Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 30, 2013

16

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

 Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 16, 2013 

BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and Techniques


By La Quetta M. Shamblee, MBA


TEACHER KIRA – PROGRESSIVE, 
EFFECTIVE AND IMPRESSIVE

HOW TO BUY A 
SELLER

Every parent with small children can use a helping hand, some practical 
advice about how to help their young ones to deal with conflict and 
tension in a positive manner. Our Parenting Place is one of the great 
local resources that offers fun, interactive classes and workshops for 
children, parents and their families. Co-owner, Kira Solomatova, has 
been at the forefront of the positive parenting movement for more than 
20 years. She is known as “Teacher Kira” to her students and is respected 
for her expertise in early childhood education. She has developed a very 
effective approach to help young children learn how to resolve conflict in 
positive and constructive ways.

She shares her belief that, “We adults often act like judges or enforcers when we intervene to assist two 
or more children with resolving a conflict.” Years of teaching and observing taught her that method 
almost never resolved the problem with the negative behavior and simply resulted in children being 
punished. She began to pay closer attention to the negative behavior and how it was being reinforced 
by adult intervention.

After years of research, she wrote a book for children and parents to capture and share her affirmative 
approach to teach children conflict resolution. “Toby is MY Bear!” is a story about a boy named Sam 
who is learning how to share with classmates at his preschool. Written with open-ended questions, it 
encourages children to brainstorm about how they would resolve the conflict in the story. It makes it 
easy for children to work through the awkwardness and complexities of conflict through a fun story. 

From the time she was seven years old, Kira Solomatova knew she was going to be a teacher as 
she shared school lessons with her playmates in Moscow, Russia. She earned her bachelor’s degree 
before moving to the U.S. in 1990 when her husband got a job at CalTech. She continued her studies 
at Pasadena City College and Pacific Oaks to broaden her knowledge in childhood education and 
instructional theories. She has also completed a series of studies with Resources for Infant Educators 
(RIE), a well-respected, applied teaching philosophy in the field of child development based on 
respect for infants. 

“Progressive, Not Permissive” is the underlying philosophy for educational workshops at Our 
Parenting Place operated by Kira and co-owner, Gilda Moshir. The goal is to “enrich the lives of 
children as well as their support network of families and teachers.” The offer parenting classes to 
address needs up to age 3, hands-on exploration for ages 4 and up, and workshops for teachers. Their 
selection of language, cultural and healthy cooking workshops are shaped by the combined cultural 
experiences of their backgrounds. Kira is Russian and Gilda is Persian.

Obviously this Arcadia resident knows something teaching children. Kira is the proud mother of 
Natalie, who is currently studying rocks and minerals, pursuing a Ph.D. in Geophysics at CalTech at 
the age of 22. I’d say that her approach and results are both effective and impressive.

To learn more about Teacher Kira, visit OurParentingPlace.com

If you're in the market to buy a home, take a counter-intuitive tip and imagine the day you'll be 
selling it. That's right - whether you're a first time buyer, or relocating, this home probably won't 
be your last, so look for features that will pay off when the day comes to move again.

North, south, east or west, the biggest amenity the next buyer will look for is central air conditioning. 
In the Deep South, over 90% of buyers rank central air as critically important, and 
three-quarters of buyers everywhere else put it high on the list.

Another often-overlooked feature is storage. Over half of buyers desire a two-car garage and a 
walk-in closet for the master bedroom. Ample closets and storage space just can't be stressed 
enough.

If at all possible, avoid costly upgrades and offer incentive down the road by purchasing an 
energy efficient home with newer windows, pervasive insulation, and Energy Star appliances. If 
the home is already wired for cable, satellite, and high-speed Internet, so much the better.

Finally, it’s still all about location, location, location. It's the one thing you can't change about 
the home you buy, so look for good schools (even if you don't have children) and proximity to 
shopping and recreation. Just ask your agent about the most popular features in your area and 
take heed!

 
DOLLARS AND ENTS

By Carl Davis, CIMA

FIVE ACTIONS TO BOOST YOUR 
RETIREMENT CONFIDENCE

Recent research* reveals many contradictions in the way Americans are thinking 
about and preparing for their retirement. Not surprising is the fact that the vast 
majority of people nearing retirement want to be happy and healthy during their golden years. Yet 
many feel uncertain about affording the things they need and want in retirement, though they (some 
admittedly) aren’t necessarily taking the steps to help secure a more confident retirement. 

Confidence and preparation go hand-in-hand, and Americans could use a little more of both. The 
data from the survey showed that those who have taken the following five actions are significantly 
more likely to say they feel confident about affording the essential expenses in retirement.

1. Create a plan to cover essential expenses with guaranteed income sources. Determining how 
you will fund your necessary expenses in retirement with guaranteed income sources (such as a CD, 
Social Security or an annuity) can be challenging, but it can also be very beneficial. You can begin 
thinking about this, even if you haven’t yet reached your savings goals.
2. Have a written financial plan. Creating and maintaining a document with a plan for how you 
will fund your short- and long-term goals is important at any stage of your life, but especially as you 
near retirement. Start by putting your debts, assets, savings and lifestyle goals down on paper and 
decide how you’ll fund each goal after you’ve left the workforce. Then come up with a savings strategy 
based on when you plan to retire and how much you’d like to save before then.
3. Factor inflation into retirement planning. The cost of maintaining your lifestyle may increase 
as the rate of inflation rises over time. The loss of purchasing power is a real risk, but understanding 
how it may impact your retirement income is crucial so that you can hedge against it. Consider 
working with a financial professional who can help you calculate possible inflation.
4. Have emergency cash on hand equal to six months of living expenses. This is a key part of 
a financial plan at any age, but an unexpected event such as a divorce, job loss or disability can be 
especially devastating to your finances as you near retirement. Keeping at least three months-worth 
of living expenses in liquid accounts creates a financial cushion that you likely won’t regret having.
5. Calculate how much annual income assets will produce in retirement. This step can be 
complex, but it can also be helpful in determining how much income you will have to fund your 
retirement as time goes by. Having an accurate picture of the income your assets may produce can 
also help you create an annual budget for your retirement.


