Here's Everything You Need To Know About Obama's New Housing Program, And Why It Could Actually Work


The the surprise of almost no one, a modified HARP program was unveiled today.   The basic differences versus the initial HARP include:

  • Eliminating certain risk-based fees for borrowers who refi into shorter-term mortgages.
  • Removing the current 125% LTV ceiling for fixed rate mortgages backed by Fannie & Freddie.
  • Waiving certain reps & warranties  that lenders commit to in making loans owned by the GSE’s.
  • No need for property appraisals when a reliable AVM model exists.
  • Extending HARP to year end 2013.

Goal:  Double the impact of the existing HARP program.  Since the beginning of HARP a few years ago, roughly 900k borrowers have refinanced through the program.

When: The lenders are expected to receive instructions by mid November with the likelihood that refi’s begin to take place in the December/January timeframe.

Who is Impacted:  5.5% & 6% pools underperformed the most today after the news was out.  The borrowers in these pools have an approximate rate between 6%-6.5%.  With current coupon 30yr fixed mortgages in the low/mid 4% range, it’s easy to see the incremental benefit to newly eligible participants.

Barriers: The borrower must be current on their payments for at least the last six months in a row, and may have only had 1 late payment in the last year.

Who gets helped:  The major benefits IMO is tackling the issue of reps & warranties, which should cause more aggressive bank participation.  Secondly, borrowers above 125% LTV are now eligible.  These borrowers are obviously in the harder hit areas such as FL, CA, NV etc..

Who gets hurt:  Very simply, holders of premium mortgage bonds will experience a pickup in prepayments.   With 30yr 6’s trading at ~109, bondholders stand to lose 9 cents on the dollar for each dollar of prepayment.  Owners of these pools include banks, pension funds, insurance co’s, and fixed income mutual funds.

Conclusion: Very meaningful steps were taken to eliminate many of the bottlenecks of the original HARP.  If the administration is accurate, nearly 1 million households could benefit from a reduction of ~2% from their mortgage rate ($250/mo on a $200k house). In reality, is this just a net addition of nothing with the bondholders subsidizing this? Arguments can be made in either direction, but early indications show that there are a number of promising aspects of this program.

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RIck Perry Reveals New Tax Plan, And It's A Massive Tax Cut For The Rich


Rick Perry

Texas Gov. Rick Perry just revealed his tax plan in a column on the Wall Street Journal website.

The plan implements 20 percent flat income tax, and lowers the corporate tax rate to 20 percent.

He says his plan would allow families to file their taxes on a postcard "saving up to $483 billion in compliance costs."

The flat tax component is optional — allowing lower-income earners to maintain their existing lower tax rates — sidestepping a key problem with Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan, but not providing lower income Americans much in the way of a new benefits.

The wealthy, who will see their tax rate decrease to 20 percent from some higher percentage, stand to gain the most from the plan. They also benefit from the elimination of the capital gains and estate taxes, neither of which have a significant effect on middle- and lower-income Americans.

The column does not reveal how Perry will pay for the lost federal income, other than promising unspecified spending cuts and a balanced budget amendment.

Here are the details:

  • "The plan starts with giving Americans a choice between a new, flat tax rate of 20% or their current income tax rate. The new flat tax preserves mortgage interest, charitable and state and local tax exemptions for families earning less than $500,000 annually, and it increases the standard deduction to $12,500 for individuals and dependents."
  • Elimination of the estate tax
  • Cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent.
  • Temporarily lower corporate tax rate to 5.25 percent to encourage repatriation.
  • Transition to "territorial" tax system that only taxes in-country income.
  • Eliminates the tax on Social Security benefits
  • Eliminates the capital gains tax

Perry says he wants to immediately repeal the Affordable Care Act, Dodd-Frank and Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. He also calls for balancing the federal budget by 2020 — by passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and capping federal spending to 18 percent of GDP. 

 

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A Quick Look At The Sectors Beating Earnings Expectations


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Companies accounting for more than 40% of the S&P 500's market cap have reported earnings in the past two weeks, and results so far have been solid.

According to UBS research, excluding financials, EPS and revenues have topped consensus estimates by 2% and 1%, respectively. That's smaller than in the past, but supports analysts' views that earnings haven't collapsed just yet.

