UT Informal Classes

Tips from finance instructor Sara Glakas

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:40:00 -0500

How to Avoid 10 of the Most Common Investing Mistakes
Part One

I will never claim that investing is easy. Even so, I firmly believe that everyone can learn how to play a more active role in his or her financial future.

Luckily, the secret to success is often just avoiding some of the mistakes that can cost you a LOT of money. With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of the 10 most common mistakes I see investors make all the time (I have first-hand experience with most of them myself).

Whether you’re new to finance or you’re an experienced investor, sidestepping these 10 pitfalls are almost certain to improve your financial picture:

1. Don’t Succumb to Inertia. It’s easy to procrastinate when it comes to investing. But there’s an old saying that goes, “The best time to plant an apple tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” The magic of compounding – one of investing’s most powerful forces – takes time. So start now.

2. Don’t Forget What Your Money is For. Put yourself at the center of ALL investing decisions and tune out all the talking heads on CNBC. Be more conservative with money you can’t afford to lose. Then use the leftovers for more speculative positions.

3. Don’t Buy Impulsively. It’s way too easy to hit the “buy” button in your brokerage account. Before you do, take some time to review your investment idea. There is plenty of free information available: Morningstar for mutual funds, Seeking Alpha for stocks, and the SEC website (www.sec.gov) for company reports.

I’ll have more of my list for you on Thursday on this blog, and be sure to check out my course at Informal Classes, Investing for Beginners, starting July 9th.

For compliance purposes, I need to make the following disclosures: I’m an independent advisor representative (IAR) with Texas Private Asset Management (TxPAM). Investment advice is offered through Strategic Financial Concepts (SFC). Texas Private Asset Management is a DBA of SFC. I prepared this article as an outside business activity. As such, TxPAM does not review or approve materials presented herein. The opinions expressed are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of TxPAM. Nothing in this article constitutes individualized investment advice. Thank you!

How to Promote Your Business Online

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:01:26 -0500

Trying to figure out how to get your customer base into your store - or onto your website? IC instructor and business coach Regina Anaejionu will show you how to utilize a variety of online tools to spread the word about your company!

For the summer, Regina is teaching two one-session classes, How to Promote Your Business Online and How to Start a Business in Texas. Learn how to create effective blog posts, how to make your posts more visually appealing, what kind of content to share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube, and much more!

In addition to being a fabulous resource herself, Regina provides her students with an immense amount of sources. We always get comments about how great her resources are. In looking through her evals from her first “How to Promote Your Business Online,” there are just multiple comments about how much material she gave out and how helpful it was.

Avail yourself of the opportunity to learn from Regina at her next class on July 11!

Sara Glakas's Investing Classes

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:01:07 -0500

Sara Glakas has offered a couple sessions each of Investing for Women and Investing for Normal People, all this year. Coming up this summer, she’ll be teaching Investing for Beginners.

Here are some of the comments from Sara’s last class:

Class was awesome! Sara made me feel confident that I now have the tools to invest and manage my money. she is a terrific instructor. She is knowledgeable and easy to approach. She has our best interests at heart and motivates us to achieve our goals.

Very interesting, very informative. Sara used a lot of different methods to teach the class - guest speakers, handouts, reading lists. Sara is very enthusiastic, encourages questions. I really looked forward to her class.

Class was great! I learned so much. Sara was really good.

See Sara in action here and don’t miss her next class, Investing for Beginners, starting July 9!

Beginning HTML/CSS

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:01:30 -0500

We’ve been lucky to have freelance graphic designer Greg Hervey teaching Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign for us. (Two of us in the office have taken Photoshop and can now use the program! Amazing what a class will do for you!) Greg graduated from The University of Texas in 1989. He is principal of Mercury Graphics, and has provided creative print and web solutions for companies including 3M, Disney, and Pepsi. He teaches for ACC’s Webmaster Certificate Program and has been teaching at Informal Classes since 1993.

In April, he taught a new class for us, Beginning HTML/CSS. We wanted to share some of the input we got from the students at the end of class.

IC: How was the class overall?

Very informative! Learned quite a bit of coding knowledge.

Great. Learned several new things. Nice broad overview of HTML5/CSS3.

Very informative and useful.

Good pace.

Great, made everything simple/easy to understand and follow.

It was great. Instructor has a lot of knowledge

Take advantage of Greg’s knowledge and sign up for his next HTML class!

Separating Reality from Marketing

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:42:50 -0500

Part of a blog entry on the Paleo diet written by our instructor Deirdre Earls:

[D]on’t forget that a mountain of evidence now makes clear that popular dietary practices like the so-called “Paleo” and Atkins diets can negatively impact long-term health and longevity. Heavy emphasis upon consumption of meat, especially red meat and processed red meat, may create quick weight loss. But it’s also known to contribute to risk of our biggest killer, heart disease. It’s also known to contribute to some of the most common forms of cancer including colon cancer. And now it’s being connected to long-term risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Whereas the “Paleo” diet implies it represents how humans ate for thousands of years, in fact the Paleo Diet, like the Atkins diet, was created by one person. That one person is attached to quite a product line. What they’re not attached to is a body of empirical research backing their claims.

