? Could it be anything but a brave heart and deep passion that drives Rudy Garcia-Tolson toward his goal to become the first bilateral above-knee amputee to finish the Ironman World Championship? Is there anything you value more than doing the things you love? When love flows, everything works; we even age more gracefully.

Within each of us, there is a sacred flame that is the keeper of our vitality, the guardian of our soul’s life force. This flame has the power to lift us out of the most difficult times, raising us above the seductive temptations of the past, and securing us in the wisdom and guidance of the present. We must become keenly aware of the condition of our internal flame, the strength of the fire within our soul at all times. We must protect it from weakening and, if it begins to fade, embrace steps to correct its course.

Where there is love, there is life. Love is the driving force, the fuel for your fire. Honor and hold yourself in high regard. Live your loves, and watch your life come alive.

About Gary Kobat:
Gary is the tough-love Coach, no-nonsense Trainer, and World-Class Athlete whose energy for life has inspired, educated, and empowered lasting personal and professional change for thousands. He believes that we can re-invent ourselves by living life without-limits; understanding that the universe is full of infinite possibilities; that everything we need is inside: right here & right now; and by never, ever, ever giving-up.

Gary's client list includes the who's who in film, business, and sport. For the past decade he has quietly mentored the spirituality, health, and longevity of Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Mariska Hargitay, and countless others.

You can sign up for a free copy of Gary’s e-book at GaryKobat.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter for daily tweets of inspiration.

The Revolution in the Economic Empowerment of Women.

by Dr. Gary S. Becker.

Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo (PEP) Fortune’s Most Powerful Woman in Business

The current issue of The Economist recognizes that the dramatic change in labor force participation of women is one of the most important transformations in the economic and social worlds during the past generation. I will discuss the main forces behind this change, and also consider whether the United States needs additional public policies to accommodate women at work.

Several crucial changes have contributed to transforming the position of women. Perhaps the most fundamental during the past half century were technological advances, such as the computer, and the shift in richer countries away from manufacturing and toward services. These developments put much greater emphasis on knowledge and information as opposed to physical strength and heavy work, which in turn greatly increased the importance of higher education.

Women have shown a greater capacity than men in completing universities and four-year colleges, largely because women have greater and less variable non-cognitive skills, such as study habits. While the fraction of men with four-year college degrees in the United States has stagnated since 1970, the fraction of women with these degrees has exploded, so that now women receive almost 60% of the four-year degrees in the United States compared to only 40% in 1970. Similar shifts in higher education toward women have taken place in European countries. Related trends are occurring also in developing countries, even in fundamentalist Iran.

The increased importance of skills and knowledge has greatly affected parental fertility and investment decisions. As parents have recognized the importance of a good education and other training to succeed in the modern world, they have opted for fewer children since giving extensive education to many children would be too expensive. Therefore, modern parents have lower birth rates than parents did in the past, and instead invest much more in each child. This has produced sharply declining birth rates almost everywhere, and below replacement fertility rates in about 90 countries that include all European nations, much of Asia, including China, Japan, and South Korea, and even a few mainly Moslem nations.

The declines in fertility and shift toward greater investment in children have been accelerated by the growing education of women, who tend to be particularly concerned about providing a good education to their children. This helps explain why educated women have relatively few children and invest more in the schooling of each child. In addition, the time spent by educated mothers in child rearing is more expensive since they can earn more in the labor force. This too helps explain why women who graduate from college have always tended to have fewer children than other women did.

These trends toward greater emphasis on knowledge and information, low fertility, and much greater education of women, have all contributed to the large growth in the labor force participation of women during the past several decades. For example, about 80% of American women with a college education are in the labor force compared to less than 50% for female high school dropouts. Although women are more likely to work part time than men, the gap in their labor force participation rates has greatly narrowed.

The recession affected men much harder than women since men are more likely to work in construction and manufacturing, two sectors especially hit hard. As a result, in recent months women have made up about half the labor force in the United States. This fraction will fall as the economy recovers, but the trend is still strongly toward gender equality in labor force participation, and perhaps even toward a majority of participants being women. This is partly because low skilled men have been withdrawing from the labor force.

Although women still lag by a lot in their representation in the top managerial positions, they have greatly narrowed the gap between their full time earnings and that of men. Wives earn more than their husbands in perhaps 30% of all American families with two earners,  and that percentage continues to grow. American women are starting new businesses at a much faster rate than they did in the past, and the number of female heads of large companies, although small in number, has been growing.

Although the United States has instituted various policies to help working women, unlike Sweden and other Scandinavian countries it does not provide extensive public subsidies to childcare, does not have a system of legislated paid leaves to women that allow them to care for newborn children, and does not guarantee that they can get their jobs back when they return to work. Yet, contrary to many claims, I believe that the less interventionist American approach may not have impeded, and may even have encouraged, women’s’ progress in the labor force.

Despite all the subsidies to childcare in Scandinavian countries, the US still has higher fertility rates than Sweden, Norway, or Denmark, and also than other European countries. Moreover, the labor force participation rates of women in the US are not much below those in Scandinavian countries, especially after considering that American birth rates are higher, and that some women in Scandinavian countries are counted as having jobs even when they are on paid child care leaves.

Married women in the United States with at least a high school education can "afford" to pay for childcare, and forego employment for months or even years after having children, since they are usually married to husbands who have decent to high earnings. Many of these women do leave work for a while to care for their children, even when that means they reduce their opportunities to advance when they return to work. I do not believe there is much of a case for the government to pay these married women to take leaves from work when they have children, or guarantee them their jobs when they return to work.

Government policies should be rather neutral about whether women leave work to care for children or continue to work.

On the other hand, public policies to help children of poorer women, including children of many unmarried women, may be justified since these women tend to under invest in their children because they have limited incomes and often low education levels. Childcare assistance and other subsidies to investments in the young children of these women could well have a high social return. The US does subsidize childcare programs for low-income families, and could increase the subsidies to various head start programs.

But such interventions would not justify the Scandinavian approach of generously subsidizing all women, including well off women, to take paid leaves when they have children. Despite all their job guarantees after they return to work from childcare leaves, private sector opportunities for Scandinavian women, and women in several other European countries, are limited. For example, about three-quarters of employed women in Sweden work for the government compared to one-quarter of employed men, and women comprise a much larger fraction of senior managers of American companies than of Swedish companies.

Dr. Gary Becker is a University Professor, Department of Economics, and Sociology Professor, Graduate School of Business, The University of Chicago. He won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992 for his groundbreaking work in "human capital." President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007.

To keep track of Dr. Becker's continuing research and commentary, visit his web site and blog.