 While some of these actions may be easier said than done, understanding the steps to a more confident 
retirement is a crucial first step in itself. Preparing for retirement might feel overwhelming, but 
breaking it down into smaller goals can make it seem less intimidating. If you are nearing retirement 
and haven’t done several of these things, consider choosing one or two to focus on. The future may 
always feel a bit uncertain, but proper preparation can lead to increased financial confidence now and 
during your golden years.

* The Retirement Check-In® survey was created by Ameriprise Financial utilizing survey responses 
from 1,000 employed Americans ages 50-70. All respondents have investable assets of at least 
$100,000 (including employer retirement plans, but not real estate) and are planning to retire at some 
point. The survey was commissioned by Ameriprise Financial, Inc. and conducted via telephone 
interviews by Koski research from October 31- November 14, 2012. The survey was conducted 
among a targeted sample of households. Cell phones were approximately 25 percent of the sample. 
The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

Carl H Davis, CIMA®, CRPC® is a Financial Advisor and Vice President with Ameriprise Financial 
Services, Inc. in Los Angeles , CA He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management 
strategies and has been in practice for 36 years. To contact him at 310-954-2566 or via email @ 
carl.h.davis@ampf.com, or at 10880 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90024

Brokerage, investment and financial advisory services are made available through Ameriprise Financial 
Services, Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC. © 2013 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.


6 IDEAS FOR YOUR NEXT EMAIL 
CAMPAIGN

Email marketing is one of the most cost effective ways to reach out to your audience (fans, customers, 
prospects, influencers etc.). Using an email marketing service provider, like Constant Contact, allows 
you to monitor open rates, find out how many opened your email, see who opened it and what 
they clicked. Email marketing works hand-in-hand with social media too. Growing your list of 
permission-based email subscribers should be a continual priority for your business (or non-profit). 
Staying in touch is important.

Here are 6 ideas that you can use to reach out and stay in touch today:

1. Announce your social media presence – let people know how and where they can connect 
with you online and off
2. Offer an exclusive deal or coupon to your email list (but encourage them to share with their 
friends and colleagues)
3. Share your ideas and knowledge - offer tips and tricks on how to make your audience’s life 
easy (Oh by the way…maybe include how your products and services are designed to make life easy 
too)
4. Simply say “hello” and thank people for being part of your business
5. Announce an event – it could be an upcoming sale, a greet and meet, a class, a community 
event, or…
6. Update your audience with industry trends, company happenings, product developments 
and announcements or show them a behind the scenes of what is happening at your business right 
now


Reminding people on a regular basis that you are alive and kicking is important. Using an Email 
marketing service can help you reach your audience with a professional looking communication 
that further promotes your brand. It also provides the reporting tools that can help you measure the 
success of your campaign.

About MJ: MJ and her brother David own HUTdogs, a creative services business that specializes in 
Internet Marketing strategies. They are known for providing valuable information at their Social 
Media and Email Marketing classes. “Like” them on Facebook for trending news in social media, 
internet marketing and other helpful tips, www.facebook.com/hutdogs.

Sign up for their upcoming classes and presentations at: www.hutdogs.com/workshops/schedule 


ANONYMOUS INTERNET 
BROWSING 101


When your browsing the internet no one can tell if you’re a boy or a girl, if you’re wearing pajamas or 
you old high school letter jacket but every site you visit knows where you live. While most folk don’t 
really care about this state of affairs there may be occasions when you’d rather keep your personal 
details to yourself. With a few tweaks there’s a lot you can do to browse the web without revealing 
too many personal details. Every site you visit knows your IP address – the internet address of your 
computer. The sites need this information to know where to send the pages you’ve requested. These 
sites use “cookies” to remember who you are and what you wanted the last time you visited their 
website. Cookies can be used to store login credentials and other session information to customize 
your browsing experience. 

In addition to the sites you’ve visited using cookies to remember you, Ad networks simply love 
cookies and use them to tailor the advertisements that appear in the ad areas of the site you’re viewing 
at the time. Have you ever had the feeling that an ad for a product you’ve viewed seems to follow 
you from page to page? Guess what – that’s not just a feeling; it’s real. Wiping out all stored cookies 
and preventing sites from storing new cookies would, of course, eliminate any possible privacy loss 
through cookies. That’s a bit extreme, though. Some sites can’t even function with cookies disabled. 
But do consider going into your browser’s settings and disabling “third-party cookies.” This prevents 
ad networks from using cookies to track you. 

In order to become truly anonymous on the Internet you’ll have to do a little more than just clear the 
cookies from your computer. Google the words “free secure anonymizing proxy” (no quotes) and 
experiment with the sites that turn up. A secure anonymizing proxy sits between your browser and 
the sites you visit. The site sees only the proxy. 

For a more thorough solution, download and use The Onion Router (TOR). This Open Source tool 
originated in a U.S. Navy project, but now it’s used by all kinds of people worldwide, including 
the hactivist group Anonymous. Anonymous-backed Twitter account @YourAnonNews recently 
posted “Rules #1, #2, #3 and #4 of being #Anonymous - Always, always, always, ALWAYS use Tor.” 

When you surf through TOR, your browser’s data requests take a circuitous route through randomly 
selected TOR servers. All traffic is encrypted except the final connection from a TOR server to the 
actual website. Anyone intercepting a packet along the way won’t learn anything about you or the 
destination website.