IPO of the Year.

by Natalie Pace.

Yes. There is one, and yes, I’m excited about it.

If you had the opportunity to bank on the guy who funded Google, Yahoo and Paypal before their IPOs, would you? Would you want to know anything more about the company, or would you just rush out and place your order?

Michael J. Moritz has served on the board of directors of my IPO of the Year since February 2003. As a Managing Member of Sequoia Capital since 1986, Mr. Moritz previously served as a director of a variety of companies including Google Inc., PayPal, Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.

Mr. Moritz’s latest passion project is not the hot IPO of Tesla Motors (which was announced on January 29, 2010) and their exciting all electric sports car (which I want to own). It is a speedster of a lesser known, but equally cash-rich company called Green Dot, with the difference being that Green Dot’s cash is revenue, whereas Tesla’s is a government loan.

Green Dot was founded in 1999, and, in under ten years, has amassed relationships with the top brands in America, including WalMart and GE. Their reloadable prepaid debit cards are sold nationwide in 50,000 major retail outlets, including Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Radio Shack and more.

Green Dot is adding over a million new customers a year. 2009 revenues jumped 40% over 2008, from $168 million to $235 million. Net income more than doubled over that same period, from $17.335 million to $37.163 million. In 2009 currency, when so many businesses are struggling to hang on, that’s nothing short of a miracle, and proof of a hungry marketplace.

Green Dot’s Chairman and CEO, Steven W. Streit, is a Southern California entrepreneur with an ability to attract top-notch talent. Mark T. Troughton, Green Dot’s President, Cards and Network, comes from McKinsey & Company, as does Green Dot’s CFO, John L. Keatley. John C. Ricci, general counsel, began his career in the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission. COO William D. Sowell hails from GE Money. Director Virginia L. Hanna was previously Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations at Intuit. Michael J. Moritz is a legend in venture capital. Board Director William H. Ott, Jr. was previously the Chairman of E*TRADE Bank. And Director W. Thomas Smith, Jr., now a Venture Capitalist, spent 30 years at IBM.

Yes, you need a Dream Team like this to even attempt an IPO this year, and Steven W. Streit, having no real credentials in banking, venture capital or IPOs, is stepping on the court like the King of all Coaches, Phil Jackson, with the top players in the IPO league. I wonder if he does yoga? (Pretty much everyone in LA does these days…)

Now, naysayers will point to a one huge concern. Namely that Green Dot’s Walmart deal, which accounts for a substantial portion of Green Dot’s credibility and income, can be cancelled with 180 days notice. Green Dot currently administers the Walmart MoneyCard, a VISA-branded Walmart gift card and will soon be offering a reloadable debit card, co-branded with Walmart and GE Money Bank. There are no guarantees, with that kind of liberal exit clause, that Walmart won’t do an about face. However, the Walmart MoneyCard Program, which has been in Walmart stores since 2007, has been proving to be one of the store’s most popular, growing items. Walmart increased the percentage of stores carrying the card from 70% in 2007 to 97% by October 31, 2009.

Other question marks and concerns include:

1. We don’t know the pricing of the IPO
2. Fierce competition
3. Low margins
4. At the mercy of too many partners in the supply chain

IPO Pricing:
The SEC prospectus does not include the offering price or number of shares, and as of press time, we were still waiting to hear back from Green Dot on this, so any inquiry into participating in this IPO must include a forensic fair value examination of the pricing. Having said that, IPOs in this market are tending toward conservative. This team of Blue Chip executives is not going to want to embarrass themselves with a deal that no one bites on. In fact, their most recent private offering (at $20/share, based upon $1 billion market value) was oversold. Good sign… Underwriters of the IPO are: J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Piper Jaffray and UBS.

Fierce Competition:
The list of debit card contenders is long and includes some power hitters and some more questionable entities. VISA, MasterCard, Discover, Capital One and more all have their own debit cards. So do the following lesser-known brands:

Upside (Privately held)
Ready (website doesn’t list address or phone number; red flag)
Vision (website doesn’t list owner; red flag)
Black Hawk Network (owned by Safeway)
Account Now (website doesn’t list owner; red flag)
NetSpend (website doesn’t list owner; red flag)
MoneyGram (Western Union)
PowerPay.biz (owned by HSBC)

So, what does Green Dot have that these other companies don’t? The big cards service multiple marquise clients, but this upstart has edged into their field, amassed a Dream Team Board and executives, boasts lean operations, rapid growth, and a strategy of addressing issues three (low margins) and four (too many partners in the supply chain) that shows vision and growth potential.

Green Dot’s Bank Acquisition Strategy
In February 2010, Green Dot entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a bank holding company and its subsidiary commercial bank, and filed applications with the appropriate federal and state regulators seeking approvals for this transaction. This acquisition is subject to standard closing conditions, including regulatory approval. Once they jump through all the hoops, however, Green Dot will become a bank holding company. This deal is set to close in the second or third quarter of calendar 2010, according to Green Dot’s filing with the SEC.

Becoming a bank allows Green Dot to, (i) offer consumers FDIC-insured transactional accounts, (ii) issue prepaid card and debit card products linked to those transactional accounts, (iii) offer other types of deposit products, such as savings accounts, and (iv) provide settlement services for their reload network. And that value proposition puts them into a multi-billion dollar league of assets under management and earnings potential.

Marketplace of trillions…
Visa Inc. estimates that the U.S. prepaid opportunity, defined as the total dollars spent by the total estimated prepaid card target audience, was $2.03 trillion in 2009.

Green dot’s revenue growth has been truly impressive during these tough times. And the tougher credit becomes in this jobless recovery, the more customers, even legacy banking clients, will flock to the prepaid, no credit history needed, cards, like those provided by Green Dot. Green Dot’s star shines brighter in America’s dark hour, and you couldn’t pick a better time to buy a bank than when they’re all broke.

So there, you have it. Green Dot. My IPO of the Year. With its accelerated revenue growth, A-list team, vertical integration and visionary product line, the company can probably support a more aggressive pricing than the current marketplace is allowing. Provided the general market place doesn’t tank in 2010, IPO investors could be buying in at an attractive price.

Click to access a Debit Card Stock Report Card, which lines up the revenue, debt and more of some of the larger debit/credit card companies, such as Capital One, Discover, MasterCard and VISA. You’ll want to know which company has almost $100 billion in debt and a BBB (with negative outlook) rating from Standard and Poor’s (which is why it continues to be on my Cooling Off List).

Green Dot was added to the Hot News list today. Capital One continues to reside on the Cooling Off List, with a negative outlook warning, from more than one bond-rating agency.

Full Disclosure: Natalie Pace does not own stock or 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 Pace and Prosperity 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 go “all in” on any asset class. 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.

Should You Worry About Bond Funds if Interest Rates Rise?

by Rob Williams, Director of Income Planning, Schwab Center for Financial Research

February 24, 2010

Key points
* Both individual bonds and bond mutual funds will drop in value if interest rates rise.
* Should this concern you if you're invested in bond funds?
* Strategies to consider to stay focused on your investment objectives and manage interest-rate risk.

"Interest rates must rise—it's inevitable. And if they do, bond prices will fall."

Whether you're concerned about the first part of this statement or not, the second part is unquestionably true. A rising-interest-rate climate is not good for bond investments … at least in the short term.

Both individual bonds and bond funds share interest-rate risk—that is, the risk of locking up an investment at a given rate, only to see rates rise. At least with an individual bond, you can re-invest it at the higher, market rate once the bond matures. But the lack of a fixed maturity date on a bond fund increases concern for many bond fund investors.

Whether you're invested in bond funds for income or simply as part of a diversified investment portfolio, what should you do (if anything) if interest rates start to climb? To address this question, we'll look at the components of bond fund returns and how different fund types might perform if rates rise. Then we'll look at a strategy to help you choose bond funds wisely based on your investment horizon.

There are other factors to consider when choosing between bonds or bond funds, when determining how you choose bond sectors and types, and given the impact of credit versus interest-rate risk, but here we'll focus on bond funds and rising interest rates.