UBS breaks down by sector how many companies beat, how many missed, and by how much these sectors beat or missed.

Note: The referenced UBS note was published before today's earnings announcement. Slides are ordered by the size of the earnings surprise.

Financials: MISS by 10.7%*

Beats & Misses: 19 beat; 13 miss

Earnings Growth (YoY): -15.6%*

Some Companies That Beat: Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley

Source: UBS

*Excluding Debt Valuation Adjustments and Other Accounting Adjustments

Materials: MISS by 0.4%

Beats & Misses: 4 beat; 2 miss

Earnings Growth (YoY): 16.5%

Some Companies That Beat: Freeport-McMoran, Monsanto

Source: UBS

Telecom: BEAT by 0.6%

Beats & Misses: 1 beat; 0 miss

Earnings Growth (YoY): 7.7%

Company That Beat: Verizon Communications

Source: UBS

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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A Great Stock for New Investors

PepsiCo: A Great Stock for New InvestorsWhat makes a great stock? A great stock is first and foremost a great business: It's profitable and well-run and has excellent prospects for growth over time.

That's the simple list. Obviously, the details behind these broad must-haves are where a company's potential and pitfalls are revealed. And with some businesses, those details can get fiendishly complicated.

But if you're someone who is new to stock investing -- maybe even looking for your very first stock -- you're looking for a slam dunk: a company you've heard of, with a business that's not hard to understand, a great reputation, and a track record that will let you sleep soundly at night -- and most important, those great prospects for growth over the long term.

That sounds like a high bar, but the company I have in mind might be in front of you right now -- or at least, in your kitchen.

A Great Investment Right Under Your Nose

Surely you're familiar with the brands owned by PepsiCo (PEP). Even if you don't have a few cans of Pepsi in your fridge, you probably see PepsiCo products dozens of times each day.

PepsiCo isn't just a soda company. It's a snack-food giant with over a dozen brands that each generate $1 billion or more in annual revenue. We're talking big, big, names, like Doritos, Tropicana, Quaker, Lay's, and Gatorade, in addition to the world-famous Pepsi family of sodas.

Organizationally, the company is divided into six divisions, of which the biggest and most important is snack colossus Frito-Lay. Frito-Lay, with its famous chip brands -- add in Fritos and Cheetos, among others, to the ones mentioned above, massive brands we love even if our waistlines don't -- dominates the U.S. snack market and is showing strong growth overseas.

A Big Consumer Company -- With Surprising Growth

The company's products might seem like entrenched staples here in the U.S., and sometimes that suggests a situation where there's not likely to be much growth over time. That in turn can mean a stock price that doesn't do much growing, either. That's not the story with PepsiCo.

PepsiCo is finding plenty of growth, particularly overseas. Consider: Through the third quarter, volume in the company's snacks businesses is up 7% year-to-date over last year, and 6% in beverages -- and those gains drove a 13% increase in net revenue for the third quarter versus comparable numbers from last year.

That's big growth for an already-giant consumer products company. Better yet, it's pretty typical for PepsiCo, thanks to rock-solid brands and great, steady management. That steady management (and steady profits) means that the company's 3.3% dividend yield is one you can count on.

But there's more to what makes PepsiCo special.

The Importance of the 'Moat'

One of the things that legendary investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) looks for in his investments is something he calls a "wide moat" -- and PepsiCo has a great one. Its brand and distribution channel are hard to beat.

Think about all the little corner convenience stores and gas stations where you see a Pepsi cooler or bags of Doritos and Cheetos by the register: How did they get there? And more to the point from an investment perspective, if you were starting a new company from scratch, how could you compete with that?

You'd need some heavy-duty marketing muscle to start. You'd have to be living in a cave to be unfamiliar with PepsiCo's marketing. The ads and billboards and logos are everywhere.

You'd need an army to get your products where they need to be. That requires a rock-solid distribution system. PepsiCo already has that -- and is making it work even harder. The company has been able to add to its basic soda-pop business with brands like Frito-Lay and Gatorade because those items ride those same trucks to all those big and little stores.

