(StatePoint)

Want to take control of your retirement planning, but don’t know how? You’re not alone. Most Americans want to manage their retirement portfolio on their own, but feel intimidated by the process, a new study reveals. Nearly three-quarters of Americans said they’d love to manage their own retirement portfolio if they had the right knowledge and tools, according to a survey by Jemstep.com, an online investment advisor, and market research group, Harris Interactive. Meanwhile, 67 percent said they think retirement investing is complex and intimidating.

The good news is that planning for your future doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are four things you can do to take control:

• Know how much you have and need: When you’re dieting, it’s helpful to weigh yourself and set a goal weight. Retirement savings works the same way. How much money do you have and what do you need to save for retirement? You can turn to free online tools for help. For example, CNN Money’s online calculator factors in your age, current income and savings to determine what you should be saving yearly to support 80 percent of your pre-retirement income. Visit cgi.money.cnn.com/tools to determine your goals. 

• Create a diversified portfolio: Research shows that the single best thing you can do for your retirement portfolio is to diversify holdings. That means splitting money between different asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, cash and commodities. Each asset class behaves differently under different market conditions. For example, when a recession hits, some asset classes might rise while others fall.  Diversifying means that your portfolio should be more stable. How should you slice the pie? That depends on three things: your tolerance for risk, your goals, and the number of years until retirement. • Select the best investments: Next, you’ll need to pick specific funds for each asset class. You might decide, for example, to put 20 percent of your portfolio in funds that represent the stocks of large, stable companies. Which funds should you choose? When you’re making that choice, you’ll want to look at “fund characteristics,” such as the fees it charges, its historic returns, its volatility, and other factors. If this sounds complex, don’t worry. There are resources that can help. For example, Portfolio Manager, a new service from Jemstep, analyzes your current portfolio, gives you a personalized investment strategy, and offers step-by-step instructions on what to buy and sell to build the ideal portfolio for you. More information is available at Jemstep.com.

• Stay on track: Things change over time. Stocks rise and fall. As they do, the weight of your different asset classes in your portfolio will change. Remember to periodically “rebalance” your portfolio with your diversification goals so you can maintain your target weights. Retirement investing doesn’t have to be complex or intimidating, especially if you have the right tools at your fingertips.

Radio-Television-Film Receives $2 Million to Create Nation’s First 3-D Production Program

 AUSTIN, Texas

The Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin has received a $2.17 million grant from the Moody Foundation to create "UT3D," the first comprehensive 3-D production curriculum in the country. Don Howard, associate professor and production area head in the Department of Radio-Television-Film, will serve as director of the program, which will offer classes to undergraduates beginning in the fall of 2013. Radio-Television-Film graduate Wayne Miller (B.A.,'77), executive producer at the leading Los Angeles-based 3-D film, television and new media studio SD Entertainment, helped envision the program and will help ensure its sustainability as co-chair of the advisory council. "3-D content and technology are headed for a revolution across all platforms," Miller said. "It's imperative to share this new tool kit with future filmmakers so they have the training and experience for the jobs of the future. By providing students an understanding of 3-D technology and hands-on experience with state-of-the-art equipment, The University of Texas at Austin is bound to become the leader in 3-D education." The Moody Foundation grant will be given over a five-year period. Classes will be taught at the Belo Center for New Media and the ACL Live at the Moody Theater in downtown Austin — the recording studio for the PBS television show "Austin City Limits" — where students will use the studio’s 3-D production and performance facility. "We're delighted to support UT3D," said Ross Moody, trustee of the Moody Foundation. "The Moody Foundation's focus on educating the youth of Texas is consistent with funding the establishment of the UT3D curriculum. Students will also gain first-hand experience in 3-D production at the Moody Theater to start their real-world training, and when they graduate, they'll be ahead in the growing medium of 3-D." In addition to receiving leadership from current Radio-Television-Film faculty members, UT3D will draw upon industry professionals — directors, technicians, producers and executives — to mentor students, including the executives and production team from SD Entertainment. Students will produce a range of 3-D content — including plays, sports, documentaries and narrative pieces — and explore recent 3-D innovations, such as "glasses-free" 3-D for television, tablets, cellphones and small display devices. UT3D was also made possible by Tim McClure, GSD&M Advertising co-founder and College of Communication advisory council member, who provided guidance on the creation of the program and will continue to connect the college with industry partners. "This grant represents an overwhelming investment in the College of Communication and Central Texas by the Moody Foundation, a long-time supporter of education and the arts," said Roderick P. Hart, dean of the College of Communication. "The college is also grateful to its community and industry partners and UT3D Director Don Howard, who will prepare our students for the burgeoning 3-D industry." The Moody Foundation is a charitable organization that makes grants primarily in Austin and Dallas, with an emphasis on education, social services, children's needs and community development. The Moody Foundation was created by Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Moody Jr. to benefit in perpetuity present and future generations of Texans.

For more than thirty years, the Texas Artificial Reef program has generally run silent and deep – deep in its positive impact on marine ecosystems, recreational fishing and diving and coastal economies, silent because it’s probably largely unknown to most people. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department scientists hope that will change soon with a major website overhaul and new Facebook page. Since it started in 1990, the Texas Artificial Reef Program has become one of the largest such efforts in the nation, with 68 reef sites in the Gulf of Mexico ranging from 40-to-360 acres in size. The new web pages feature an animation showing how an oil or gas production rig can be turned into an artificial reef. Also new online are a marine species identification page, the latest program news and an interactive map to reef locations. Looking for red snapper? Try the interactive map for some possible offshore hot spots. Got a military vessel or a few hundred tons of concrete you want to donate? The new site tells you how to get started. Artificial reefs personify recycling Texas-style. The program focuses on three types of materials: decommissioned drilling rigs in the Rigs-to-Reefs Program, highway bridge materials and other types of concrete and heavy-gauge steel in the Nearshore Reefing Program, and large marine vessels in the Ships-to-Reefs Program. In waters ranging from 50 to over 300 feet deep, petroleum production platforms (jackets), scrapped concrete culverts, barges and a variety of decommissioned water craft (including, famously, the Texas Clipper) become undersea oases for a wide range of marine species. The Gulf of Mexico teems with thousands of plant and animal species that need hard surfaces to cling to for part of their life cycles. Yet the Gulf floor is mostly flat mud, with almost no naturally occurring reefs. Man-made structures like artificial reefs give invertebrates like barnacles, corals, and sponges the hard surfaces they need to thrive. Energy then flows up the food chain, supporting snapper, grouper, mackerel, shark and other fish species. But it’s not just the fish that benefit. Seven artificial reef sites within nine nautical miles of shore offer nearshore fishing and SCUBA diving opportunities, with more nearshore reefs on the way. The most accessible sites are six to 30 miles from major Gulf ports. The Texas Artificial Reef program is funded through donations from private and corporate partnerships and government grants, not from general tax revenue. Corporate partners in the Rigs-to-Reefs Program donate their post-production rigs, thereby saving substantial costs of moving and dismantling obsolete rigs onshore. The amount of money a company saves varies. Sometimes a company reefs a rig at no savings to itself, while other companies may save upwards of $700,000. Participating companies invest in healthy marine ecology by contributing 50 percent of their cost savings to the artificial reef program. In turn, these dedicated funds go to construct more underwater habitat that supports the commercial fishing industry, diving and sport-fishing tourism and the overall health of the Gulf.