The components of bond fund returns
For stock mutual funds, the primary source of investor returns is rising stock prices, translated into a rising net asset value (NAV) and fund share price. Dividends can be meaningful for some fund types, but are secondary for most.

Returns from bond funds, however, come from two sources: interest payments, paid out as fund dividends, and changes in price. Over time, interest payments typically contribute far more to returns than changes in price, at least for most bond funds.

When bond prices rise, total return increases, and when they fall, total return declines. Over time, the ups tend to be balanced out by the declines. But income is always positive, and it's the more reliable part of bond fund returns.

More than 90% of the total return since 1976 generated from a broadly balanced portfolio of US investment-grade Treasury, agency and corporate bonds has come from interest payments as opposed to change in price, as you can see in the table below.

Income drives bond fund returns over time

Source: Barclays Capital. Returns shown are from monthly Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index returns from January 1976 to December 2009. Total return equals income plus change in price with a reinvestment of interest payments.

While price returns varied over that time period depending on interest rates and economic cycle, rising periods tended to be counteracted by periods where prices fell. Over time, interest payments generate the vast majority of returns, especially as fund managers were able to reinvest interest payments and principal at higher rates over time.

Bond funds in a rising-rate environment
But what happens in the shorter term when interest rates rise? Basic bond math tells us that prices will fall if interest rates rise. The longer the maturity, the more severe the drop.

However, this drop in price is not a "realized" loss unless you or the fund manager choose to sell before maturity. Most bonds continue to generate interest payments, and their prices move back toward par at maturity, whether held by you as an individual or in a bond fund.

To gauge the risk in your portfolio, you can follow these simple steps:

• Find a fund's average maturity—on schwab.com, enter a fund's ticker on the Mutual Funds tab under Research, then click on the Portfolio tab. You'll find the average maturity in the lower-left corner, in the Portfolio Overview section. 
• The higher the average maturity, the more impact you'll see if rates change. 
• Today, the average intermediate-term bond fund has an average maturity of seven years (and a duration, for more advanced investors, of 4.5.)

For those familiar with duration, a fund with an average duration of 4.5 will rise 4.5% in value if rates fall 1% and fall 4.5% if rates rise 1%. If they rise 2%, the drop will be roughly 9%, and so on.

After the short-term hit of a change in price, a rising-rate environment will eventually help bond fund investors. As bonds in the fund mature, the fund manager is able to re-invest principal at higher yields as rates rise. These higher rates boost fund income returns, eventually offsetting the drop in price.

The question is, "How long might this take?" If you think you know the answer to this, you can focus on a question you can control: "How long is your investment horizon?"

Here's a hypothetical illustration of "time to recovery," using some very basic assumptions:

"Time to recovery" for a sample intermediate-term fund

Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research. Assumes starting average interest rate of 3.0%, an even 1% increase in rates each year for the first five years, average duration of 4.5 years and reinvestment of interest income. Shows cumulative return, not annualized return or dividend yield. Note: This is meant as an illustration, and won’t represent actual performance for any specific mutual fund. Actual performance will depend on fund management, as well as market conditions.

If you won't need your principal and want income during this holding period, you'll benefit from the higher yields from longer-duration (maturity) funds even if the NAV of the fund falls and recovers over time. (However, you won't benefit from the compounding of reinvested interest/dividends, as shown in the example above). Just don't forget your time horizon and risk tolerance.

Choosing bond funds by duration and your investment horizon
Professional fixed income managers, as well as pension fund and other institutional investors, often use a concept called "immunization" to match their investment horizon to interest risk, no matter the interest-rate environment.

Here's how it could work for you: First, how long before you think you'll need to spend your initial investment—that is, your principal? Might you need it tomorrow? Within the next couple of years? Four years or more, or some longer time horizon?

Essentially, you want to match your fund investments with your time horizons. For principal you might need over the next one to four years, choose short-term bond funds. Money you don't need right away, consider intermediate-term funds. Save longer-term funds only for money you won't be needing for a long time (or avoid them altogether if you'd prefer to avoid the volatility, if rates rise).

We see limited value and higher risks in long-term funds today compared to intermediate-term funds, if you're not truly a long-term investor or want the best trade-off between risk and reward in a low-interest-rate environment. The benefits of a slightly higher rate tend to decline compared to the increased interest-rate risk with maturities much greater than 10 years unless you focus on income and income alone and won't need to sell, or you believe that interest rates will fall.

Match the average maturity¹ of a fund with your investment horizon. Over time, this will match interest-rate risk with higher returns over this targeted investment horizon.

Choose Morningstar bond fund categories based on time horizon

Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research

Keep in mind that we're not talking about when you might need to spend income, if you're an income investor, as opposed to one who doesn't need income today, but reinvests bond fund dividends to maximize total long-term returns over time. You can choose to do either.

The question is principal. When might you need to sell, to cash out principal and realize any loss (or gain) from a bond fund investment? Over a longer time horizon, a fund with a similar horizon should have time to recover any drop in bond prices with higher income if interest rates do rise.

Using Schwab's Fund Select List
For ideas, and the benefit of Schwab Center of Financial Research’s analysis of thousands of funds, clients can look for funds in the Morningstar fund categories referenced above on the Schwab Mutual Fund Select List.

For more help, talk with your Schwab financial consultant, or contact a Fixed Income Specialist at 877-563-7818.

1. Technically speaking, match the duration of a fund with your investment horizon. Duration measures the weighted average of the present value of the cash flows of a fixed income investment. Bonds with higher duration (given equal credit, inflation, and reinvestment risk) generally have greater price volatility than bonds with lower durations.

Important Disclosures
Investors should consider carefully information contained in the prospectus, including investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. You can request a prospectus by calling Schwab at 800-435-4000. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Investment value and return will fluctuate such that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost.

Fixed income investments are subject to various risks, including changes in interest rates, credit quality, market valuations, liquidity, prepayments, corporate events, tax ramifications and other factors. For further details, please contact a Schwab fixed-income specialist.

The information provided here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. 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. Data contained herein from third party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.

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

Save Your Greenbacks—Don’t Fall for Green Energy Scams.

by FINRA.org.

It seems like everybody’s going green these days—even fraudsters. However, the "green" they are after is your money.

FINRA is issuing this Alert to warn investors about green energy investment scams that dangle the promise of large gains from investing in companies purportedly involved in developing or producing alternative, renewable or waste energy products. To avoid putting your portfolio in the red, learn how to spot potential green energy scams and know where to turn for help.

Spotting Potential Green Energy Investment Scams
There are legitimate and not-so-legitimate green energy investments. Like many investment scams, green energy investment pitches may arrive in a variety of packages—from fax, email or text message solicitations to webinars, infomercials, tweets or blog or message board posts. Regardless of how you first hear about them, green energy ploys typically contain classic red flags of fraud.

In particular, fraudsters may try to lure you with very aggressive, optimistic and potentially false and misleading statements or press releases that create unwarranted demand for shares of some small, thinly traded company. The con artists behind the scam can then sell off their shares, leaving investors with worthless stock. This is what’s known as a "pump and dump" fraud.

One solar panel stock, for example, was touted as "set for a 200% gain." A different stock in a China-based wind-power company was extolled as a "one in a million" opportunity that could quickly climb to "51X its current level." In another instance, an investment-related blog praised a company with a hydrogen-based solution, claiming the stock "soared 500% in one week" and suggesting a nexus between federal energy research and the company’s prospects for growth. Specifically, the blogger noted: "The U.S. Government has a hydrogen initiative. Billions are being spent on hydrogen technologies. "[The company] is again at the right place at the right time." And promoters for the stock of a company involved in green patents claimed "it doesn’t make any sense to buy Nokia or Intel as these are stocks will never rise 1,000% or more like [the touted stock] could."