Some of the most reputable public health institutions in the world offer a very different viewpoint of how prehistoric humans ate. And how we can replicate those patterns today to optimize health, longevity, and associated expenses. The University of Michigan ranks #34 in the world for leading publishers of empirical research (which by definition removes subjective opinion and bias). Review of empirical research led their Integrative Medicine Department to publish this Healing Foods Pyramid. As a public health institution rather than an individual with a product line and a hungry ego, the emphasis is on long-term health for all humans regardless of blood type. Although not vegetarian, the obvious emphasis is on plants and plants found whole in nature. This makes sense given that prehistoric humans ate between 100-150 grams per day of fiber, none of which is found in meat. Try just one day of eating 100-150 grams of fiber and see how much meat you still want to chew.

Read her post in its entirety on her blog.

Deirdre’s next session of Let Food Be Your Medicine is taking place a week from tomorrow, on May 29th.

More photography classes coming up!

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:20:00 -0500

We have three photography classes coming up that still have space for enrollments. If you’re wanting to expand your knowledge and boost your skills, check out the following classes!

Digital Photography: Beyond the Basics: Become an expert at camera controls to enhance creativity and expand your photographic vision through good composition, lighting and timing. http://goo.gl/1McPe

Photography: Composition and Light: Study camera and lighting settings that can best enhance your compositions. Learn about the uses of different lenses and the effects of light in detail. http://goo.gl/CZxLW

Digital SLR Photography: More experienced photographers can explore the meanings and relationships between such topics as shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, focal length and depth of field. Gain the confidence to set your camera to “manual” and shoot anything, in any light. http://goo.gl/vbeK1

Zumba!

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:01:18 -0500

Come dance your way into shape in our next ZUMBA® class! Monica Vazquez will be back again starting June 13 with another session of this exciting, exhilarating, and effective fitness system. Whether or not you can dance, you can get a great workout at this “exercise in disguise” class.

In their course evals, our students wrote:

Class was excellent. It is fun and energizing after a long day at work. I look forward to joining again! It is a great way to learn how to dance, too. :-)

Fantastic class. I’m already signed up for May!

This was my first Zumba class. It was great! Monica is awesome! Her fitness encouraged me!

The best review was, “Informal Classes with Zumba = 0.” :-)

England, the North Country

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:29 -0500

Have you been thinking of going to England? Joy Owen is an expert in traveling in northern England and will be teaching her course again on June 8. Here are some of the comments about her February class.

IC: How was class overall?

Great!

Good information - pleasant presentation of N. England

Excellent.

Very good - helpful to have website.

Excellent, lots of info sites, books, videos

Joy was enthusiastic and helpful - good class.

Check out Joy’s next class to help you plan for your trip!

Digital Photography for Beginners with Carlos Austin

Sat, 11 May 2013 10:01:17 -0500

Carlos’s beginning-level digital photography class is one of our most popular classes, year-round. Remarks on his reviews include, “Carlos is engaging and brilliant,” “enjoyed the class very much,” “Carlos loves photography and it shows,” and “Carlos has a great way of giving the class a lot of information without making it overwhelming.

Student Cleta Ernst wrote:

I learned so much from Carlos. I would like to take more classes with him.

Cleta, it’s your lucky day! Carlos has developed a new class for us, called iPhoneography. The first session in June has already sold out, but there is another session available in August. His next beginners class starts June 3, as well!

UT Speaker Series - Word for Word

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:01:17 -0500

Charles di Piazza finished off our spring UT Speaker Series with his class Art and Architecture in Morocco. Want to hear what his students had to say?

IC: How was the class overall?

Quite fascinating! Great class!

Interesting and educational.

We are always looking to improve our program, as well. Here are some comments about IC in response to the question, “What do you like best about Informal Classes?”

Genuine interest (by fellow “students”) in subject area.

IC: Please provide any more comments or a testimonial:

Charles is awesome.

Mr. di Piazza has knowledge and explains his topic with great insight.

Our next UT Speaker Series will start on June 5.

Brian Loflin's Digital Photography-Beyond the Basics

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:01:28 -0500

Brian Loflin (of our fantabulous Nature Photography video) teaches several different photography classes for us - Composition and Light, Macro Photography, Publishing Your Photographs. We asked him to take part in our instructor interview, and we thought we’d share a snippet:

IC: Can you tell us a little bit about your background with photography?

BL: I am a biologist by education. Early on I had the requirement to document my work through photography. That work included producing high magnification images and processing the materials in a traditional darkroom. As they say, it got in my blood. Later, I had many fortunate opportunities to travel around the world photographing people, places and products. Today I am back to the pursuit of natural sciences with my wife, Shirley, through writing, photographing and publishing books through Texas A&M University Press. I have recently completed my third in that series and two others. We also lead nature photography workshops in a variety of locations.

We also wanted to share some of the comments from his last Beyond the Basics class:

Great teacher. The class was very informative -some topics over my head in the last couple classes, but I liked talking about Photoshop too.