Easy as a Pie Chart Investing.

by Natalie Pace.

5 Steps to Profiting in Any Market.

Are you still filing your 401K, IRA and brokerage statements without looking at them? With the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 3% already on the year, and still down 23% since January 2008, ignoring your nest egg could be catastrophic to your future. Did you know that the old strategy of just buying and holding stocks hasn’t worked for the last decade? Yes, the stock markets are lower today than they were in 1999, meaning that the only way to get your prayers of prosperity answered, is to employ a different strategy of getting rich. And fortunately, there is a better strategy that works great in bull and bear markets.

So, what is it? It’s a simple 5-step plan that is based upon Modern Portfolio Theory, my trademarked strategies for picking hot industries and annual rebalancing. This may sound complicated and time consuming, but it is actually easy as a pie chart and once you set it up, you simply revisit the plan once a year. It’s actually that easy!

My pie chart strategies (which I teach in depth at my 3-day Get Rich and Enrich Retreats) work fantastically in bull and bear markets, mainly because you:
1) Have the right amount protected,
2) Avoid the Bailout Indexes,
3) Are invested in hot industries and
4) Learn how to rebalance once a year.

That means you keep your gains in NASDAQ 2000, in real estate during its heyday and in clean energy in 2007 (when it was the top performing industry, earning twice as much as oil and gas!). You also prevent colossal losses during downturns, such as we saw in the Bank Bailout Market Bust of 2008 and 2009, and before that in the DOT COM Bust of 2000-2002.

Easy as a pie chart investing is really simple – just five steps.
1. Keep a % equal to your age safe
2. Diversify the remaining amount into 10 funds
3. Overweight more safe in recessions, up to 20%
4. Underweight companies founded before 1980.
5. Rebalance annually to capture gains and make sure you’ve got the right amount protected

Here are 10 Tips to Help You Set Up Your Pie Chart

1. Add up the total value of all of your "nest eggs" – i.e. your 401Ks (old & new), your IRA, your annuity and your savings. This total is what you want to consider as your nest egg pie chart. (Don’t include real estate. This is your non-liquid asset, and your home and/or passive income.)
2. Keep a percentage equal to your age "safe." As an example, if you have $100,000 in your nest egg, and you are 50, you would be keeping $50,000 "safe." There are many assets that are safer than stocks, including bonds, Treasury Bills, Certificates of Deposit and FDIC insured savings accounts. These days, you have to be a lot more careful about bonds, even those that are highly rated.
3. Protect an additional 10-20% percent during recessions and times of grave uncertainty.



4. Take the remaining "pie" and divide that into ten slices – one fund represents one "slice."
   
   
5. Diversify six of the slices by size and style. Small cap growth, small cap value, mid cap growth, mid cap value, large cap growth and large cap value. Why? Because different parts of the market perform differently. NASDAQ rewarded investors with 40.5% gains in 2009, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average earned only 15% gains. Small cap stocks made 6.3% annually over the last ten years, while the general marketplace lost almost 1% annually over the same period.



6. Four of the slices will be Hot Industries. Hot industries really outperform their peers. In 1999, it was DOT COMs that rocketed up a return of 80%. In 2004, it was commodities, like copper. In 2005, Las Vegas Sands and other casinos were doubling in value. In 2007, clean energy earned almost 60 cents on the dollar, almost twice the returns of oil and gas (the 2^nd highest performing industry). What will be the hot industry of tomorrow? Read You Vs. Wall Street to learn how to identify them on your own, and keep subscribing to this NataliePace.com ezine for all of the latest news, information and education you need to succeed…
   
   
7. Underweight companies that were founded before 1980. These tend to have significantly more pension and health care debt and obligations than newer companies, which provide 401Ks that employees manage themselves. Employees do a much better job with retirement plans than employers do. And the employers that are having trouble funding their pension plans (like auto manufacturers and airlines) are taking on a lot of debt to try and compete with their peers… For additional information, you can check out some of the archived articles I’ve written addressing this concern. (I’ve provided links at the end of this article.)
   
   
8. What’s safe? If you are interested in bonds for the "safe" portion of your nest egg, please do your research first. A good place to start is on the FINRA.org website, where they have an excellent and extensive amount of information on Smart Bond Investing.
   
   
9. Rebalance once or twice a year. This is the most important aspect of the pie chart! It’s simple, but critically important. Every year, re-add up your total nest egg value. Put a percent equal to your age safe. Overweight as needed and then slice the "at-risk" portion of the pie with ten funds, six by size and style and four new hot industries. Each year, what’s hot changes… In 2004-2005, real estate was all the rage. Today, it’s in the toilet. This year, if you turn on the television, you can’t miss a gold advertisement, however, over the last 30 years, gold wasn’t even keeping up with inflation, at 2.33 annualized gains.



10. Don’t include individual companies as part of your nest egg, until you are as good at stock picking as Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch. Your nest egg is supposed to be money while you sleep, i.e. low risk and low maintenance. Individual companies require a lot of research before you buy, and frequent attention as to when is the right time to sell. If you are interested in investing in individual companies, then make sure you know how to pick a great company and determine the best buy in point. (Reading You Vs. Wall Street will help tremendously with that. I have Four Questions, Stock Report Cards, a 3-ingredient recipe and buy low/sell high tips outlined in detail in the book.) Once you’re confident that you’re making a winning investment, use your education or fun money for the "investment."

Other Articles of Interest:
1. 2007 Company of the Year Vol. 4, issue 1 (January 2007)
2. Gold Will Hit $5000/Ounce. Vol. 6, issue 12 (December 2009)
3. Are You Gambling With Your Nest Egg? Vol. 5, issue 1. (January 2008)
4. Faded Blue Chips. Vol. 3, issue 8 (August 2006)
5. Get Out of Dodge (Real Estate). Vol. 2, issue 5 (May 2005)

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and host of the Modern Girl’s Guide to Sex, Love and Money radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace! She is a repeat guest on FoxNews, CNBC, ABC TV and has contributed to Forbes.com, Sohu.com and BestEverYou.com and Magazine. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Twitter.com/NataliePace, YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM and Facebook.com/NatalieWynnePace. For more information please visit, http://www.nataliepace.com.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER (PLEASE READ):
Please note: NataliePace.com does not act or operate like a broker. We report on financial news, and are one of the most trusted independently owned and operated financial news corporations in the U.S. 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.

Investors should NOT be using the Hot News on Cool Stocks list or the Cooling Off list to trade their nest eggs. Your retirement plan should reflect a long, safe strategy, which has been designed with the assistance of a financial professional who is familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge and patience.

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.