Other fraudsters might use green investing as a fashionable hook for a different type of fraud: a Ponzi scheme, where the scammer uses incoming funds from new investors to pay purported "returns" to earlier stage investors. In one recently filed case, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that promoters of purported eco-friendly investment opportunities lured 300 investors into a $30 million Ponzi scheme, encouraging participants to finance such "green" initiatives of Mantria Corporation as a supposed "carbon negative" housing community in rural Tennessee and a "biochar" charcoal substitute made from organic waste. Investors were falsely promised returns ranging from 17 percent to "hundreds of percent" annually. The scammers encouraged investors attending seminars or online webinars to liquidate their traditional investments such as retirement plans, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Investors also were urged to borrow as much as possible against their home or business so that they could invest in Mantria. But, according the SEC’s complaint, Mantria did not generate any income from which such extraordinary returns could be paid.

How do you spot potential scams and distinguish frauds from legitimate investment opportunities? Rip off tip-offs include:

• Unsolicited communication such as faxes, emails, text messages tweets, and strategically placed "opinions" in blogs and message boards, usually related to a very low-priced stock.
  
  
• Seminars and webinars that use short-term incentives and bonuses, along with aggressive sales tactics, to encourage you to liquidate your current savings and go "all in" on a new investment initiative.
  
  
• Price targets or predications of swift and exponential growth.
  
  
• The use of facts from respected news sources to bolster claims of the size of the market for a new product or technology ("this is a billion dollar market…").
  
  
• Mention of associations with or actions by federal and international governments that bolster a company's product or service ("The President wants hydrogen to be part of the solution for Detroit…").
  
  
• References to actions by well-known companies used to justify growth of the company being touted. When a large oil company launched a "nitrogen-enriched" gas, this was quickly seized upon to validate the business prospects of a touted company, even though there was no direct link between the two.
  
  
• Claims that they’re the next big thing. Companies that, despite having not produced any revenue to date, are purported to have a new technology that will allow it to dominate the energy marketplace. ("Company XYZ will be the Exxon of the 21st century…")
  
  
• Products that are only in the development stages or that claim "working prototypes" but no actual products on the market.
  
  
• Unverifiable claims of enormous energy efficiency.
  
  
• Pressure to invest immediately.

How to Avoid Being Scammed
One sure-fire way to avoid being taken in by an unsolicited recommendation is to ignore it—regardless of how it comes in. Someone claiming to be an unbiased observer—whether in a fax, email, text message or blog post—could very well be a paid promoter or con criminal. Especially online, a single person can use multiple aliases to create the illusion of widespread interest.

To steer clear of potential scams, follow these tips.

• Consider the source. Never rely solely on information you receive in an unsolicited fax, email, text message or tweet—or in a blog post or online thread. It's easy for companies or their promoters to make glorified, unsubstantiated claims about new products, lucrative contracts, or the company's revenue, profits, or future stock price.
  
  
• Always ask: "Why me?" Another tip-off that you're potentially being scammed is that the message is unsolicited, which raises the obvious question: Why would a total stranger tell you about a really great investment opportunity? The answer is that there is no such opportunity. In many scams, those who tout the stock are corporate insiders, paid promoters or substantial shareholders who profit handsomely if the company's stock price goes up.
  
  
• Exercise some skepticism. Scammers are very adept at making their pitches appear real, including the use of slick videos and Web sites. Be extremely wary of any pitch that suggests immediate pay-offs, especially if the investment involves a start-up company or a product or service that is still in development. Even technologies that show promise might be years or decades away from coming to market—let alone turning a profit.
  
  
• Find out where the stock trades. Most unsolicited recommendations involve stocks that cannot meet the listing requirements of a major national exchange, such as The Nasdaq Stock Market or the New York Stock Exchange. Instead, these stocks are usually quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) or in the Pink Sheets. There are important differences between the OTCBB and the Pink Sheets and The Nasdaq Stock Market or a stock exchange. For instance:
• There are no minimum financial and other quantitative standards that must be met by a company to have its securities quoted on the OTCBB or in the Pink Sheets. While OTCBB issuers must remain current in their filings with the SEC or applicable regulatory authority, many Pink Sheet companies have no obligation to file annual or quarterly reports or to publicly disclose current material information.
• Many of the securities quoted on the OTCBB or in the Pink Sheets don't have a liquid market. Instead, they are traded infrequently and can jump up or down in price quickly. This can make it difficult to sell your security later.
  
  
• Read a company's SEC filings, if available. Most public companies file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Check the SEC's EDGAR database to find out whether the company files with the SEC. Read the reports and verify any information you have heard about the company. But remember that the fact that a company has registered its securities or has filed reports with the SEC does not mean that it will be a good investment.
  
  
• Check out the person touting the stock or investment. A legitimate investment salesperson must be properly licensed, and his or her firm must be registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the SEC or a state securities regulator—depending on the type of business the firm conducts. To check the background of a broker, use FINRA BrokerCheck. For an investment adviser, use the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure Web site. Also, be sure to call your state securities regulator. You can find that number in the government section of your local phone book or by contacting the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

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

Additional Resources
- FINRA Investor Alert: Avoiding Investment Scams
- FINRA Investor Alert: Save Your Money and Energy—Don’t Fall for Energy Stock Scams
- SEC Press Release: SEC Charges Promoters of "Green" Investments With Operating $30 Million Ponzi Scheme Based in Denver Area
- SEC Publication: Oil and Gas Scams: Common Red Flags and Steps You Can Take to Protect Yourself
- FINRA Risk Meter\
- FINRA Scam Meter
- Fighting Fraud 101: Smart Tips for Older Investors

To receive the latest Investor Alerts and other important investor information sign up for Investor News.

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. 

Should the Government Try to Stimulate US Exports.

by Dr. Gary S. Becker.

In his blog of February 21, 2010, Richard Posner shows, among other things, the basic impossibility of doubling US exports during the next five years. I consider whether such a policy makes sense, even if it could be achieved. My short answer is that it does not.

In economies that have full employment except during recessions, which describes the American economy, increased exports do not create jobs, any more than building football stadiums creates jobs, although many commentators and businessmen continue to lament the jobs lost to China. What increased exports do under full employment conditions is transfer jobs from producing for domestic consumption and domestic investment to producing for export. The share of American GDP devoted to exports has about doubled during the past 50 years without having any noticeable impact on either the employment or unemployment rates. Part of the reason for this little impact is that imports increased even more rapidly than exports did, but the main answer is that some workers and capital shifted from producing for domestic uses to producing for foreign uses.

Many countries want to increase their exports in good part because of the continuing influence of the old mercantilist tradition that countries should try to accumulate more assets, such as gold. In earlier times, increase in gold reserves equaled the difference between the values of exports and imports. In present times, there is considerable envy of China’s accumulation of over $2 trillion worth of reserves because China exports many more goods and services than it imports. The US and other countries that import much more from China than they export to China have been pressuring China to appreciate its currency in order to encourage Chinese consumers and businesses to import more from other countries, and to reduce imports by other countries of Chinese goods.

I have argued earlier (see my post on our old website for Nov. 23, 2009) that China has been accumulating more reserves that the optimal amount that would promote its own interests. Since China has far more than enough reserves to manage even large fluctuations in its trade balance, the Chinese people would have greater real wealth if its government allows the Yuan to appreciation. An appreciation of its currency would reduce China’s exports and raise its imports.

While China has been hurt by its mercantilist policies, I believe that the US and other developed countries have gained rather than lost from China’s policy of undervaluing its currency. China has exchanged goods produced by hard-working labor, and costly raw materials and capital for paper, like US Treasury bills and bonds, that yield low interest rates. The financial assets that China is accumulating is not yielding much more in the way of income than the mercantilist goal of accumulating zero interest bearing gold in exchange for goods produced by labor, materials, and capital.

A common response to the analysis I just gave is that it is too "economic". It is claimed that from a geo-political view, China has the United States at its mercy due to its large accumulation of US debt. According to this argument, China could threaten to sell these assets, thereby raising interest rates on American debt, and creating chaos in the market for American debt. The truth is just the opposite, for, if anything, the US has China over the barrel. For the US could threaten to inflate away much of the burden of its debt, and thereby greatly reduce the real value of China’s assets. The US could also use the Fed to maintain relatively low interest rates, even though this would likely increase inflation as well.