In order for a company to compete with the snack-food behemoth, it would need to make massive investments to build the distribution system and brand awareness that PepsiCo (and Coke) have. That's what's meant by a wide moat: Just as a moat surrounding a castle protects it from attack, barriers to entry like the need to establish brands and distribution systems on a massive scale protect the established players from disruptive newcomers.

A business That's Hard to Disrupt

Of course, no moat is invulnerable. PepsiCo has competitors, like Coca-Cola (KO), Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), and to some extent Kraft Foods (KFT), but that's a small number of big players, and PepsiCo's market position in places like the U.S. is large and stable.

It's certainly possible that PepsiCo's position could erode over time. Forty years ago, General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) had what looked like an unassailable position at the top of the U.S. auto market, just as PepsiCo and Coca-Cola do now in the world of soft drinks. But over time, more nimble competitors with better products were able to overcome those moats and establish themselves as major players in their own right. While Ford and GM are still important players, their positions in the market have eroded.

That said, PepsiCo's management has proven to be very astute, and the company has the resources and market strength to adapt quickly if challenged. I think it's a pretty good long-term bet.

The Upshot: A Great Place to Get Started With Stocks

Long story short, here's a company with a business that's easy to understand; strong, steady growth; products that are known and loved around the world; and a solid dividend that can be reinvested to drive additional growth over time.

What's more, the stock fell from over $70 to around $62 during the recent market volatility. Strong earnings mean it's likely to recover, and that means it's a bit of a bargain right now. If you're looking for a good stock to get started with, you could do a lot worse than to grab some shares of PepsiCo.

At the time of publication, Motley Fool contributor John Rosevear owned shares of Ford and General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of Ford, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Berkshire Hathaway. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Berkshire Hathaway, PepsiCo, General Motors, Ford, and Coca-Cola, as well as creating a diagonal call position in PepsiCo.


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Improve Your Financial Situation With Debt Counselling

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Managing and budgeting your finances can be just straight up daunting and a nightmare. It always seems like more is going out than what's trickling in when it comes to money. As with anything though, and though it's hard to admit, there's always somebody who can manage things more efficiently than you can and that's why there are debt counsellors.

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Natural Gas Fuels Another Acquisition

Sunday's news that Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI  ) was moving to acquire El Paso (NYSE: EP  ) really made my day. Finally, some pipeline news that had nothing to do with the Keystone XL controversy!

The deal
El Paso agreed to be acquired for $38 billion, including debt, and the deal involved all entities for both organizations. That means that it affects unitholders in master limited partnerships Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP  ) and El Paso Pipeline Partners (NYSE: EPB  ) as well.

Under the terms of the deal, El Paso will become a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, which plans to sell off the exploration and production side of that business. The sale of the E&P side will go a long way in reducing the debt Kinder Morgan will take on to fund the purchase in the first place.

Kinder Morgan will then drop down all of El Paso's natural gas pipelines to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and El Paso Pipeline Partners MLP entities over the course of the next few years, so that by 2015, Kinder Morgan will generate almost all of its income from its general partnership interests and its ownership of both units of the two MLPs and shares of Kinder Morgan Management.

America's natural gas pipeline picture
The acquisition will make Kinder Morgan the fourth largest energy company in the country, worth about $94 billion and in charge of 80,000 miles of pipeline. The approximate total natural gas pipeline in the U.S. covers more than 305,000 miles and looks like this:


Source: Energy Information Administration.

Together, the companies will make up roughly a quarter of the total natural gas pipeline mileage running across the country.

The trend at large
Oil and gas mergers tend to be as cyclical as the industry. It's often a lot easier for bigger companies to get through the tough times. When Exxon met Mobil back in 1998, oil was hovering at a now-unfathomable $10 a barrel. The best strategy then was to buy up smaller companies to share costs and increase scale until oil prices rose again.

The price of natural gas in the U.S. has collapsed to below $4, and now companies in that industry are facing the same issues. Many view natural gas as an important and lucrative fuel for the future, and that's precisely why ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) picked up XTO Energy last year and BHP Billiton bought out Petrohawk Energy this year.