Seeking Solid Financial Footing for the Next Decade: 10 Tips for 2010.

by FINRA.org, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Mateo in Black Rock City. Freedom!

Over the last several decades—even before Americans first felt the brunt of the recent economic crisis—the financial landscape in the United States has been changing dramatically. The responsibility of saving for retirement has shifted from the employer to the employee. The cost of a college education has risen dramatically. And financial products have become more complex—making saving and investing increasingly complicated for American families.

While many American adults might believe they are adept at dealing with day-to-day financial matters, their actual financial behavior tells a different story. As findings from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation’s recently released National Survey underscore, far too many people tend to engage in financial behaviors that generate excessive expenses and fees. And all too few are able to calculate basic interest and perform other math-oriented tasks. In addition, few people seem to compare the terms of financial products or shop around before making financial decisions.

FINRA and the FINRA Foundation aim to provide Americans with the tools and information they need to make sound financial choices. At the dawn of a new decade, here are 10 tips to help you stay on track with your finances:

1. Figure out how much to save for retirement. According to the National Survey, nearly three of every five Americans who are not yet retired have not done the math to calculate how large their retirement nest egg should be. FINRA’s Retirement Calculator and retirement resources can help.
   
   
2. Rebalance your retirement savings. Because different assets can grow at different rates, over time your portfolio can veer away from the asset allocation you originally chose, impacting your exposure to risk. That’s why periodic rebalancing is so critical. Yet fewer than one-third of National Survey respondents with self-directed retirement accounts (such as a 401(k) plan or IRA) reported rebalancing their holdings at least once a year—and nearly half said they rarely or never do so. Especially following the stock market’s precipitous fall in 2008 and dramatic recovery by the end of 2009, rebalancing your portfolio in 2010 could be a smart move. For information on when and how to rebalance, read FINRA’s Smart 401(k) Investing.
   
   
3. Take Advantage of Tax Breaks for College Savings. Parents typically hope their children will go to college. While funding a child’s college education is one of the more predictable expenses many families face, college tuition costs have been trending upwards, making saving for college all the more important. Yet the National Survey found that well below half (only 41 percent) of respondents with financially dependent children have money set aside for college. Among those who have, only 33 percent reported having used a tax-advantaged savings account, such as a 529 Plan or Coverdell Education Savings Account. Learn more about smart strategies for saving for college.
   
   
4. Diversify your portfolio. Diversification is a time-tested method of managing risk by spreading your investments both among different asset classes—meaning stocks, bonds and cash—and within each asset class. Although the concept may sound simple, the National Survey found that one-quarter of those who rated their financial knowledge as "very high" could not correctly answer a question about risk and diversification. The question asked whether investing in a single company stock is safer than investing in a stock mutual fund—and the correct answer is no. For more on risk and smart diversification strategies, read FINRA’s Managing Investment Risk.
   
   
5. Check the background of your financial professionals. According to the National Survey, only 15 percent of those who have worked with a financial professional reported that they had checked the professional’s background or credentials with a state or federal regulator. Investing a few minutes of your time to take this essential step up front could save you time, money and other trouble down the road. FINRA BrokerCheck is a free tool that allows investors to check the professional background of brokerage firms and individual brokers. Learn more about checking out investment professionals.
   
   
6. Shop around for financial products. When it comes to choosing financial products—such as credit cards, auto loans or mortgages—most Americans either do not comparison-shop or conduct only limited searches for the best prices or terms. For example, while two of every three Americans have at least one credit card, 63 percent of National Survey respondents said they did not compare offers. Whether for loans or investments, comparing costs and terms can save you money.
   
   
7. Create a rainy day fund. The National Survey found that a majority of American adults (51 percent) have not set aside sufficient emergency savings to cover expenses for three months in the case of sickness, job loss, economic downturn or other emergency. To get started, aim to set aside at least one month (and preferably three to six months) of your current salary in a federally insured savings account. And don’t touch it unless absolutely necessary. Learn more about creating a rainy day fund.
   
   
8. Check your credit report and score. You need to do both. Only 38 percent of National Survey respondents stated that they had obtained a copy of their credit report within the past 12 months. Yet 68 percent have at least one credit card—and most have two or more. With credit hard to obtain and identity theft a continuing problem, it is critical to verify whether your credit history is accurate and correct any discrepancies immediately. Just as your credit report is like a financial transcript, your credit score is your financial GPA. Failing to pay monthly balances in full or making late payments can result in finance charges or fees—and these behaviors can also hurt your credit score. A low score, in turn, not only can raise your costs of borrowing or prevent you from qualifying for credit, but also can impact your ability to get insurance, an apartment or even a job. Learn more about how your credit score affects you and what helps and hurts your credit score. For your free credit report, call (877) 322-8228 or visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com.
   
   
9. Avoid overdrawing accounts. Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of National Survey respondents with checking accounts reported overdrawing their accounts on occasion—and 73 percent of those who overdrew accounts also reported having difficulty covering their monthly expenses and paying their bills. According to a 2008 study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, most banks automatically enroll customers in overdraft programs. As a result of these programs, the bank will automatically process checks, ATM withdrawals and debit card transactions even when there are insufficient funds in your account—and you will be charged an overdraft fee. While overdraft protection may seem like a helpful feature on a checking account or debit card, be aware that overdraft fees can add up. The best ways to protect yourself are to balance your checkbook so that you know how much money is in your account and ask your bank to let you opt out of any program that automatically approves ATM and debit card transactions. For more on how to avoid overdraft fees, read the Federal Reserve’s Protecting Yourself from Overdraft and Bounced-Check Fees.
   
   
10. Review your insurance coverage. Only half of National Survey respondents who reported having at least one form of insurance (health, auto, homeowners or life) said they reviewed their insurance coverage at least once a year. And one in seven (14 percent) said they never did so. Taking the time each year to assess whether your insurance coverage aligns with your needs is a smart strategy—especially if recent life changes have left you under- or over-insured. For example, if you are young and single with no dependents—or if you are an empty-nester with a fully paid home—you might need less life insurance than someone who is financially responsible for others (such as children or aging parents), has a mortgage or both. More information is available on the Web site of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

The start of a new year is always a terrific time to take stock of your finances and to embrace new habits to get—and stay—financially fit. Even if you were not thinking about saving and investing when the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, it’s not too late to set fresh financial goals for 2010. Take time to make a long-term financial plan—and stick with it. Make sure your plan includes a realistic spending plan that not only allows you to make ends meet comfortably and keep your debt under control, but also includes line items for saving and investing for each of your financial goals. When making financial decisions, be sure to comparison shop and check out both products and professionals before you invest. And remember that staying diversified and understanding risk are the best resolutions you can make for managing your finances over the long term.