In fact, while China has very large holdings of US debt, it does not have much leverage on the market for this debt. For one thing, there is little debt of other governments that China would consider good substitutes for its US Treasury bills and bonds. Particularly now, with the major fiscal problems of the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain), EU debt does not seem like an attractive alternative.

Moreover, China in fact has little monopoly power in the market for US government debt. Despite its vast holdings, China has no more than about 10% of the US debt held by the American public or foreign governments. A 10% share of the market for an asset does not provide much control over interest rates on that asset, especially when the asset is part of a much larger worldwide market for governments, private bonds, and equities. China may be willing to take some losses in order to pressure the US in its military relations to Taiwan, and other geo-political areas of conflict. But its threats in the government bond market have little credibility since China would suffer much more than the US would.

I am not claiming that the American government and American consumers have been saving enough. Since the US’ deficit between imports and exports is the mirror image of its deficit on capital accounts with other countries, fiscal deficits have affected the trade balance. For this reason and others, the huge federal deficits during the past couple of years, and also earlier in this decade, are very worrisome, especially if the American debt/GDP ratio continues to rise rapidly during the next few years. However, the basic problem is not US exports, but it is getting the federal government to cut its spending, and to implement policies that increase the rate of growth of the US economy.

About Gary Becker:
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.

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Why Investing in Cars is Perfect for Jay Leno…

by Natalie Pace.

(and owning The Tonight Show and income property is not)…

When you think of Jay Leno -- once you recover from the shock and awe of watching a guy get canned twice by his boss, and end up convincing the company that he really deserves a raise and a promotion -- you can’t help but think of cars. He drives a different car to work every day, and each one is more jaw-dropping than the last. When he’s not hosting the tonight show, chances are he’s wearing jeans, tooling around in his own garage.

Check out Jay Leno’s 1937 Cord 812 Westchester at JayLenosGarage.com

According to Jay’s website, the most special car in the collection is a 1955 Buick. Not only is it the first car Jay purchased, it was the car he came to California in. On top of that, it was also his apartment on wheels. As a struggling comic in Los Angeles, Jay often slept in the car in alleyways next to comedy clubs. He never sold the car and, like all the other cars in his collection, he takes it out for a spin from time to time.

Check out Jay Leno’s “apartment on wheels,” his 1955 Buick Roadmaster at JayLenosGarage.com

But, it isn’t just Jay Leno’s collection of rare rides that is enviable. It is the way that he values things. Even though he has one of the greatest gigs in television history, he still does stand-up comedy, and believes that may be the key to his ranking as the #1 talk show host (previously). Jay lives in a town where the average relationship lasts nine and a half weeks, but has been married to the same woman (Mavis) for 29 years. And his amazing ability to win jobs and squeeze out of tight spots (from sleeping in the car until he achieved success to squeezing back into the seat at The Tonight Show) can inspire us to start winning a few more races in our own life.

So, here is the world of prosperity and abundance, inspired by the words (and mighty jaw) of Jay Leno. (Please note that Jay wasn’t interviewed for this article, I’m just using the public persona Jay Leno as a case study for what you can model in your own life to achieve your own Tonight Show, known as your dream come true living.)

Keys to prosperity and abundance:
Do what you love.
Jay Leno loves standup comedy. In fact, he calls himself "a standup comedian who happens to have a television show." What was Jay’s key to keeping The Tonight Show Number One while he was the host? By testing out his jokes on live audiences. If the joke didn’t work live, it wouldn’t work on TV, according to Jay. While many television hosts and anchors are happy to read teleprompters and have someone else warm up the crowd, Jay is out there working out his own monologue in night clubs and before the show with his television audience. Anyone who has sat in Jay’s studio audience at The Tonight Show knows that Jay Leno loves his job.

Add value.
(Yes: laughter counts, otherwise The Tonight Show wouldn’t be so popular for all of these years!)

In 2004, NBC announced they wanted Conan to take over Jay’s job, and then they asked Jay to do something he thought was crazy (and doomed) – compete with 10:00 p.m. dramas for ratings! From canned to Mission Impossible! Instead of whining and complaining, however, Jay gave it his best shot, and less than a year later, a contrite NBC offered him his old job back. There’s something to be said for bringing a positive attitude to your work and adding value to any task that the team has been assigned (within reason – I can’t make a case for Andrew Young’s "team work" for the John Edwards Presidential bid).

Don’t drown in basic needs
According to Jay, "I live on the money I make as a standup comedian." TV careers are about as long-lasting as athletic careers (average time on top for most is less than two years), so it’s important to develop a Thrive Budget and blueprint that can survive even if a show is canceled. If Jay had set up his life based upon the salary he was making on The Tonight Show, he might have been in financial trouble when he got canned seven months ago and he would have been sweating bullets when they gave him the shaft on the 10:00 show he’d been hosting for less than seven months. It would have been impossible for him to have the positive attitude required to squeeze out of that hole into getting his old job back, if he was worried about financial ruin. (That was quite a coup for anyone to achieve!)

Thrive!
My Thrive Budget (outlined in You Vs. Wall Street) places more emphasis on investing, education, charity and fun, than it does on drowning in bills like housing, cars, insurance and food. Since Jay "lives" on the money he makes as a standup comic, he has a lot more dough to have fun and invest. And that could be worth far more than what he makes on The Tonight Show, believe it or not. His website lists 192 cars, 4 aircraft and 42 motorcycles. Many of the cars are worth over $1 million each. He is so good at selecting, investing in and restoring cars that Mattel has the Jay Leno Collection for Hot Wheels. In fact, Jay’s collection is likely to become a museum one day. He and his three mechanics have collected and restored everything from a 1906 Baker electric car and 1906 Stanley Steamer to a Monteverde and Bugatti, to electric cars and hybrids.

Check out Jay Leno driving his Bugatti Veyron on JayLenosGarage.com

Jay’s cars serve two purposes: they are his investments and his fun, too. And because he’s a mechanic who likes to restore old cars, he has a significant edge on some person who just thinks this or that old car looks kinda cool and might make him a million bucks in a few years. That’s why investing in cars is something that works great for Jay Leno – he’s an expert in the field!

So, how can you find out what you’re an expert in, so that you can start profiting from your passions, too? Believe it or not, it all begins in limiting the money you put out for basic needs, and by not getting caught up in the greed game – doing something just because you think it will get you rich quick. (Those who have friends who were caught up in Real Estate Fever a few years ago know what I’m talking about.)

Case in point: Why doesn’t Jay own The Tonight Show (like Oprah owns her show) or income property, instead of cars
What does Jay Leno know and love? Standup comedy and cars. He certainly knows a thing or two about creating a #1 hit, but he never pushed to own The Tonight Show for the same reason he never purchased income property. It’s just not his passion. He’s not interested in becoming a boss or a landlord. As Leno said to Oprah, during his January 28, 2010 interview, "I like to come to work. I love being a highly paid employee."

By focusing on his passions and areas that he knows a thing or two about (standup comedy and cars), Jay Leno has amassed quite a legacy, regained his TV show, has two garages full of rare, valuable rides, a beautiful, loyal wife and plenty of dough!

You Vs. Wall Street provides you with the details, the tools and the information you need to start turning your passions into profits, too. In fact, chapter eight, outlines The Thrive Budget, which is designed to help you get out of the Buried in Your Bills Budget and into the Dream Come True Living Plan. Once you learn how to address the big ticket spending in your life and get that under control, and start investing in the things that make life worth living, your life will shift dramatically, immediately.

As Jay Leno says, "TV is not fair." The network can give you a show and then cancel it in a few months, leaving you high and dry, even if you have relocated your entire family to work on the show (like Conan O’Brien did). Neither is life "fair." And yet, some people, like Jay Leno, manage to drive right through their darkest moments and right back on Easy Street time and again – even if it requires sleeping in their car once in awhile. By practicing some of the tips Jay uses, you can become the star of on the stage of your life, too.

Join me on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. PT, where we’ll discuss how you can turn your own passions into profits. Get call-in information at BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace.

Jay Leno returns to The Tonight Show on Monday, March 1, 2010. Will he regain the #1 late night slot for NBC, above the current Late Night King, David Letterman?