Selling off El Paso's E&P unit is just a reminder that with all the acquisitions, there have been plenty of breakups and recouplings in the industry as well. Murphy Oil ditched its refining business onto Valero (NYSE: VLO  ) and Calumet Specialty Products. Marathon Oil got divorced from Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC  ) , but both are keeping the Marathon name. In the future, energy historians will probably need a genealogist to sort everything out.

Going forward
While the board of directors at both Kinder Morgan and El Paso have blessed this deal, it still needs to be approved by shareholders and the regulatory powers that be, in this case the Federal Trade Commission. If everything goes according to plan, the deal will close during the second quarter of next year. In the meantime, don't be surprised to see several more buyouts in the energy arena.

Add Kinder Morgan and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners to My Watchlist.

It's Almost Time to Buy ? A sudden correction and hyper volatility have spooked investors. This is fantastic news. A once-in-a-generation buying opportunity is at hand. Do you know exactly what to buy and how much? Here's a solution.

Follow along as a former hedge fund manager actively manages a $1 million stock portfolio in real time. This is the first and ONLY opportunity this year, by invitation only. Claim your no-obligation invitation ? plus a never-seen report revealing "5 Handpicked Stocks for the Coming Bull Market." It's free to individual investors for a limited time. Enter your email address in the box below and click the button now.

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Why Credit Unions Are a Better Financial Choice For Us Than Big Banks

Credit Unions Make Philosophical, Financial SenseThose occupying Wall Street and other cities -- and those standing in solidarity with them elsewhere -- are disgusted with the status quo. One tactic they're using to get their point across to big business: closing out their accounts at major banks and moving their money to smaller institutions, including credit unions.

Big banks clearly aren't thrilled with customers' money walking out the front door. When a bunch of people tried to close out their accounts at a Manhattan branch of Citigroup's (C) Citibank, many were apparently arrested.

Fear not, though -- that reaction is an aberration. It's still a free country, and you can move your money if you want to. And credit unions are waiting with open arms -- and incentives.

Wooing Customers From Big Banks

With big banks adding new fees or increasing existing fees, credit unions have been able to capitalize on the growing discontent with the financial services behemoths. Bank of America's (BAC) $5 debit-card-fee fiasco alone is responsible for 20% to 50% of the new accounts at some credit unions -- and new accounts have been growing steadily in recent months.

That's because many credit unions are offering cash back or reward points for debit card usage, not fees. There are other perks, too, to get you to move your business. For example, the Co-op Services Credit Union of Michigan has been successfully offering $105 to those who switch to them from a regular bank. And credit unions are reaching out to business customers, too. FDIC data has shown bank business lending shrinking over the past year or so, while credit union commercial lending is growing.

Other Union Benefits

Dollars and cents aren't the only reason people are moving their money to credit unions. The fundamental setup of the system is vastly different from that at big banks.

While a bank is a for-profit business, aiming to maximize earnings for its shareholders, credit unions are nonprofits. While you're simply a customer of a bank, you'll be a member of a credit union, owning the whole thing along with your fellow members.

Many credit unions are on the small side, especially compared to entities such as Wells Fargo (WFC) and Bank of America, with roughly $1.3 trillion and $2.2 trillion in assets, respectively. Credit unions can be large, though, with the biggest one, which serves the U.S. military and Defense Department, sporting close to $40 billion in assets, more than 180 locations, and more than 3 million members. Other credit unions in the top 10 include ones serving State Department employees and Boeing (BA) employees. A credit union doesn't have to be huge to serve you well, though, of course.

Credit unions offer most or all of the services you need from your bank, and they generally charge lower fees, offer higher interest rates for your savings, and lower interest rates for loans. Compare these rates for June, 2011, the most recent data available from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA):


Traditionally, a credit union exists to serve only a specific population of people, such as those who live in a particular defined region, those who work or study at a particular school or company, those who work for the government, etc. But these days, many credit unions serve broader customer bases. Don't assume that the ones near you won't accept you -- ask them. Sometimes you might just need to join an inexpensive nonprofit organization in order to qualify.

