eeling a tad nervous that the laws of gravity will soon hit the stock market? The bulls say keep shoveling your money into the market even though stock prices are well above historic averages relative to corporate profits.

Nobody is suggesting you take up market timing as a hobby. That's a fool's game and there are plenty of fools out there, motley and otherwise. But aren't there some creative alternatives to equities that offer substantial yields - and with less risk than the current market? You bet there are. Here's what some savvy people are investing in as an alternative to stocks:

James Brady is a successful writer whose dismal dalliance with market timing finally persuaded him to do something else with his money. He bailed out of mutual funds just after the crash of '87, got back in at the peak in '89, then pulled out again after the market plummeted at the start of the Gulf War. Instead of the market, Brady has been pre-paying his mortgage. He now owns, free and clear, a handsome cottage on Further Lane in snotty East Hampton, L.I. Brady wasn't considering the savings; he just wanted to have the house paid off, for security's sake. With only a few years remaining on the mortgage, he didn't save a whole lot in interest costs. But he did, in effect, pay himself 8.5 percent on his money - compounded, tax-free.

But if Brady had started pre-paying his mortgage earlier, he could have saved himself enough money to buy both his daughters Chevy Blazers. How come? The amount of interest you save by shortening the term of a mortgage is stunning to most folks.

They mistakenly believe that since mortgage interest is tax deductible, it is somehow a good thing. Let's put that to rest. Sure, a portion of every $100 you pay in interest reduces your taxes. But wouldn't you rather have the whole $100 in the first place?

Let's take a closer look at how much you can actually save by adding to your monthly mortgage payments early in the game. Let's say you have just taken out a $100,000 mortgage for 30 years, at 7.5 percent.

If you add just $25 a month to your regular payments, you will have reduced your total interest tab $3,300 in the first year alone. Why such a high return on your $300? Because your additional $25 per month reduces the principal. Reduce the principal and you reduce the interest and the period of the loan.

There are lots of ways of pre-paying your mortgage without having to live on rice and beans. But budgeting a fixed amount each month is the most popular. The idea has always made sense. Even more now with the new tax law. You might not have to pay any tax at all on profits from the sale of the roof over your head. In fact, a lot of banks and other mortgage lenders are selling pre-payment plans to their customers for $300 or so. But the same lenders are required to accept your pre-payments against principal. Just send in your additional payment; the banks have big enough computers to cope with the math.

Marc Eisenson, author of A Banker's Secret, a book and software package that combs out all the details of pre-paying mortgages, notes that there is only one thing better than paying down your mortgage debt and that's paring down.

Eisenson, who also publishes a newsletter called The Pocket Change Investor, points out that if you send in an extra $25 a month on a $3,800 credit card balance at 17 percent, you'll reduce your payoff period by 27 years and save $5,756 in interest.

A lot of us are carrying much more card debt than we should, longer than we should. Outstanding credit card debt now accounts for 19.9 percent of disposable income. But only 4.1 percent goes into savings.

Commit plastic surgery on your cards if you have to until you work that expensive debt down. Or at least put your cards in a drawer somewhere. Consolidate your debt into one, cheaper card, and then take big whacks at the debt whenever you can.

Incidentally, some lenders may encourage you to take out a home equity loan to pay that credit down. Not a great idea. Sure, you'll have a lower interest rate, and the interest will be deductible, but you will have institutionalized that debt - and will be very tempted to take years to pay it off.

Robert P. Mollenhauer Jr. is a belt-and-suspenders financial planner in New York City who has an ingrained mistrust of the market and a zealot's faith in real estate - as long as it has a positive cash flow. In other words, he buys rental properties that cost less to own and operate than the tenants pay in rent each month. He makes a little each month, and over time, perhaps a great deal more on the sale of the property.

In 1995, Mollenhauer paid $58,000 for a small co-op apartment in the Gramercy Park area; a similar unit just sold for $103,000. In 1997, Mollenhauer paid $145,000 for a one-bedroom flat on Central Park West. Rented at $2,100, Mollenhauer figures he's netting a 25 percent return on his investment - and any future appreciation is gravy. And, of course, the tax bite on any capital gain realized from a future sale is now only subject to 19.8 percent tax instead of 28 percent.