About FINRA:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. All told, FINRA oversees nearly 4,800 brokerage firms, about 170,400 branch offices and approximately 643,000 registered securities representatives.

FINRA believes investor protection begins with education. Using the Internet, the media and public forums, we help investors build their financial knowledge and provide them with essential tools to better understand the markets and basic principles of saving and investing.

Sign up to receive FINRA content and Investor Alerts at FINRA.ORG.

Taxes: What's New for 2010?

by Rande Spiegelman, CPA, CFP®, Vice President of Financial Planning, Schwab Center for Financial Research

January 20, 2010

Rande Spiegelman, CPA, CFP®, Vice President of Financial Planning, Schwab Center for Financial Research

Times are tough. So it's especially important to take advantage of every tax break you're entitled to. After all, it's not what you make but what you keep that counts. Here are several tips to consider:

Position yourself to benefit from lower tax rates while they last
Under current law, tax rates on ordinary income, capital gains and qualified dividends are set to expire and go back up after 2010. (See the "Expiring rates" table below.) Congress may keep some lower rates in place while allowing the upper brackets to revert to the old higher amounts, but that remains to be seen. In any event, now is a good time to discuss with your financial advisor steps you can take to reduce the impact of taxes on your pocketbook.

*Lower exemption amounts take effect in 2010 unless Congress extends the temporary 2009 AMT patch.
Source: Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Take advantage of federal income tax changes
To keep pace with inflation, the IRS has widened the federal income tax brackets and increased certain exemptions, deductions and credits.¹ See the "2010 federal income tax brackets" table below. For additional information, please visit the IRS website at IRS.Gov.

Source: IRS.

See if you're exempt from the Alternative Minimum Tax
Congress raised the taxable income exemption amounts for the 2009 tax year—to $70,950 for married couples filing jointly and $46,700 for single filers. Hopefully, Congress will raise the limits again for 2010 and make the annual adjustment permanent.

Take advantage of lower tax rates for children
In 2010, children under 19 will pay no federal income tax on the first $950 of unearned income (such as capital gains or interest) and will be taxed at their own rate on the next $950 (0% for long-term capital gains and most likely 10% on other unearned income). However, they will be taxed at their parents' tax rate on unearned income in excess of $1,900 for 2010. (This will also be the case for full-time college students under age 24, unless their earned income is greater than one-half of their parents' support.)

Individuals age 19 and older (and dependent full-time college students age 24 and older) pay taxes at their own rate. If they're in the 15% ordinary bracket or below, that means 0% tax on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends through 2010, unless Congress changes the law before then.

Boost your retirement savings and potentially enjoy tax benefits
As the "2010 federal limits for retirement accounts" table below shows, the federal government increased the maximum amounts you can contribute to certain retirement accounts.

Source: IRS.

Among them:

• Traditional IRAs. Money you put in a traditional IRA is generally tax-deductible unless you're an active participant in a qualified workplace retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or 403(b). In that case, restrictions apply. If you're a single filer, your contribution is partially deductible if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is $56,000-$66,000. If you're a married couple filing jointly, your 2010 contribution is partially deductible if your MAGI is $89,000-$109,000. If you don't participate in a retirement plan at work (but your spouse does) and you file jointly, your contribution is partially deductible if your MAGI is $167,000-$177,000.²
  
  
• Roth IRAs. If you're a single filer, in 2010 your contribution limit is $5,000 (or $6,000 if you're 50 or older) if your MAGI is $105,000 or less. The contribution limit is gradually reduced for those with MAGIs of $105,000-$120,000. If you're a married couple filing jointly, your contribution limit is $5,000 (or $6,000 if you're 50 or older) if your MAGI is $167,000 or less. That contribution limit is gradually reduced for those with MAGIs of $167,000-$177,000.
• Beginning in 2010 and beyond, anyone can convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, regardless of income level or filing status. Converting all or part of a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA could be advantageous if you expect to be in the same or higher tax bracket when you eventually withdraw the money, have a reasonably long time horizon, and can afford to pay the conversion tax from a source other than your IRA.
  
  
• A Roth conversion might also be a useful estate planning technique, if you think you won't need your traditional IRA for your own expenses during your lifetime. Finally, for 2010 only conversion income will not be included in 2010 but will be split evenly between the 2011 and 2012 tax years by default. If you want to include all the conversion income on your 2010 tax return (which might make sense if you expect higher tax rates in 2011 and beyond) you’ll need to make a special election.

Required retirement plan withdrawals
Congress suspended the required minimum distribution (RMD) rule for 2009, but the rule is back in force for 2010.

Manage college expenses with these nifty tax benefits
Consider these tax-favored ways to pay for college costs: 

• A Coverdell education savings account. If you're a single filer, you may make a maximum contribution of $2,000 per year if your MAGI is $95,000 or less; the maximum allowed contribution is gradually reduced for those with MAGIs of $95,000-$110,000. If you're a married couple filing jointly, you may make a maximum contribution of $2,000 per year to a Coverdell if your MAGI is $190,000 or less; the maximum allowed contribution is gradually reduced for those with MAGIs of $190,000-$220,000.

• A 529 college savings plan. Although there's no limit to how much you can contribute each year, each state's plan has its own lifetime limit—typically more than $200,000.³ You can also treat a 529 contribution as being made over five years for gift tax purposes. So a married couple could contribute up to $130,000 per child up front without using any of their lifetime gift tax credit (see below).

• Tax credits. The American Opportunity Credit is a modification of the Hope Credit for tax years 2009 and 2010, and makes the credit available to a broader range of taxpayers, including many individuals with higher incomes and those who owe no tax. For 2010, you may claim up to $2,500 on eligible college expenses paid from a non-529 account. The American Opportunity Credit phases out for single filers with MAGIs of $80,000-$90,000 and $160,000-$180,000 for married couples filing jointly. The Lifetime Learning Credit is 20% of the first $10,000 of qualifying education expenses. The Lifetime Learning Credit phases out for single filers with MAGIs of $50,000-$60,000 and $100,000-$120,000 for married couples filing jointly.
  
  
• Tax deductions. You may be able to deduct up to $2,500 of student loan interest. The MAGI phaseout for eligibility is $60,000-$75,000 for single filers and $120,000-$150,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Plan your gifts and estate to make the most of these tax breaks

• The gift tax annual exclusion amount remains unchanged for 2010. You generally can give up to $13,000 annually (or $26,000 for spouses splitting gifts) to any number of people, and none of the gifts will be taxable. You can also give unlimited amounts toward tuition or medical expenses if you pay the provider directly. Beyond that, for 2010 the lifetime gift tax exemption is still $1 million. The top gift tax rate is 35%. 
  
