Two people paced through a lengthy line outside the business building auditorium and counted up to 40 students.

The next five students would be the last individuals to see four professionals breakdown investing into simple terms, while providing advice and tips.

After 45 students were counted, a line about a hundred long were told the event would be beyond capacity if they let anyone else in.

They were encouraged to sign in for the extra credit and told they might be able to receive a video of the presentation at a later date.

Those that made the cutoff packed in tight on May 1 inside the business building auditorium for a presentation by four leading professionals in the financial world.

Two of the professionals were certified public accountants, and each also served in roles as certified financial planners or as chartered global management accounting.

The four paneled professionals were investment specialist Jacek Holzwieser, CPA and CFP Bryan Hopkins, CPA and CGMA John Schultz, and personal banker Alan Chen.

They covered investing for the first half and then credit for the last half.

Holzwieser gave important advice including to not invest more than you can afford to lose and advised against a common pitfall of new investors.

“If you focus on the long run – the funds that you put in there are really meant for long run – probability is you will make money. But if you just want to put the money in and then you get emotional and scared and you take it out, that’s where people lose a lot of assets,” Holzwieser said.

Schultz also warned to be careful about what you invest in, but broadened the definition.

“Investing is not just stocks, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs, things like that – it’s anything you can get invested in. If someone comes to you and says ‘I want to start a business.’ That’s investing,” Schultz said.

For credit, Chen said that anything over 740 is good and that above 760 is bragging rights to which Hopkins told the audience that his children have scores of 768 and 780 because he had them use a credit card when they were young.

The professionals then went over the delicate balancing of using enough to warrant use and the importance of paying it off immediately to maximize the profitable good credit rewards systems offer.

Students really surprised the organizers with their turnout, and the organizers were surprised that students stayed for the credit section.

The word got out by professors, flyers, class presentations, club presentations, emails, the business building monitor and word of mouth.

Of 85 responses (with some people voting for two or more ways of hearing about the event), 44 percent heard about the event from their professors, 24 percent by flyers and 13 percent from personal in-class presentations by the organizers.

Organized by Alexandra Pinedo and Tawny Fu, alongside help from Vince Nguyen and Vik Chowdhry, the event was previously planned in Founder’s Hall for last fall before a specific bank pulled out and availability was changed.

Pinedo started the event after her own struggle to find information about investing, and worked with her adviser, Brenda Domico, accounting and management department co-chair.

The responses to the event were very positive, and Pinedo and Fu are looking to make the event annual and bring in more professionals.

While Fu will be transferring this year, the project serves as a legacy for the duo – a legacy they will later pass on to their fellow Enactus leaders.