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and host of the Pace and Prosperity 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.

The Blessings of Smallness.

by Chellie Campbell, author of The Wealthy Spirit and Zero to Zillionaire.

There are great blessings in being small. Besides being more comfortable with a smaller level of risk, I know what the difference is between speaking to groups of twelve and speaking to groups of hundreds or thousands. When I speak to large groups, it is a performance. It is like an actor’s performance in a play. There is communication, but it is on a different level. Often, the audience is in the dark, and the spotlight in my eyes means I can’t see them. I hear them when they laugh at my jokes, and I feel the energy when they’re with me emotionally. I like the applause and it’s certainly a big thrill when I get a standing ovation.

But those benefits would not sustain me over the long haul. The experience is, in the end, impersonal. If I have inspired or motivated someone to change their life, I don’t know about it. I don’t hear the stories of the people in the audience. I think that is why performing bored me during a long run. The part of acting I enjoyed most was the rehearsal period. That’s when the actors, director, and production team invented the show, worked out bits of business, and tried different approaches. That was swimming in the creative current, catching the flow of the piece and bouncing along on the raft with the other artists.

The reason I’ve been able to teach my workshops for over fifteen years without losing interest or becoming bored, is because of the individual participants who share their stories with me and allow me to participate with them in shaping their lives. I learn from them as much as they learn from me. It is interactive. It is creative. It is personal. That is what is fulfilling and fun for me.

Staying small means I continue to have the personal interaction I want, and freedom, too. I can structure my life so that work is more part-time and I have more time off to read, travel and play. As I get more successful, I can add a few more people in the workshops. Once the current session is filled up to capacity, I can fill up future workshops. Perhaps one day they could be filled up for six months or a year in advance. Then I would only have to show up to teach the classes and could lighten up on all the other tasks like networking, enrollment calls, etc.

I don’t do one-on-one coaching, because I determined that the more successful I got, the more hours would be filled up with coaching sessions, and then I would run out of time and have a waiting list. And I’d be working 40-50 hours a week. That isn’t my model for success because although it meets the income goals, it doesn’t meet the life goals. My life goal has to include more free time for me—not more time devoted to the business. Not more calls and more networking and more pushing to get bigger venues filled to pay more salaries and more rent for more space and more phones and more personnel to answer them and and and & help!

This work model means I work fewer hours as I get more successful, instead of more hours. I like that—how about you? But my goals don’t fit everyone. There are no one-size-fits-all goals.

My friends and clients have said to me, "Chellie, you could have a television show, too!" I always say, "No, thanks!" I don’t want to have my own show. I want to appear on someone else’s show. Dr. Phil had a once-a-week gig on Oprah for two years. That was a perfect set-up in my opinion. He has his own show now, and I’m glad for him, if that’s what he wants. But to me, that just looks like too much work. What good is a lot more money and fame if you don’t have time off to enjoy it?

It was the same when I was acting. I always liked the second lead parts—the funny, dancing lead—better than the leading lady roles. I’d much rather play feisty Ado Annie than lovelorn Laurie in Oklahoma, or perky Gladys in The Pajama Game rather than the soppy love interest. Once in summer stock, a director wanted to cast me as Wendy in Peter Pan. He sought me out and announced his casting decision to me happily, thinking I’d be delighted since Wendy was a leading role. "Yuck," I said. "Can’t I do Tiger Lily instead? Wendy’s on stage all the time and doesn’t even have a song, and Tiger Lily has two!" He was very surprised by that, but thankfully, he let me have my way. I had fun, got a lot of attention, and didn’t have to work too hard. "Ug-a-wug-WAH!"

The lesson is to know what you want so you can pick the path that will lead you there. Don’t be blinded by the glitter of the wrappings. Look within the box at the real present inside the package. Then decide if that’s what you really want. It doesn’t matter if everyone else thinks that’s the best goal in the world, if getting it won’t make you happy or fulfilled. And it doesn’t matter if everyone else thinks your goal is crazy, either. Do you think Marta’s friends and family thought it was a fine idea for her to buy a theater in a ghost town and paint an audience on the walls of it to perform for? Your goal is your goal. You don’t have to answer to anyone else about whether it’s the right goal or the best goal. It’s your goal, and that’s all that counts.

To be fair, there is a downside to being small. Some people may discount you, pay you no attention, think you’d be bigger if you could be, think you’re a failure, and chide you for not honoring the adage "Go big or go home."

Let them. Who cares if they don’t understand you? Let them discover for themselves that contentment can be found in small things; that your mom was right when she told you that big presents often come in small packages. Zillionaires can be big or small. It all depends on whether or not you are being true to your inner goals. Here is the one-question test: Are you happy?

About Chellie:
Chellie Campbell is the creator of the popular Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops now taught by certified Coaches throughout the US and Australia. Chellie is the author of The Wealthy Spirit and Zero to Zillionaire, both published by Sourcebooks, Inc. She is one of Marci Shimoff's "Happy 100" in her NYT bestseller Happy for No Reason, quoted as a "Financial Guru" in James Arthur Ray’s NYT bestseller Harmonic Wealth, and contributed stories to Jack Canfield’s recent books You’ve Got to Read This Book! and Life Lessons from Chicken Soup for the Soul. She is prominently quoted as a financial expert in The Los Angeles Times, Pink, Good Housekeeping, Lifetime, Essence, Woman’s World and more than 50 popular books. For "30 Days to a Wealthy Spirit" daily inspirational emails and other information, visit her web site www.Chellie.com.

From Debt to Wealth Consciousness.

by Natalie Pace.

11 Ways to Improve Your Relationship with Prosperity, Abundance, Income and Investing.

Photo by: Doug Mazell. © 2008. Mazell.com.

1. Tithing to your investing plant first – before you pay any bill -- is the same as fertilizing your fields, so that you have a prolific yield – with which you can tithe to charity, have fun, treat your neighbors and have more than enough for your basic needs.

2. The money that you put into your retirement plan is protected from debt collectors and lawsuits, and if you set it up right, it should also be protected from having to pay taxes. (This is what saved O.J. Simpson from living on the streets after the Goldman family won their $33.5 million wrongful death civil suit against him.) Ask your certified financial life partner about IRAs, SEP IRAs, 401Ks, Health Savings Accounts, college savings accounts and more – most of which are tax-protected and the money can be invested in stocks, bonds, T-bills and money markets.

3. If you are investing right—in the markets but also in your education—you will actually get out of debt sooner than if you apportion a larger chunk out of your paycheck to pay down debt. This happens because your assets increase, your debt becomes a smaller percentage and you can then get more favorable terms (eliminating a chunk of interest is the quickest way to reduce your debt). Buy and hold doesn’t work anymore for investing, but Modern Portfolio Theory, investing in emerging markets, avoiding the Bailouts and annual rebalancing has been working great over the last decade, in bull and bear markets. It might sound complicated, but it is easy as a pie chart. Start learning in You Vs. Wall Street, or come to a Get Rich and Enrich Retreat and walk away, after three days, with the wisdom and blueprint that works for the rest of your life.

4. Money is a token of gratitude. When you are grateful for the product or service that someone provides, you extend your thanks to them in the form of a gift called money. So, it carries your heart and your soul in it. And the more you can align where you spend your time and money with your soul’s desires, the richer you will be – not just in dollars and sense, but in those things that money can’t buy. Happiness. Health. A home and neighborhood you love to walk around in. Sanctuary. Sacred union.

5. If you save $4,000 a year for 40 years, at the end you have $160,000. If you invest $4000 a year and that makes a 10% return (what stocks have done over the last 40 years), that investment becomes over $2 million – far more than most people earn… And it’s not rocket science. In fact, it’s easy as a pie chart…

6. Education is the highest correlating factor with income.  If you're feeling stuck in your job, it might be time to increase your knowledge base -- to get that advanced degree or learn a new trade.  

7. It makes sense that surgeons make more than hair stylists, but hair stylists who know how to invest properly can make far more money (while they sleep) than the surgeon...  Consider education, if you are stuck....  Learn from a qualified, gifted teacher with valid, long term credentials. This is true whether you are learning to operate on someone or on your own financial strategy. Grade your guru with rigorous criteria before you sign up for the course.