  
• Although the estate tax is set to expire in 2010, under current law it comes back in 2011 in all its pre-2001 glory (see table). Many of your estate planning decisions will depend on what you think Congress might do down the road.

Note: Unless Congress acts to change the current law, in 2010, larger estates may no longer receive an automatic step-up in basis equal to the date-of-death valuation. For 2010 only, inherited assets over $1.3 million (over $4.3 million for spouses) will retain their original cost basis.

That’s anyone’s guess, of course. We could revert back to the old law, or we could end up with higher limits for taxable estates. One possibility is that the 2009 estate tax exemption amount of $3,500,000 and top rate of 35% could be extended. As frustrating as the uncertainty might be, the best you can do is plan based on what you know now. Remember, any guess about the future is still just a guess, and the law as it stands is still the law.

For more information on these and other changes, please see Inflation Having Little Effect on Tax Rates and Benefits in 2010 on the IRS website.

Should you sell securities now?
Should you sell now, before long-term capital gains rates go up? Currently, profits on long-term investments (those held more than one year) are taxed at a top rate of 15%. Prior to the election, President Obama had proposed raising the top rate back to 20% for families making over $250,000. That plan may be on hold for now.

But, even if Congress takes no action, beginning on January 1, 2011, the top long-term capital gains tax rate is scheduled to return to 20% for securities held between one and five years, and 18% for those held more than five years.

If you have a better investment in mind or need the money now and were going to sell anyway, why not save 3% or 5% in taxes? But if you're going to turn around and reinvest the proceeds in the same security, then the prospect of long-term capital gains taxes reverting to 18% or 20% shouldn't in itself prompt you to sell.

You may be better off holding onto a security rather than selling it now and reinvesting the proceeds in the same security. Consider the two hypothetical scenarios below. Assume that you have a $1,000 long-term gain now and you expect the investment to generate an 8% average annual compound return. As the table below shows, in this hypothetical example, not selling now would lead to a higher net gain in 10 years.

*[0.20 x ($1,835 - $850)]
Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research

1. In some instances, modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) may be used to determine eligibility for certain deductions. MAGI calculations vary, so consult your tax professional.
2. Within certain AGI (or MAGI) phaseout ranges, you receive partial deductibility (or eligibility to contribute, in some cases) for certain tax breaks. At or below the low end of the range, you can receive full deductibility (or eligibility), but at or above the high end of the range, you lose deductibility (or eligibility).
3. As with any investment, it is possible to lose money by investing in a 529 plan. Before investing, carefully consider a plan's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Additionally, if you are investing in a 529 plan outside the state in which you pay taxes, you should consider your own state's 529 plan to determine if you can obtain any tax or other benefits offered by your own state's plan.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES:
This report is for informational purposes only and is not an offer, solicitation or recommendation that any particular investor should purchase or sell any particular security or pursue a particular investment strategy. The investment strategies mentioned here may not be suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review an investment strategy for his or her own particular situation before making any investment decision.

All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market conditions. Examples provided are for illustrative purposes only and are not representative of intended results that a client should expect to achieve.

Data contained herein from third-party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax, legal or investment planning advice. Where specific advice is necessary or appropriate, Schwab recommends consultation with a qualified tax advisor, CPA, financial planner or investment manager. Tax laws and authorities are subject to change, either prospectively or retroactively, and any subsequent change could have a material impact on your situation.

The Schwab Center for Financial Research is a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

NASDAQ Doubles the Dow in 2009, Outscoring the Leading Blue Chip Index by 2.7 to 1!

by Natalie Pace.

Includes my Hot News on Cool Stocks List.

February 1, 2010

General Stock Market Performance

Wall Street Highs/Lows in the New Millennium:

Hot News on Cool Stocks Highlights!
482% gains on U.S. Gold!
NASDAQ Outscores the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 40% to 15%, in 2009
86% of the positions listed in 2008-2010 are in the money. Woo hoo!
Gold Tops Stocks Over the Last 10 Years…
(Real Estate Lost -12.4% in 2009.)

Market Update:

Natalie Pace, author of You Vs. Wall Street Photo by: Stacie Isabella Turk, © 2008 Ribbonhead.com. Art Direction: Arlene Hylton-Campbell. Hair/Makeup Stylist: Melody White.

140 banks failed in 2009. Two out of the top three auto manufacturers declared bankruptcy. Meanwhile, this ezine pulled off an incredible feat of calling 86% winning positions in 2008 and 2009. How? Through trademarked nest egg strategies, interviewing the top economists in the world and conducting forensic, investigative financial journalism of the markets and companies we cover.

Imagine if you knew that the recession was inevitable when the markets were still trading at an all-time high (back in January of 2008). (See the archived January 2008 ezine for our article, "Are You Gambling With Your Nest Egg"). Or that NASDAQ was a better bet than the Dow Jones Industrial Average before the banks were bailed out (as we began warning in August of 2006, Vol. 3, issue 8). Or that Lehman Bros. insiders were bailing out of their own company, to the tune of hundreds of millions, back in June of 2006, over a year before the company declared bankruptcy (see Vol. 3, issue 6). Or that the New Economy was a myth – in time to capture your gains before the Dot Com Bubble burst. Or that real estate was at unsustainably high prices that were fueled by giving "liars" loans to anyone with a pulse (check out the May 2005 ezine, Vol. 2, issue 5)?

This stock newsletter was the first to list the following 911 alerts:

1. To get Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of your 401(k) in 2003
2. Avoid General Motors and other American auto-manufacturers in 2004
3. Get out of Dodge (real estate) in 2005
4. Trim back on Faded Blue Chips in 2006
5. Lehman Bros’ colossal insider selling in 2006 

The short answer is that you can and should know about these things. I’ve been publishing forensic, investigative financial news – offering warnings and also highlighting the hot industries, like Google at the IPO and clean energy in 2007 -- in this ezine since 2002. Support our continuing ongoing news, information and education with your subscription dollars, and get your friends to as well.

Since some companies with the biggest problems are also the biggest advertisers, the media that relies on their ads for life support have a hard time remaining "fair and balanced." When media, like the NataliePace.com ezine, relies on subscribers, we are beholden to you, not advertisers, for our life-blood, and, as a result, the news and analysis can remain untainted by conflicts of interest.

Additionally, you can learn to spot problem areas and hot industries in time to capitalize on them. It’s easier than you think and takes less time than reading one article in The New York Times. (Read the "Hot Industries" chapter of You Vs. Wall Street, as well as "Investing Mistakes" and "Top 10 Signs the CEO is Rolling in Your Dough" chapters.)

