Welcoming in a New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

Note: This was to have posted on New Year's Day. I cannot figure out why it did not, but it is now posted. On Sunday, there will be another new post... hopefully.

On this first day of 2009, I wanted to find something completely "unfinancial" to share with everyone. We all need to take a step back every now and then and look at other things. Now, over the weekend, I will share a brillant article with you, but for today, I wish all of you a very Prosperous, Healthy, and Happy New Year!

As we all marvelled at The Ball last night, I wanted to give you some background on the "New" Times Square New Year's Eve Ball. I hope you enjoy it.

The New Year's Eve Ball

Each year, millions of eyes from all over the world are focused on the sparkling Waterford Crystal Times Square New Year's Eve Ball. At 11:59 p.m., the Ball begins its descent as millions of voices unite to count down the final seconds of the year, and celebrate the beginning of a new year full of hopes, challenges, changes and dreams.

On November 11th, 2008, The co-organizers of New Year’s Eve in Times Square (Times Square Alliance, Countdown Entertainment) unveiled a new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball at a press conference at Hudson Scenic Studio in Yonkers, New York.

The new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball is a 12 foot geodesic sphere, double the size of previous Balls, and weighs 11,875 pounds. Covered in 2,668 Waterford Crystals and powered by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDS, the new Ball is capable of creating a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns producing a spectacular kaleidoscope effect atop One Times Square.

The organizers also announced that the new Ball will become a year-round attraction above Times Square in full public view January through December.

“For one hundred years, the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball has attracted millions of revelers to Times Square on December 31st to celebrate the beginning of the New Year” said Jeff Straus, president of Countdown Entertainment and co-organizer of Times Square New Year’s Eve. “The new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball will be a bright sparkling jewel atop One Times Square entertaining New Yorkers and tourists from around the world not only on December 31, but throughout the year.”

“The New Year’s Eve ball is bigger, better and brighter than ever, just like Times Square itself,” said Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins. “And like Times Square, it’s not afraid to show off. That’s why we’re proudly putting it on display year-round so visitors to the neighborhood can enjoy a true Crossroads of the World icon.”

Read more about the new design from the designers below

History of the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball

Revelers began celebrating New Year's Eve in Times Square as early as 1904, but it was in 1907 that the New Year's Eve Ball made its maiden descent from the flagpole atop One Times Square.

The first New Year's Eve Ball, made of iron and wood and adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. It was built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, and for most of the twentieth century the company he founded, sign maker Artkraft Strauss, was responsible for lowering the ball.

As part of the 1907-1908 festivities, waiters in the fabled "lobster palaces" and other deluxe eateries in hotels surrounding Times Square were supplied with battery-powered top hats emblazoned with the numbers "1908" fashioned of tiny light bulbs. At the stroke of midnight, they all "flipped their lids" and the year on their foreheads lit up in conjunction with the numbers "1908" on the parapet of the Times Tower lighting up to signal the arrival of the new year.

The Ball has been lowered every year since 1907, with the exceptions of 1942 and 1943, when the ceremony was suspended due to the wartime "dimout" of lights in New York City. Nevertheless, the crowds still gathered in Times Square in those years and greeted the New Year with a minute of silence followed by the ringing of chimes from sound trucks parked at the base of the tower - a harkening-back to the earlier celebrations at Trinity Church, where crowds would gather to "ring out the old, ring in the new."

In 1920, a 400 pound ball made entirely of wrought iron replaced the original. In 1955, the iron ball was replaced with an aluminum ball weighing a mere 200 pounds. This aluminum Ball remained unchanged until the 1980s, when red light bulbs and the addition of a green stem converted the Ball into an apple for the "I Love New York" marketing campaign from 1981 until 1988. After seven years, the traditional glowing white Ball with white light bulbs and without the green stem returned to brightly light the sky above Times Square. In 1995, the Ball was upgraded with aluminum skin, rhinestones, strobes, and computer controls, but the aluminum ball was lowered for the last time in 1998.

For Times Square 2000, the millennium celebration at the Crossroads of the World, the New Year's Eve Ball was completely redesigned by Waterford Crystal. The new crystal Ball combined the latest in technology with the most traditional of materials, reminding us of our past as we gazed into the future and the beginning of a new millenium.

The New 2009 Times Square New Year's Eve Ball

WATERFORD CRYSTAL created an exclusive “Let There Be Joy” design for the crystal triangles on the new Ball. Designed and crafted by Waterford artisans in Ireland, “Let There Be Joy” features the design of an angel with arms uplifted welcoming the New Year on each of the 1,728 new crystals. The remaining 960 triangles are last year’s “Let There Be Light” design of a stylized radiating starburst.