Very insightful. Learned basics, advanced techniques, and creative methods. Brian brings professional and creative processes to the classroom.

Brian has more classes scheduled to start in June! Check out his instructor page to find links to all of his upcoming courses.

"Get Hired” Tips for Job Seekers"

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:01:12 -0500

““Get Hired” Tips for Job Seekers”

- Melissa Martinez added this class to our handful of job-seeker class in the spring, and she’s gotten great reviews. We really hope our students find our classes helpful in their lives, and we appreciate that our instructors aim for the same thing. Comments on Melissa’s class:

IC: How was the class overall?

Student Mario Torres said, “Great! Thanks for the jump start and thanks for the great ideas!”

“Good, current info.”

“Great ideas, very helpful. This class gave me a lot of great ideas and new ways to view the job application process.”

It great to hear good things about our classes. Take advantage of Melissa’s knowledge and jumpstart your own job search with her next class on May 21.

Turn your sleuthing into a career!

Wed, 01 May 2013 08:50:20 -0500

"Buy a Home - First Time Homebuyers"

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:01:29 -0500

“Buy a Home - First Time Homebuyers”

- Dawn Rush Dotson took over this class for a long-time IC instructor just this year. We’re glad to have her here teaching the class! Here are some comments from her students from the class last month:

IC: How was the class overall?

Informative.

Smooth and informative. Question friendly.

Very helpful - covered financing and buying process - well-rounded agenda.

Great … informative … Dawn [is] articulate and interesting. Answered questions well, friendly, humorous a plus!

Dawn’s next class will take place next Tuesday, April 30th.

Regina Anaejionu's upcoming classes.

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:01:16 -0500

Regina is one of our newer instructors, but her classes draw a lot of interest! She is the owner of a small business consulting firm and has years of experience helping people become entrepreneurs through easily understood and practical coaching. She has worked with such clients as DiverseArts, The UT Center for African and African American Studies, and singer Eric Moore. Our student, Victoria Simmons, attended Regina’s last class with us and wrote on her evaluation form, “Regina was amazing! Tons of info, well-delivered. Answered questions thoroughly. Great resources.”

Regina has been teaching two classes for us, Build Your Website/Blog and Build Your Business from Scratch. This summer, she’s throwing two new classes into the mix! How to Start a Business in Texas and How to Promote a Business Online are both one-day seminars that will hopefully fit into people’s summer schedules a little easier than multi-week classes. Each course is meeting next Saturday, May 4 for the first time. Be sure to check them out to help you with your small business idea!

Horseback Riding at Informal Classes

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:11:00 -0500

One of our students, Janet, has taken horseback riding several times - 3 times, in fact, I believe in preparation to a trip to Big Bend. Actually, I met her when I took Western Horseback Riding in February, and then noticed her name on subsequent rosters. So, I reached out to her to get her take on the class so I could share with you. Here’s what she said:

The riding lessons are excellent. What I really value, though, is that we don’t just hop on a horse and ride. We saddle the horses before our lesson and groom them afterwards, developing an understanding of how to care for the horse and giving us much more confidence around the horses. That is a piece I haven’t experienced in riding lessons before, and I think it has made a real difference to my improvement and enjoyment of these classes.

Linda at Bear Creek Stables thought it would be cool (and I completely agreed!) to offer a mother/daughter class (and there’s a father/son class coming up in June!). Plus we have all the regular horseback classes coming up, as well: Western, Western Intermediate, and Western Trail.

-Bailey
UT Informal Classes staff

Guitar classes

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:59:00 -0500

Chad Tracy, our guitar teacher (and former Informal Classes course coordinator!), always gets great comments on his guitar classes. Here are some comments from his last Beginning Guitar II class.

Great instructor!

Great teacher. Passionate about subject.

Loved the class!

The class was wonderful and the perfect level of difficulty/music theory for me.

Was a really good class. Learned a lot.

Very good. Learned a lot of music - not just guitar.

Chad is taking the summer off (LUCKY!), but if you’ve always wanted to learn guitar or are just looking for a new way to express yourself, check back with us in July for more guitar classes!

Chocolate is yummy. Or is it?

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:00:32 -0500

From the lowlands of Mexico to the modern chocolate shops of Paris, you will explore the history, techniques, flavors, and socioeconomic power of this food of the gods. Learn to recognize what makes “good” chocolate good! You will compare small batch craft chocolate and commercial chocolates, and graduate from CHOCOLATE 101 with maps, tasting guides, a reading list, and tips for finding, selecting, and purchasing really good chocolate.

A friend of our instructor, Adrienne Newman, teaches a class on chocolate and politics at Harvard. Check out her story here:

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/03/the-dark-side-of-chocolate/

Don’t miss out on our own Chocolate 101, returning on May 14.

Coming back to TCC next week, 4/17! Don’t miss your...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:04:16 -0500

Coming back to TCC next week, 4/17! Don’t miss your chance to register!

leadercast: Don’t forget to sign...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:18:20 -0500

leadercast:

Don’t forget to sign up!

www.utleadercast.eventbrite.com

Love this picture! Plus, LeaderCast is pretty awesome.