When it comes to the downsides of credit unions, there aren't many:

  • They don't typically have a lot of ATMs of their own, but many credit unions are joined into a big network of machines, offering surcharge-free usage.
  • If you're afraid of giving up the FDIC coverage protecting your bank account, know that federal credit unions have their own protection against institutional failure, with the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) insuring accounts up to at least $250,000. (Just be sure that any credit union you consider is among the vast majority covered by the NCUA.)

It's hard to beat the benefits of using a credit union. Consider doing so, whether you want to make a statement and support the Occupy Wall Street movement or you simply want lower fees and better rates. Shop around first, of course, to make sure that switching is a smart move for you.

Learn more:

Longtime Motley Fool contributor Selena Maranjian owns shares of JPMorgan Chase, but she holds no other position in any company mentioned. Click here to see her holdings and a short bio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Citigroup, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America.


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Natural Gas Fuels Another Acquisition

Sunday's news that Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI  ) was moving to acquire El Paso (NYSE: EP  ) really made my day. Finally, some pipeline news that had nothing to do with the Keystone XL controversy!

The deal
El Paso agreed to be acquired for $38 billion, including debt, and the deal involved all entities for both organizations. That means that it affects unitholders in master limited partnerships Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP  ) and El Paso Pipeline Partners (NYSE: EPB  ) as well.

Under the terms of the deal, El Paso will become a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, which plans to sell off the exploration and production side of that business. The sale of the E&P side will go a long way in reducing the debt Kinder Morgan will take on to fund the purchase in the first place.

Kinder Morgan will then drop down all of El Paso's natural gas pipelines to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and El Paso Pipeline Partners MLP entities over the course of the next few years, so that by 2015, Kinder Morgan will generate almost all of its income from its general partnership interests and its ownership of both units of the two MLPs and shares of Kinder Morgan Management.

America's natural gas pipeline picture
The acquisition will make Kinder Morgan the fourth largest energy company in the country, worth about $94 billion and in charge of 80,000 miles of pipeline. The approximate total natural gas pipeline in the U.S. covers more than 305,000 miles and looks like this:


Source: Energy Information Administration.

Together, the companies will make up roughly a quarter of the total natural gas pipeline mileage running across the country.

The trend at large
Oil and gas mergers tend to be as cyclical as the industry. It's often a lot easier for bigger companies to get through the tough times. When Exxon met Mobil back in 1998, oil was hovering at a now-unfathomable $10 a barrel. The best strategy then was to buy up smaller companies to share costs and increase scale until oil prices rose again.

The price of natural gas in the U.S. has collapsed to below $4, and now companies in that industry are facing the same issues. Many view natural gas as an important and lucrative fuel for the future, and that's precisely why ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) picked up XTO Energy last year and BHP Billiton bought out Petrohawk Energy this year.

Selling off El Paso's E&P unit is just a reminder that with all the acquisitions, there have been plenty of breakups and recouplings in the industry as well. Murphy Oil ditched its refining business onto Valero (NYSE: VLO  ) and Calumet Specialty Products. Marathon Oil got divorced from Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC  ) , but both are keeping the Marathon name. In the future, energy historians will probably need a genealogist to sort everything out.

Going forward
While the board of directors at both Kinder Morgan and El Paso have blessed this deal, it still needs to be approved by shareholders and the regulatory powers that be, in this case the Federal Trade Commission. If everything goes according to plan, the deal will close during the second quarter of next year. In the meantime, don't be surprised to see several more buyouts in the energy arena.

Add Kinder Morgan and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners to My Watchlist.

It's Almost Time to Buy ? A sudden correction and hyper volatility have spooked investors. This is fantastic news. A once-in-a-generation buying opportunity is at hand. Do you know exactly what to buy and how much? Here's a solution.

Follow along as a former hedge fund manager actively manages a $1 million stock portfolio in real time. This is the first and ONLY opportunity this year, by invitation only. Claim your no-obligation invitation ? plus a never-seen report revealing "5 Handpicked Stocks for the Coming Bull Market." It's free to individual investors for a limited time. Enter your email address in the box below and click the button now.

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Source: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/10/19/natural-gas-fuels-another-acquisition.aspx

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Steve Jobs On Dying: 'Sometimes I Think It's Like An On-Off Switch. It Turns Off And You're Done.'


steve jobs

60 Minutes devoted 40 minutes to Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs tonight.

The segments included taped excerpts of Isaacson's 40 interviews with Steve over the past several years, the last of which came just before he died.