8. Many people have fear around money. I call it "investing with stomach acid." I touch pleasure points when I talk stocks to titillate the endorphins. Once you come to love prosperity, then you can embody it. You cannot court a healthy relationship with what you despise, fear or are out of alignment with.

9. True wealth is about bringing in more money than you need to pay your bills and buy your coffee, about giving back to charity (because we all share this world, and happy people make better neighbors, business partners and customers), about circulating money (so that it can come back to you), about creating things with like-minded friends and enjoying work so much it feels like play.

10. Here is why the idea of "cutting out a café latte" and saving the two bucks a day is not the best strategy for getting wealthy. That plan is all about deprivation and penny pinching, and completely sidelines the basic principle abundance, which is to think and act every moment as if your wildest dreams were coming true. It is the big ticket items that are keeping you broke. Lean into the Thrive Budget and start living again.

11. Most people LOSE their millions through lavish spending and bad financial advice and most people NEVER MAKE THEIR millions through over-spending and financial ignorance. The same solution works on both ends. Get money smart. Become the architect of your dream life and have a budget centered on thriving.

Here’s to your rich life.

Best.
Natalie

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and host of the Pace and Prosperity 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:

I’m Going to Start Investing Just as Soon as I Pay Off My College Debt!
Signed: Hopeful Grad

Dear Hopeful:

Photo by: Stacie Isabella Turk © 2008. Ribbonhead.com. Stylist: Melody White. Art Direction: Arlene Hylton-Campbell.

It wasn’t hopes that got you through college, it was action and commitment, and it is action and commitment that will launch you into a dream come true life. I know it feels as though your debt is massive right when you graduate, but in truth, the solution is focusing on making the debt a small part of your net worth (by earning and investing). If you focus is on paying off debt, without saving, investing and getting into the Thrive Budget (which places emphasis on keeping your debt and expenses to less than 50% of your income), then you’ll find yourself trapped in a vicious cycle of being buried alive in bills for a long time to come. Getting into the habit of investing is important now.

For instance, since you are so young, you can have a Health Savings Account (a tax protected part of your IRA that can compound annually) that you invest, and this is money that you would be giving away to insurance companies if you didn’t set it up. Money that you put into an IRA equals less money you pay in taxes. So, since it’s not more time or money, there is no good reason to wait to set up these tax-protected accounts!

Consider this:
If you save $4,000 a year for 40 years, at the end you have $160,000. If you invest $4000 a year and that makes a 10% return (what stocks have done over the last 30 years), that investment becomes over $2 million – far more than most people earn. And that’s if you never got a raise or increased your annual contribution. If you "wait to pay off debt," you have, you guessed it, a big, fat goose egg for a net worth.

And investing wisely is not rocket science. In fact, it’s easy as a pie chart. If you work for a company, chances are you are already investing $4,000 or more a year in your 401k. A little time/money in the money education should = success. (Easy as a pie chart investing strategies that work in bull and bear markets are outlined in my book, You Vs. Wall Street.)

Do not wait until you get out of debt to start investing, any more than you’d wait until you graduate from college to start studying. Studying is the pathway to getting a degree and great job; investing is the pathway out of debt.

Consolidate your debt and get on a payment plan, which is consistent with the 50 percent to survive part of the Thrive Budget plan, not more. (If you haven’t read about the Thrive Budget, check out Chapter 8 of You Vs. Wall Street.) The money that you put into your retirement plan is protected from debt collectors and lawsuits, so, this is a very important part of your assets, apart from real estate. (This is what saved O.J. Simpson from living on the streets after the Goldman family won their $33.5 million wrongful death civil suit against him. Certain retirement plans cannot be levied.)

In addition to beautifying your bottom line, if you are investing right—in the markets but also in your continued education of learning to invest wisely—you will actually get out of debt sooner than if you apportion a larger chunk out of your paycheck to pay down debt. How/why? As your net worth and income increase, it becomes much easier to consolidate debt under more favorable terms, reducing the amount you pay in interest and increasing the amount applied to the principal.

Let’s take a windfall scenario where you inherit a million dollars. If you paid off $100,000 in debt right away, your principal is reduced to $900,000 overnight. You become a thousandaire overnight – an undesirable psychological back step. If you invested the money, then your debt could be paid with the first year’s returns (because 10% stock returns is equal to $100,000 of your million). Last year, in 2009, NASDAQ earned 40% gains, meaning your million would be worth $1,400,000. You could pay off $100,000 and be worth $1,300,000, instead of $900,000. (The Dow Jones Industrial Average earned 15%.)

So, within a year you could pay down the entire debt AND be on your way to multi-millionaire status. If the markets return 5% that particular year, pay off the debt in two years, etc. The point is to lean into thriving, not debt consciousness in order to create abundance, prosperity and money while you sleep (instead of money flying out the door because you’re afraid of money).

Don’t worry about having to know everything about which IRA or 401(k) is right for you. This is what the brokerage houses were made for. The brokers are supposed to be up-to-date on all the latest tax-protected accounts, etc. Tax laws and qualified accounts change year to year, so by the time this article is printed, what is available to you could have increased yet again! In 2010, there were IRAs, 401(k)s, SEP IRAs, Roth IRAs, Health Savings Accounts, college funds, trusts, annuities, insurance plans, endowments, foundations and more to choose from. Your Certified Financial Life Partner should be savvy enough to help you determine which plan is right for your specific needs. For additional guidance on the various plans available and their pluses and minuses, check out FINRA.org.

Join me on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace on March 3, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. to discover how you can find the perfect CFP to help you set up your IRA and Health Savings Account. Want to make sure you find a fantastic financial life partner in a business that has a very high turnover rate? Learn the 10 easy questions you can ask to separate the fly-by-nights from the experts.

About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and host of the Pace and Prosperity 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.

Facebook: Protect Your Career From Human Resources Stalkers.

by Staff.

5 Minutes to a Cyber Scrubbed You.

If you haven’t modified your privacy settings on Facebook then you are still vulnerable to old unwanted lovers, fan/stalkers, shysters, scam artists and human resources persons who can freely peruse photos of you partying with your friends (and you know how your friends like to post only the most embarrassing photos of you). So, if you value your ability to get a raise and a promotion, take five to put the kibosh on Facebook stalkers and career killing public viewing of your least finest moments.

How to Update the Privacy Settings on your Facebook account

1. Go to your profile on Facebook
2. Roll over the "Account" link on the upper right hand side
3. Click on Privacy Settings
4. Go through each setting and make sure that ONLY FRIENDS can view your status updates and photos. This means you will be updating your Profile Information, Contact Information, Applications and Websites, Search and your Block List.
5. Don’t become friends with your boss or HR person…

Check What Strangers Can See and Learn About You.

• Go to your profile on Facebook
• Roll over the "Account" link on the upper right hand side
• Click on Privacy Settings
• Click on Search
• Click on Preview my Profile (upper right hand corner)

Double-Check What Strangers Can See and Learn About You.

• Go to Google and enter in your name. Do the same on Yahoo and the other main search engines… Consider becoming a Blogger about something very benign and milk toast if you have too many listings that compromise your image. Blogging every week should bury those problems behind pages and pages of your wisdom…
• Another trick is to use a nickname in your social network sites… One that your boss won’t think is you. With over 300 million using Facebook, there are bound to be dozens, if not hundreds, of people with your name…

Limit what others can post on your wall
Are you getting tired of all of the blessings and hugs and farm animals? Longing for real messages and interaction? You can block others from posting on your wall. (They will still be able to comment on your posts…)

1. Go to your profile on Facebook
2. Roll over the "Account" link on the upper right hand side
3. Click on Privacy Settings
4. Uncheck the box that Allows friends to post on your Wall. (The default setting allows friends to post on your wall.)