Mollenhauer also owns a vacation home in East Hampton, N.Y. And smart financial planner that he is, he sometimes rents it for two peak weeks each summer, at $3,000 a week or so, and pockets the total rental income. The IRS says anyone can rent out his or her home, up to two weeks a year, and get a free ride. But be careful, renting for longer than that, you run into all kinds of tax snarls.

Buy now, go to school later. Some friends with college-age kids are on the borderline on this one. We all know that college costs have been rising for years at better than the rate of inflation. That annoys parents and students, but doesn't surprise economists. The perceived value of a degree keeps rising, so you can charge more for it. Indeed, college grads make 25 percent a year more than high school grads.

Now the states and some campuses are ripping a page out of the retailers' book. You can buy four years of future education for your little genius at today's prices. Provided you start paying right now on an installment plan. When you consider that college costs have nearly doubled in the past decade, these plans could be a good deal. But there are strings attached and a lot of what-ifs to consider.

The states sanction these plans, which are tax-free as long as the money is used for tuition or room and board. But there are a lot of limitations. In some states, you have to be a resident and commit your child to attending a state university or junior college in that state. In other states, however, you can use the tuition credit you have earned at private, as well as public colleges. And you even get credit for schools out of state.

Florida has a plan that has already signed up 469,000 future Gators and Seminoles and whatevers. If you prepay a total of $6,020 up front for a newborn, class of 2016, he's all set for 160 hours at state universities or junior colleges. Another, 55-month plan will cost you $129 a month. If you want to make monthly payments from the day your budding field goal kicker is in diapers to the day he walks on campus, it will be $50 per month. The state has a Web site that will let you figure out exactly how much a month it would cost you to pre-pay for four-year's tuition, based on your child's age.

At least 18 other states have similar plans which let you lock in college costs at today's prices. Of course, with tuition prepaid, your son or daughter might not be eligible for any financial aid when the time comes. And if he or she doesn't go to school at all, you've made a very bad investment. You get your money back, period, with no interest in most cases. Still, the plans are worth a close look. Some will even let you transfer the prepaid credits to another sibling. Look for a proliferation of these plans.

There are lots of hobbies that are borderline businesses, but only a few which can become nicely profitable if you devote the time to them. And you will presumably have time in your retirement years.

Peter Gilbert is a portfolio manager for one of the largest teachers' pension funds in the United States and frequently visits Australia and South America on his rounds. His portfolios are all in stocks, as is his own retirement portfolio. But he puts his annual bonus into other "retirement plans."

On his travels, he daydreams about becoming some sort of gentleman farmer when he settles permanently into his little spread in Rhode Island in eight or 10 years.

He tried viticulture and planted a couple of acres in grapes. He now makes passable chardonnay and merlot wines, with more coming. But profits will never be in the picture.

He also decided to raise bees - there's a big shortage of bees, experts all agree. But Gilbert has no intention of loading a bunch of hives on a truck and visiting big fruit farms all summer long. (Bee renters who are doing that can make more than $150,000 a year.)

Then Gilbert discovered alpacas. There seems to be an insatiable demand for their fleece, which has given a big boost to alpaca breeding all over the world, including the United States. (It's especially big in the Pacific Northwest.)

Gilbert discovered that alpacas are about half the size of llamas, are native to South America, live to 25 years and weigh 100 to 175 pounds. They come in an assortment of colors, eat a lot of grass, don't require much space or care, are hardy and get sheared once a year. The females (worth more than males) can also deliver offspring (cria) once a year.

The animals are also cheaper to buy in Chile and import yourself than to buy from a rancher in the United States, where prices run from $20,000 to $30,000 per animal. But it isn't easy. It took Gilbert about a year to get his seven animals from Chile, plus 30 days in quarantine.

But Gilbert is already a successful alpaca breeder - whether he likes it or not. One of his females just dropped a cria, and two more are pregnant. Peter figures he could net a profit of about $30,000 if he sold his herd now, but wouldn't dare.

For one thing, he wants to breed them, a nice sideline in retirement. And for another, neither he nor his mate could bear parting with the all-white, baby alpaca they watched being born.

As with any investment in the five figures, whether it's stock or livestock, you need to do your homework to make sure that you don't get fleeced. And don't put every penny in the market.