Isaacson's book goes on sale on Monday. 

Here are some new details:

  • The first device Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made together, before they founded Apple, was a gadget called a "blue-box" that Wozniak developed to hack into phone systems. As soon as Jobs saw the gadget, he thought they could sell it. And they did — they sold about a hundred of them. That device, Steve Jobs said, gave them the idea of starting a company.
  • After dropping out of college, Steve worked briefly at Atari. They gave him the night shift because he had horrible body odor. Steve apparently thought his vegan diet made it so he didn't need to shower or use deodorant.
  • Steve didn't know how to write code or program computers. Steve Wozniak did all that.
  • Shortly after the Apple 2 came out, Steve and Steve were worth $50 million apiece on paper.  Steve Jobs said he "went from not worrying about money because I was poor, to not worrying about money because I had a lot of money."
  • As soon as Apple became worth something, there was a scramble among early employees to get stock options. Steve Jobs was a real hard-ass about who got them and who didn't. He shafted some friends who had begun working for the company when it was still a project in his family's garage.
  • When Steve's first child, Lisa, was born out of wedlock, Steve refused to take responsibility for her. He also refused to pay child support.
  • It was in the early Apple days that Steve's "reality distortion field" came into being. Isaacson says Steve could drive himself by magical thinking. Steve would make crazy demands of employees, some of which they would end up meeting.  Steve believed he was special, chosen, that normal rules didn't apply.  Throughout his life, he continued to display "everyday acts of rebellion," actions that said "I don't succumb to authority."
  • After he was ousted from Apple, Steve sold all his stock and built Next Computer, which failed. He also bought a little company called Pixar from George Lucas for $5 million. It was Pixar that made him a billionaire.
  • When Steve rejoined Apple, it was 90 days from bankruptcy. He quickly fired 3,000 people and launched the "Think Different" campaign. Steve edited the ad copy himself. He put in the phrase, "they changed the world."  He wrote it not as ad copy, Isaacson says. He wrote it as a manifesto.
  • "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."
  • Steve re-imagined and revolutionized 7 industries, including Animation, Personal Computing, Music, Media, Phones, and Retailing.
  • Steve's house in Palo Alto is a normal house on a normal street, a normal family home. He did not want to live "that nutso lavish lifestyle."  He had no live-in help, no entourage.
  • Steve said that after Apple went public, he saw how money changed people. He said that lots of people who got rich thought they had to start being rich. They bought houses, Rolls Royces. Their wives started having plastic surgery.  Steve said "I'm not going to let this money ruin my life."
  • Steve's daughter Lisa, who he had ignored for a decade, moved in with his family as a teenager.
  • Steve's pancreatic cancer was discovered accidentally, in a scan for kidney stones. He refused an operation in favor of alternative therapies. Nine months after the diagnosis, by the time he went forward with the operation, the cancer had spread.
  • Over the next few years, Steve continued to receive secret cancer treatments even though he told people he was cured.
  • Steve's public explanation for his weight loss, a "hormone imbalance," had a tiny kernel of truth to it, but only a kernel.
  • In March 2009, when Steve got a liver transplant in Memphis, the doctors saw that the cancer had spread.
  • Getting sick focused Steve. He focused on doing only what he wanted to do in the time he had left.  He no longer traveled the world. He focused on his family, the things he wanted to do at home. He wanted to make the iPad. He wanted to make an awesome television. "You're born alone, and you're going to die alone," he said. "What exactly is it you have to lose?"
  • In one of their interviews, in Steve's garden in Palo Alto, Isaacson asked Steve whether he believed in God. Isaacson paraphrases Steve as saying, "Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don't.  But ever since I got cancer, I find myself believing a bit more."  Steve went on to explain that this increased faith was in part a hope that when he died, it wouldn't all just end, that there would be some sort of after-life.  "But sometimes I think it's like an on-off switch," he continued. "It just turns off and you're done."  And that's why he didn't put "off" switches on Apple devices.

SEE ALSO: Some Fascinating Facts About Steve Jobs From Walter Isaacson's Biography

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