In fact, you know that you instinctively suspected some of the problems that ended up cracking your nest egg. You just didn’t know how to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to feel confident in your suspicions. You don’t always trust the financial advice you’re being fed – whether it’s from a boss, from a money manager or a pundit on television. You were probably giddy with gains from real estate and the DOT COM run-up before that, even while you knew that those astronomical gains didn’t quite add up. So, learning a few tricks of the trade, will turn those nagging doubts into real, useable data.

Read You vs. Wall Street. Come to a 3-day investing retreat, where you will learn and practice easy-as-a-pie chart nest egg strategies, Stocks on Steroids, Top 10 Signs the CEO is rolling in your dough, how to pick the perfect Certified Financial Life Partner, annual rebalancing strategies, Modern Portfolio Theory and identifying the winners and losers on Wall Street. My trademarked systems are designed to be effective and also easy-to-use. Wisdom is one investment that always pays off – for the rest of your life! And you will walk away with your own customized blueprint after three days in the boardroom.

Getting rich and enriching the world are easy to do. In fact, when you invest in real companies that add tremendous value to the world, you are more likely to get rich than when you invest in the old school companies that are now trying to attract your investment dollars through slick advertising more than excellent products. Investing in companies you like is a good start -- not the entire recipe for cooking up profits, but a good start -- that is far better than blindly checking off boxes in your 401(k).

So, make 2010 your year to start on the road to wisdom, and join the group of enlightened investors who know how to protect and grow their assets in any market – bull or bear.

Have a little faith (not blind faith) that you can do this, if you just get the right tools and education. You’ll find out how to make the magic of Stock Report Cards and pie charts work to provide you with money while you sleep in the pages of You Vs. Wall Street. You will enact this plan, if you take three full days at the Get Rich and Enrich Retreat. (The retreat provides you with the time, the guidance, the education and the online access, where you learn how to research what you want to own in your nest egg.)

You vs. Wall Street "provides almost fool proof methods for growing wealth for the long haul," according to Success Magazine. Readers call You vs. Wall Street a "must-read financial bible," and "just what some readers need to find themselves exponentially richer in the coming years." You vs. Wall Street teaches you how to win on Wall Street in any market—bull or bear. Now is the time to choose wisdom over blind faith, to invest in winning companies and to whistle all the way to your local bailed out bank.

• MASTER THE UNIQUE THREE-PART INVESTMENT PLAN
• LEARN HOW TO AVOID THE BAILOUT INDEX
• DISCOVER THE FOOLPPROOF GET RICH AND STAY RICH PROGRAM
• FIND OUT HOW TO AVOID THE TOP ELEVEN INVESTING MISTAKES

Investors who attend the Get Rich and Enrich Retreat walk out with a blueprint that works for the rest of their life. They have selected the exact ten funds they are most interested in, and know how to select new funds as different industries become the next hot thing. They know which months are best for profit-taking and which for buying back in, historically, to maximize the potential for capturing gains annually.

My March 27-29, 2010 Get Rich and Green investing retreat in Santa Monica, California (the best place to be in March) SOLD OUT. So we added another retreat on April 1-3, 2010. Please call 866.476.7442 or email info@NataliePace.com right away if you are interested in being one of the lucky twelve in the boardroom. This is the perfect New Year New You gift to yourself and your spouse. Spring at Santa Monica Beach getting financial smarts that will pay off forever.

Groups like the Green Goddess Investment Club reported 48% gains over during the recession, using my strategies. "With the valuable guidance of our mentor Natalie Pace we out performed the bear market with the extraordinary result of 48% GAINS!!!!!!"  Cindy Ciscowski, President, Green Goddess Investment Club. Options traders and Certified Financial Planners brag that their portfolio returns are "staggering," in the wake of learning my methods, after just three days of training. Other retreat attendees earn back the price of he retreat in the first week.

Track Record of our Reporting
While the markets are still down significantly since their high in October of 2007, the Hot News and Cooling Off lists below have a winning track record – in bear and bull market years. 88 positions listed below – 86% -- have delivered impressive gains over the past two years, even while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is trading lower than it was ten years ago! Only fourteen of our listings went in the opposite direction of the reporting, which is quite impressive given the horrible market drop of 2008-2009.

Yes, many, but not all, of our top performers were shorts, which is why we added options training to the retreat. Remember that the trading portfolio should be equal to your experience, and should not be part of your nest egg. (The nest egg is money you earn while you sleep, not while you day-trade.) If you’re new, you should be using education or fun money, not your nest egg, to learn on. Take your profits early and often in these volatile, whip-sawing years.

3 out of 6 Company of the Year selections more than doubled.  My 2003, 2004 and 2007 Companies of the Year posted up to 9000% gains (Taser), up to 690% gains (Opsware) and up to 215% gains (Suntech Power Holdings), respectively, before we took them off of the list.  MySpace, my 2006 Company of the Year, was a large part of News Corp’s success with shareholders that year.   So four out of six Company of the Year selections were superperformers. That’s the kind of record that puts you on top on Wall Street.  (I launched my first publication on 11.15.02, and featured the first Company of the Year on 1.1.03.)

Some of my best picks include: Google (GOOG) +585%, Opsware (OPSW) +690%, Rio Tinto (RTP) +145%, Sohu (SOHU) +150%, Suntech Power Holdings (STP) +107%, Taser (TASR) up to 9000% gains. Some of the best picks in 2008 and 2009 were put options – on the Cooling Off list -- which is why I added options training to my 3-day Get Rich and Green Investing Retreat. Look on the Cooling Off list for details on the incredible gains options investors enjoyed on Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, Toll Brothers, KB Home, Novastar Financial and more there.

This stock newsletter was the first to list the following 911 alerts:

1. To get Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of your 401(k) in 2003
2. Avoid General Motors and other American auto-manufacturers in 2004
3. Get out of Dodge (real estate) in 2005
4. Trim back on Faded Blue Chips in 2006
5. Lehman Bros’ colossal insider selling in 2006 

Market Movers:
The Federal Open Market Committee and Monetary Policy
The Fed funds rate continues to be "0 to ¼ percent." In the 1.27.10 meeting press release, the Federal Reserve Board further elaborated on the reasoning behind the rock bottom rates, writing: "The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period."

That is Fed-speak for "We are doing everything to stimulate the economy, which should work eventually, but the situation is still rough, folks." Deflation is no longer much of a concern (even though the Feds will give you $8000 if you’ll buy a house, which has dropped in value 24% over the last three years), and the Feds think that inflation is far enough away that Fed Fund rates will remain exceptionally low for an "extended period."