Now that you’ve got your social network under control again, here’s wishing you the best in real life – raises, a better job, to get out of that "It’s complicated" status into a meaningful relationship…

Dividends Still Don’t Lie.

by Kelley Wright, Managing Editor, Investment Quality Trends Stock Newsletter.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc. from Dividends Still Don’t Lie.  Copyright (c) 2010 by Kelley Wright.  This book is available at all bookstores, online booksellers and from the Wiley web site at www.wiley.com, or call 1-800-225-5945.

Introduction.
"Life is the best teacher, boy." This was my grandfather's way of saying that the best education is experiential. I am confident he arrived at this knowledge honestly; I know that I did.

I know this to be true as the result of almost three decades of experience as both an advisor and private investor. Experience means you have lost money in the markets, survived, and learned how to invest better. Rest assured that I have a lot of experience.

In 1988, my mentor and predecessor Geraldine Weiss wrote the classic Dividends Don't Lie. That book detailed the dividend-value strategy behind Investment Quality Trends, the highly successful newsletter Geraldine founded and that I now have the privilege to edit. Twenty-two years hence, the investment world has changed dramatically because of computer technology and the Internet. Tremendous amounts of data and information can be gathered, sorted, and analyzed in a matter of minutes. What used to take weeks or months at a library can now be accomplished in an evening; all one needs is a computer and Internet access.

What hasn't changed is the success of the dividend-value strategy for producing consistent gains in the stock market. Despite the advent of new technologies and the ability of investors to access information on an unprecedented basis, our old-school technique of using the dividend yield to identify values in blue chip stocks still outperforms most investment methods on a risk-adjusted basis.

Forty-four years after its inception, Investment Quality Trends continues to focus on combining sound stock selection with a long-term orientation because, over time, the stock market rewards investors who recognize and appreciate good value. In fact, the two greatest assets an investor can have are a system to identify quality and the ability to recognize value.

Although the dividend-value strategy has always had its fair share of detractors, critics and criticism have grown exponentially since the mid 1990s and the advent of alternative investments and the evolution of investment theory. Although the vast majority of these advancements have proven to be abject failures, it is still fashionable in some circles to simply dismiss the dividend-value strategy as an offshoot of the buy-and-hold philosophy.

In the simplest of terms, buy-and-hold is making an investment with no intention of ever selling and expecting financial gains into perpetuity. If detractors of the dividend-value strategy had actually taken the time to objectively study its concepts, they would find a clearly defined selling discipline based on repetitive dividend yield patterns; just one of several critical dimensions that are clearly absent in the buy-and-hold philosophy. Putting this and other fallacies to rest is one of the primary purposes of writing Dividends Still Don't Lie.

We believe the twin pillars of quality and value provide an investment foundation that takes much of the risk and anxiety out of investing in the stock market. We further believe that protecting principal while realizing a tangible return on investment from dividends makes perfect common sense, yet both are routinely dismissed as archaic. To be sure, disagreements among market participants are a requisite element for a properly functioning market, however, disagreements can devolve to a degree of dismissive hubris that allows for the type of irrational exuberance that brought us the worst bear market since the Great Crash of 1929. Interestingly, the current bear market has validated that our thought to be archaic beliefs cannot only survive, but prosper, in virtually any investment climate.

Well into our fifth decade in publication, Investment Quality Trends remains relentless in the pursuit of identifying value in the stock market and in understanding the myriad factors that influence stock prices each day. While this is a fascinating quest, it is not easy, nor are we always right. Our track record of success has been consistently sufficient, however, to affirm we are on the right path.

Although advances in technology provide investors access to more data and information than at any point in history, human nature has remained relatively unchanged since the Garden of Eden. This is to say that having more data and information has not cured the human propensity for being easily seduced by myths and misinformation, which results in missed opportunities and valuable compounding time. Investing is a business and should be treated as such. If you want to gamble, go to Las Vegas. If you have issues that need to be worked out, get a therapist. If you want to be successful in the stock market, learn how to identify quality businesses that offer historic value and then make the most efficient use of your resources.

This book is a short read by design. The game plan outlined here is based on the fact that a stock's underlying value is in its dividends, not in its earnings or in its prospects for capital gains. More than four decades of research have shown that blue-chip companies, those with long records of consistent, competent performance, are far more predictable than are upstarts or less-established companies with erratic records of earnings and dividend payments. In short, the dividend-value strategy is a proven, commonsense approach that has ultimately led to long-term results.

Although the volume may be light, the content is heavy. With all due respect to the Nobel laureates in economics and finance, the sheepskin isn't required to be a successful investor. I would suggest that you would do better to mind a good dose of mom's common sense and a little discipline. If you feel like it's necessary to do some heavy mathematical and economic lifting to get your money's worth I can steer you in that direction, but you'll probably get confused and frustrated trying to implement some esoteric investment strategy you'll never understand. Don't be intimidated into thinking simplicity doesn't work.

Most investors don't lose money in the markets because they're stupid; they lose money because they haven't put in the time and do not understand risk. If you can learn to think through your actions before you take them, you are well on your way to reaching your financial goals.

Lastly, investing is as much about perception and perspective as it is methods and technique. If your gut reaction to an event or situation is that something isn't right, for gosh sakes pay attention to it! "Opportunity," Geraldine says, "is like a streetcar; another one will come along soon.

Have a question about how to navigate the bailouts and profit from Wall Street's Blue Chips? Join Kelley Wright on BlogTalkRadio on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. PT. This is a call-in show, so be sure to write down your questions and join us on-air! Go to BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace for call-in information."

Kelley Wright’s stock newsletter, IQTrends.com, has been outperforming its peers for decades, with Put 9.4% risk-adjusted returns on Wall Street for the past 20 years, according to Hulbert’s Financial Digest. To subscribe, go to IQTrends.com.

Stock Market Secrets Your Broker Isn’t Sharing.

by Natalie Pace.

Includes my Hot News on Cool Stocks List.

March 1, 2010

General Stock Market Performance

Wall Street Highs/Lows in the New Millennium:

Compare those returns to the returns of stocks, real estate, bonds, Treasury bills and gold over the last 30 years.

Market Update:

Photo by: Stacie Isabella Turk © 2008. Ribbonhead.com. Stylist: Melody White. Art Direction: Arlene Hylton-Campbell.

Now that you know the true performance of each asset, never be fooled again by salesmen who true to shave off

years here and there to exhibit superior returns and help them to sell you into their wares. This is how people were suckered into the real estate bust and the DOT COM bust before that.

In the real estate heyday, few mortgage and real estate brokers were telling their clients that prices were unsustainably high. Instead, they touted the phenomenal returns of only a few years to seduce in naïve buyers. Those who purchased real estate in 2006, have, on average, seen the value of their assets decline, by 24% or more. In some cities, like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Southern California and Florida, the declines have been 50% or more.

During the stock market heyday of early October 2007, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average cracked through 14,000, few brokers were telling their clients just how high debt levels and price to earnings ratios were. Instead, they were touting gains of the markets, to help them do their job – which is to sell stocks. Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is still down 27% from the high of 14,164 set on October 9, 2007. And the most optimistic forecasts call for only "slow growth." (Pessimistic forecasts and historical trends peg 2010 as a challenging year. See below for more details.)

As you see in the chart on 10-year returns, the stock market has lost money over the last decade. If you think back to the New Economy, the commodities and building fever of 2004-2006 and clean energy heyday of 2007, you’ll remember that the market also had numerous large boom periods, earning savvy investors superior gains. So, if you were properly diversified (so that you could see and capture your gains), were invested in emerging industries, were underweighting the Bailouts and were rebalancing annually, you’d have made a lot of money. NASDAQ made 40% last year. That’s 40 cents on the dollar.

Historical Trends…
Why doesn’t Buy and Hold work anymore? Because we are in a slow growth economy that is fueled by free, easy (Federal Reserve policy) money, which creates boom/bust cycles. Over the long term, growth is anemic at best, but there is money to be made cyclically, especially in hot industries. Additionally, over the last decade, the stock market has moved from institutional investor driven to hedge fund manager driven, which has changed all of the seasonal patterns and has created day-to-day turbulence, as well.