The Milken Institute estimates that the bailout to date has already cost the taxpayer $9.8 trillion. The U.S. National Debt is now $12.3 trillion…

The next FOMC meeting takes place on March 16, 2010.

Advance Estimate GDP growth rates for 4Q 2009 were 5.7%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This was outstanding news (if the data holds) and marks the second positive GDP growth rate since the 4^th quarter of 2007. What happened between 2008 and 3Q 2009? Massive government spending is the main driver of the economy at this point. The Cash for Clunkers Program was responsible for over half of the GDP growth (1.45%) in the 3Q 2009.

Second Estimate GDP growth rates for 4Q 2009 will be released on February 26, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. ET. These release days tend to be very active on Wall Street. No surprise that the 4th quarter of 2009 was the second positive GDP report since the 4^th quarter of 2007. However, there has been a trend to see advance numbers fall dramatically. If the positive 5.7% growth holds, that could spark a market rally, unless there is a major bank or business that fails and offsets investor glee. There were 25 bank failures in 2008 and 140 in 2009, according to the FDIC. More are expected in 2010. For more BEA release dates, go to the BEA.gov website and be sure to visit the NataliePace.com calendar section often.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITES AND INFORMATION:
1. FOMC Information: Interested in reading the minutes of the December 15-16, 2009 FOMC meeting for yourself? You can. The official Federal Reserve document is available online. Click on FOMC, or go to FederalReserve.gov to read!

The tentative FOMC meeting schedule for the 2009 calendar is: March 16 (Tuesday), April 27-28 (Tuesday-Wednesday), June 22-23 (Tuesday-Wednesday), August 10 (Tuesday), September 21 (Tuesday), November 2-3 (Tuesday-Wednesday), December 14 (Tuesday), January 25-26, 2011 (Tuesday-Wednesday).

2. Calendar Section: Conferences, Online Chats and more: Check out the Calendar section of NataliePace.com regularly. Be the first to know the dates of the mid-month Hot News on Cool Stocks Update and the publication date of our next ezine. Join me on BlogTalkRadio.com. Get more information on how to best use our articles in the FAQs article, located under the Investor Edu link on the home page of NataliePace.com.

Don’t miss the Modern  Girls’ Guide to Sex, Love and Money Show with Natalie Pace on BlogTalkRadio.com,  Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m. PT.   There I interview experts on everything from gold, to health, to stocks, to bestselling books. Get real answers to your questions — anonymously (just pick a nickname when you call in).

Get call-in and log-in instructions at BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace. This is a Q&A format, where you can call in or Twitter in your questions. Be sure to write down your most pressing questions now, and become a friend to Natalie Pace on Twitter at Twitter.com/NataliePace and the NataliePace.com group on Facebook, so that you can Tweet and FB during the show.

3. Survey Results:
Each month we have three new surveys so that we can stay in touch with your needs and desires. Cast your vote on our survey page! Did you like Obama’s State of the Union Address on January 27, 2010? What does she really want for Valentine’s Day? (Cast your vote, ladies, so the guys have a prayer of getting it right!)

4. Euro interest rates: ECB rates are at 1.00% (main refinancing), 1.75% (marginal lending) and 0.25% (deposit facility). The next meeting and interest rate announcement is scheduled for February 4, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. CET. (February 18, 2010 after that.)

Hot Stocks List
Investors who "never pay retail," note that the BOLD 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. (If the stocks are not highlighted, then in our estimation, this is not a good time to buy. Reasons are explained in the news commentary.) 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. And remember that these "Stocks on Steroids" are not intended to be part of your nest egg strategy at all – not even for "pros." If you’ve never traded individual stocks before, this is your "fun" or "education" money. You should not stake your future on anything that you don’t have mastery over.

Hot News List (highlighted).  Be sure that you are buying low.
Galaxy Resources (GALXF)

Profit-Taking (Take your profits early and often):
Hoku Scientific (HOKU) +21%
LDK Solar (LDK) +28%
U.S. Gold (UXG) +483%

DELETIONS (Take your profits early and often):
KCI Concepts (KCI) (with gains of +88%!)

HOT NEWS on COOL STOCKS LIST

Recently Deleted Companies 2008-2010:
Echelon +20%, GE, +13% and +18%, Google, +15% and +31%, Johnson & Johnson +10%, LDK Solar +18%, Microsoft +12%, Satcon +13%, Suntech +35%, Trina Solar +22%, World Water & Solar +22%. Genentech (8.1.08) +40%. Altair (deleted on 8.7.08) posted gains of +3% and +57%. Zoltek (deleted on 8.18.08) lost 30% before being removed. LDK Solar was deleted on 9.2.08 with 46% and 29% profits. U.S. Gold profit taking on 11.6.08 amounted to 72% gains. Conergy gains of 51% were taken on 11.7.08. American Superconductor posted 50% gains between 12.1 and 1.14.09. MEMC Electronics (WFR) had 21% gains between 12.1 and 12.15.08. STP had gains of 69% between 12.1.08 and 1.2.09. SQM profits 20% on 1.14.09. WWAT was deleted on 2.1.09 with -62% losses. On 2.15.09, AMSC had gains of 65%, MEMC Electronics 26%, Sociedad de Quimica y Minera 48% and U.S. Gold 432%. Citigroup gains of 42% on 3.15.09. Genentech was deleted on 3.15.09 with gains of 29%. OSI Pharmaceuticals was deleted on 3.15.09 with 7% gains. Rio Tinto was deleted on 3.27.09 with gains of 67%. On 3.27.09, the following companies were in the money: ALTI (+48%), AMSC (+51%), eBay (+24%), GE (+40%), HOKU (+38%), LDK (+46%), MEMC (+44%), PBW (+35%), SATC (+42%), SQM (+76%), STP (+211%), TSL (+207%), U.S. Gold (+456%) and WBK (+25%). Profit-taking 4.13.09: ALTI +209%, AMSC +70%, HOKU +32%, LDK +64%, PBW +42%, SQM +42%, UXG+418%. Deleted 4.13.09: eBay, +45%, Eurox -11%, GE +47% & -56%, Google +9%, Maxwell +25%, MEMC Electronics -33% & +49%, Microsoft +24%, SATC +67%. STP +262% & -64%, TSL +216% & -67%, Westpac +42% & -22%. Deleted 5.4.09: FMC Corp. with 19% gains. PZD with losses of -39%. SPWRA with 19% gains. TREMX with 50% losses. WSDT with losses of -59%. Deleted 5.15.09: SQM with gains of 38% and 62%. Deleted 5.31.09: EMKR with losses of 13% and 88% and Melco with losses of 8%. Ener1 with gains of 11% and 17%. Deleted 7.20.09: Conergy with losses of -52-98%. Deleted Smith and Nephew on 8.15.09 with gains of 17% and losses of 28%. Deleted the New Zealand dollar currency ETF by Wisdom Tree with 36% gains on 12.12.09. 12.18.09: Deleted Ener1 with 22% gains and Satcon with 29% gains. Deleted 1.11.10: KCI with 88% gains!