Who Killed the Santa Rally?
As you can see in the below chart, the Santa Rally is no longer where the majority of the market gains are made. Why? A big culprit is "Redemption Day," November 15^th of every year, when hedge fund investors can choose to exit the fund they are in. If there are too many requests and not enough gains, hedge fund managers will have to sell during that period to meet their obligations. Below are just a few of the market trends that have shifted in the last decade…

SEASONAL TRENDS:

1. Top Performing Month: Used to be January. For the last ten years, on average, January has been one of the worst performing months. April became the best performing month (presumably when good salesmen convince their clients to invest more).
2. Best Quarter: Used to be the Santa Rally, November through the end of January, where 50% of the market gains were run up. The best quarter over the last decade has been March, April and May.
3. Worst Performing Months: Used to be September and October. (October is responsible for the worst days in market history, including Black Monday in 1987 and the Great Depression.) The worst performers for the last decade are October, February, January and June, in that order.
4. Market Volatility: Over the last decade, the S&P lost money -- -0.95% annually, according to Morningstar. However, the volatility is enormous month to month and particularly, quarter to quarter, meaning that some managers are making money by taking their profits early and often – another hedge fund strategy.

Source: Standard and Poor’s and NataliePace.com. © 2010

ELECTION YEAR TRENDS:

1. Over the last decade, on average, the 2^nd year after an election has been a negative year for the stock markets. Over the last forty years, the second year of a presidential term has been the worst performing year in the election year cycle. 2010 is the second year after an election year.
2. Pre-Election Years are still the top performing years of the election year cycle – by far. Pre-election years have earned 17% gains on average (annualized) over the last decade and 22% for the last 40 years.

Source: Standard and Poor’s and NataliePace.com. © 2010

So what does this all mean for investors?
The rules of yesteryear have been turned upside down, largely because there are now trillions of hedge fund dollars in the stock marketplace with a mandate to make returns no matter what (and are not regulated by the SEC in the process). Institutional managers (those who manage your 401K and the brokerage funds you might own in your IRA) have very strict guidelines on what they can and cannot do in the fund and when they can or cannot do it. Institutional managers are heavily regulated and must file regular reports with the SEC.

In other words, it’s not really your "broker’s" fault and s/he may not even have access to all of the data, which I have just crunched and you are now reading. Beyond that, many brokerages are still set up on a sales/commission basis, meaning that the emphasis is on sales. The CFP’s paycheck, in most cases, is reliant on them being able to sell you as many funds as possible. (FYI: Many smart CFPs, managers and investment bankers are attending my retreats to learn how to better service their clients, so there are great money managers out there!)

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 (or hedge fund rollercoaster rides). Rita reported to me a few days ago, "Thanks to the strategies I learned at your retreats, my gains were 39% for 2009." Compare that to the gains of the leading Blue Chip Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, of just 15%, to see just what an amazing feat Rita pulled off – earning almost 40 cents on the dollar, which is over 2 and a half times as much as the DJIA!

Rita is not the only one to have outstanding market gains in the recession. Groups like the Green Goddess Investment Club reported 48% gains between 2008 and 2009, using my strategies. "With the valuable guidance of our mentor Natalie Pace we outperformed the bear market with the extraordinary result of 48% GAINS!!!!!!"  the founding Green Goddess President, Cindy Ciscowski reported. 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 the retreat in the first week.

Whether you are a conscious CFP wanting to perform better for your clients or an individual wanting to gain control of your assets, 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 can put this plan to work, if you join me for 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.

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) is 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.

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. 90 positions listed below – 83% -- 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 eighteen 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 
6. 2008 Recession (Get Safe)

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.

Second Estimate GDP growth rates for 4Q 2009 were 5.9%, 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 recession began in 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.

Final Estimate GDP growth rates for 4Q 2009 will be released on March 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. If the positive 5.9% 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 2008,140 in 2009, and 20 (as of Feb. 25, 2010) so far this year, 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 Statement of the January 26-27, 2010 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! This month is a fun month. What’s your favorite film that is nominated for an Academy Award? Favorite actress? Song?

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 March 4, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. CET. (March 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.
American Superconductor (AMSC)
Green Dot (IPO, not trading publicly yet)
Sunpower (SPWRA)

Profit-Taking (Take your profits early and often):
Hoku Scientific (HOKU) +15%
LDK Solar (LDK) +25%
U.S. Gold (UXG) +538%

DELETIONS (Take your profits early and often):
None

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:
None

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:
None

Recent Deletions:
Maxwell Labs (MXWL). Moved to Cooling Off list on 1.11.10.
Toyota Motor Company (TM). Moved to Cooling Off list on 2.12.10.

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):
None

(Why buck the trend? For the last 10 years, March-May have been positive months…)

DELETIONS:
None

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:

Play the Billionaire Game. Attend a Get Rich and Enrich Retreat. Celebrate International Woman’s Day. Tap Into Dream Come True Living with opportunities for education and enrichment 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.

UNIFEM Report on Women
Monday, March 1st, 2010
March 1-12. Special Commission reports on women’s rights in the political, economic, civil, social and educational fields and also addresses problems affecting women that require immediate attention.

Global Green Pre-Oscar Party
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
8:00PM through 10:00PM
Benefitting Global Green USA and it’s national initiatives to fight climate change by creating healthy green homes, schools, and communities. Greener cities for a cooler planet. Confirmed guests include James Cameron, Salma Hayek and Orlando Bloom.

Finding a Great Broker. Call-in Radio show
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
9:00AM through 9:30AM PT
Want to make sure you find a saint and not a shyster? A fantastic financial life partner, instead of a fair weather scam artist? Learn the 10 easy questions you can ask to separate the fly-by-nights from the experts.

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.

International Women's Day
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Women and men united to end violence against women and girls. A UN event. Celebrate the goddesses in your life! Create an activity or link to one of the hundreds of events that are going on worldwide.

Blue Chips King on BlogTalkRadio.com
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
9:00AM through 9:30AM PT
Investment Quality Trends has been a top-ranked Blue Chip stock newsletter for over four decades. Join Managing Editor, Kelley Wright, the author of the new book, Dividends Still Don't Lie, to learn how to navigate the bailouts and profit from Wall Street's Blue Chips.

FOMC Meeting
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
8:00AM through 5:00PM ET
The Federal Reserve Board governors meet to determine how to fix the economy.

Profit From Your Passions. Radio Show
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
9:00AM through 9:30AM PT
Jay Leno has amassed a collection of cars. Donald Trump has his prime real estate. What's your passion? Learn how to turn what you love into a stunningly beautiful bottom line.

Play the Billionaire Game, Pacific Palisades, CA
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
7:30PM through 9:00PM PT
Natalie Pace will lead a fun, interactive, visioning game that asks (and answers) the question, "How would you live if you had all the money in the world." Come play with us! Village Books in the Pacific Palisades.

GDP 4Q 2009 report (final)
Friday, March 26th, 2010
8:30AM through 8:45AM ET.
The U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA.gov) releases its final report on GDP growth in the 4th quarter of 2009. Second estimates from the BEA came in at 5.9%. Will the #s hold?

Get Rich and Enrich Retreat, Santa Monica, CA
March 27-29, 2010
You spend hundreds of thousands learning how to earn money. Why not spend a fraction of that learning how to invest? 3 days in a boardroom setting, learning investing directly from Natalie Pace, sets you up for life.

Rare Earths & Light Metals Forum, Perth, AU
Monday, March 29th, 2010
Central meeting place for mining industry professionals, investors, top industry analysts, heads of procurement, government and multinational companies with a stake in rare earths (including lithium).

Get Rich and Enrich Retreat, Santa Monica, CA
April 1-3, 2010
You spend hundreds of thousands learning how to earn money. Why not spend a fraction of that learning how to invest? 3 days in a boardroom setting, learning investing directly from Natalie Pace, sets you up for life. April 1-3, 2010.

Wagner's GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG at LA Opera
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
1:00PM through 5:00PM PT
The Ring's final chapter celebrates the human spirit with unforgettable music that soars to the heights of heroism. Wagner takes you on an incredible journey.

Clinton Global Iniative University Conference, Miami, FL
Friday, April 16th, 2010
This 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 doesn't hurt! You must apply. Act fast.

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