Recently Deleted from the Hot News list:

Stocks to Watch
Some of these are great companies that we’re thinking of adding to the Hot List and some are stinkers we’re thinking of adding to the Cooling Off List.
Read carefully to identify which is which!  

Note that right now most of our favorite companies are on the Watch List. Getting the price right is as important as picking the right company. Never pay retail!

Recent Additions:
Ford Motor Company (F)
Orocobre (OROCF)
Toyota Motor Company (TM)

Recent Deletions:
Maxwell Labs (MXWL). Moved to Cooling Off list on 1.11.10.

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):
Berkshire Hathaway

DELETIONS:
KB Home (KBH)
Toll Brothers (TOL)

Recently Deleted in 2008/2009:
Fannie Mae was deleted on 2.11.08 after losing -50% and -56% of its share price value, and then again on 7.1.08, after losing another -40%. (Both puts more than doubled.) Novastar Financial (NFI) was deleted on 6.2.08 with -95% share price implosion. Sears Holding Corp. was deleted on 7.1.08 with 64% gains on the put option. Wells Fargo was deleted on 7.1.08 with 83% gains on the put. Apple was deleted on 8.1.08 with 35% gains on the put. The Google put, deleted on 8.1.08, was another great performer, with over 50% gains. First Solar had gains of over 32-34%. Mentor was deleted on 9.30.08 with 75% gains on the put option (-17% on the share price); Medicis was deleted with gains of over 37% on the share price (down direction). Boston Properties, Las Vegas Sands and Macerich were deleted on 10.9.08 with gains of 16-30%, 66% and 28-42% respectively. Wells Fargo was deleted on 11.6.08 with 35-50% gains on the put and again on 12.1.08 for 50-70% gains. American Express posted 35% gains in just 30 days, between 2.1.09 and 3.2.09. First Solar was deleted on 8.13.09 with 33% gains. KB Home with 74% gains and Toll Brothers with 51% gains on 10.01.09.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER (PLEASE READ):
Please note: NataliePace.com does not act or operate like a broker. We report on financial news, and are one of the most trusted independently owned and operated financial news corporations in the U.S. 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.

Investors should NOT be using the Hot News on Cool Stocks list or the Cooling Off list to trade their nest eggs. Your retirement plan should reflect a long, safe strategy, which has been designed with the assistance of a financial professional who is familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge and patience.

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:

Catch Natalie Pace on CNBC on February 4, 2010. Go to the calendar section for the exact time and other opportunities to Love. Love. Love. Yourself. Your Sacred Companion. Our Earth. Your Money. Master Your Love Potential with opportunities that you’ll find in the Calendar Section.

The NataliePace.com Calendar section features conferences, teleconferences, retreats, educational opportunities, cultural events, galas, market events and online chats with executives and VIPs. Stay plugged in! We add online chats, article updates, teleconferences, etc. as they are booked, so be sure to visit the calendar section early and often.  Below is only a partial listing of what’s happening this month.

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.

The Thrive Budget. Call-in Radio show.
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
9:00AM through 9:30AM PT
Are you drowning in bills and debt? Learn how to shift out of bills and basic needs and into the life of your dreams starting right here and now. Imagine how your love life will improve when you can get off the nightly argument over the bills… Join Natalie Pace on BlogTalkRadio.

Meg Whitman at the LA Library
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
7:45AM through 9:30AM
Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay and current California gubernatorial candidate will be interviewed in an intimate setting. Free to Step Up Luminary Members. (Join now!) (Not the kind of intimacy you’ll be thinking about on Valentine’s Day, but a great opportunity to hear the wisdom of one of the most successful CEOs of our time, up close and personal.)

Watch Natalie on CNBC
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
10:20AM through 10:30AM ET
Natalie Pace will be speaking on profiting in a recovery on CNBC. Learn essential tips to protect and profit in any market! Money isn’t everything, but when you get your earning and investing on a plan that works while you sleep (instead of keeping you up all night), you’ll have a lot more time for loving and fun.

Valentine’s Day!
Our surveys show that women prefer gold, diamonds and couples get away retreats over chocolate and flowers. Did you know that you can purchase gold stock for her this Valentine’s Day? For tips on purchasing gold stocks, listen in on Natalie Pace’s interview with veteran gold mining executive, Rob McEwen, the chairman and CEO of U.S. Gold on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace.

AMEX Women's Business Summit, Houston, TX
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
American Express OPEN is featuring a 2-day summit where women entrepreneurs can learn to thrive in the new economy by receiving real advice, business coaching and networking opportunities. Sorry guys. A day off for the girls is needed sometimes.

$8000 Reasons to Buy a New Home.
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
9:00AM through 9:30AM PT.
Yes. You saw it right. You can receive $8000 to buy a home. So should you? Join Natalie Pace on BlogTalkRadio to learn who qualifies (new homeowners and homeowners who want to upgrade both qualify) and when you have to get everything done by (deadlines are approaching fast!).

GDP 4Q 2009 report (second estimates)
Friday, February 26th, 2010
8:30AM through 8:45AM ET.
The U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA.gov) releases its second estimates report on GDP growth in the 4th quarter of 2009. Advance estimates from the BEA came in at 5.7%. Will the advance #s hold?

Sages and Scientists Symposium, Carlsbad, CA
Friday, February 26th, 2010
8:00AM through 10:00PM
Deepak Chopra presents a symposium focused on the Merging of a New Future. Join Deepak and a panel of world-renowned scientists and sages.

82nd Academy Awards. Hollywood, CA
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
6:00PM through 10:00PM PT
Steve Martin and his enemy Alec Baldwin will co-host the Oscars this year. Martin has an Emmy (for hosting the Oscars) and 2 Grammys. Baldwin has 2 Emmys and a Tony nomination.

Clinton Global Initiative University Conference, Miami, FL
Friday, April 16-18, 2010
This 3-day event is one where students work hand-in-hand on global issues, and even get their hands dirty on a community service project. Of course, doing this alongside Prez. Clinton and a few celebrity friends, like Brad Pitt, doesn't hurt! You must apply with a proposal to be accepted. Act fast!

NOTICE: NataliePace.com is NOT a stock brokerage service, and does not operate or act as one.