"The new 2009 Times Square New Year's Ball represents the perfect blend of time-honored craftsmanship and state of the art technology," says Pete Cheyney, Director of Corporate Communications for Waterford Crystal. "The theme for the Waterford crystals on this year's Ball, "Let There be Joy" reflects our belief that New Year's Eve is a time when happiness and optimism for the future should be at the forefront of everyone's thoughts. We at Waterford consider the Ball to be of our Company's greatest achievements."

PHILIPS LIGHTING provided the new solid state lighting technology for the Ball, resulting in an astounding increase in impact, energy efficiency, and color capabilities. Capable of creating a palette of more than 16 million colors and billions of possible patterns, the 32,256 Philips Luxeon LEDs in this year's Ball represent more than three times the number of LEDS used last year, to deliver a brighter and more beautiful New Year's experience than ever before. And this year’s Ball is 10-20% more energy efficient than last year’s already energy-efficient Ball, consuming only the same amount of energy per hour as it would take to operate two traditional home ovens.

"At Philips Lighting, we are proud to be driving innovative and energy-efficient solutions for the world's broad range of lighting applications - from celebrated landmarks to consumers' homes -- and we're especially delighted to be the official Lighting Partner to the iconic New Year's Eve Ball in Times Square," said Philips Lighting Company Director of Corporate Communications Susan Bloom. "Now bigger in size and incorporating even more powerful and energy-efficient Philips Luxeon LEDs than last year, this year's Ball will deliver a New Year's Eve experience that will be brighter, more beautiful, and more sustainable than ever before."

FOCUS LIGHTING created a spectacular and unique lighting design that utilizes over 3,500 lighting cues to orchestrate the colorful moving patterns of light radiating from the Ball. Theatrical techniques were used to show the beauty of each facet of each individual crystal, making the sparkle visible whether viewed from 5’ away (as members of the press have seen it) or from 500’ when viewed from the streets of Times Square. It is like accenting a performer on a stage.

“We tried to create a beacon of light in the sky over Times Square,” says Paul Gregory, Principal Lighting Designer for Focus Lighting.

The companies listed below also provided essential contributions to the development of the new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball:

E:Cue Lighting Control provided lighting control system
Hudson Scenic Studio provided structural engineering design and development
Landmark Signs assembles and operates the Ball
Lapp Group provided power and control cabling
Lighting Science Group provided the 672 LED modules and technology integration

About "Time-Balls"

The actual notion of a ball "dropping" to signal the passage of time dates back long before New Year's Eve was ever celebrated in Times Square. The first "time-ball" was installed atop England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. This ball would drop at one o'clock every afternoon, allowing the captains of nearby ships to precisely set their chronometers (a vital navigational instrument).

Around 150 public time-balls are believed to have been installed around the world after the success at Greenwich, though few survive and still work. The tradition is carried on today in places like the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, where a time-ball descends from a flagpole at noon each day - and of course, once a year in Times Square, where it marks the stroke of midnight not for a few ships' captains, but for over one billion people watching worldwide.

Source: Times Square Alliance

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

To all of my family, friends, and readers, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

All the best,
Robby Schultz

Thoughts

The past few weeks have been a blur, so I wanted to pass along some of my thoughts on different issues:

• Madoff Comes Clean - I am all about telling the truth in financial matters, but the revelation the Bernie Madoff had a $50 billion Ponzi scam was too much. In a year when investors are already not trusting the stock market, something like this is just plain absurd. The problem here is that Madoff's firm held the money, invested the money, accounted for the money, and sent the statements. He was the advisor and broker-dealer. The SEC just fell asleep here.
• Investing - I have recently heard from some neighbors that were questioning whether to ever invest again. I think that the interesting thing here is that most of them have benefited from the growth of the stock market, and now, they want to change that mind set. When I discussed many items with them - 401(k) investing, stock options, company matching of 401(k) contributions, and the lack of return on money markets and CDs - they suddenly decided that we must indeed still invest in the market, but we must "fix" it.

As someone that loves history, I have gone back through everything that I can find, and the issues of 2008, may indeed end up being a positive. If we go back and look at the problems of the late 70's and early 80's, there was a drastic need of change.

Inflation was absolutely out of control. Fed Chairman Paul Volcker set out to get it back under control by raising interest rates to unheard of levels. The "prime rate" for the best borrowers hit 20% - compare that to 3.25% today. This action killed the economy, but it brought inflation under control, and it helped lead to the "bull market" of the late 80's and 90's. What is interesting here is that this was the last time you could have your money in CD's and actually get a decent rate of return (15%+), but with inflation at 18%, you were still losing money.

The main thing I am trying to point out is that the problems of today should be resolved within a short time period. This is not to say the stock market will go straight up, but if the financial system and economy can be "realigned," the country and world economy should start to be back on track. If you remember my last post, all of the programs that came about after the Great Depression - FDIC, Unemployment, Medicare, Social Security, etc. - were in response to that financial turmoil. These are all things that have now benefited the citizens and economy currently.

It has been a tough year in the markets, but with negatives can come positive adjustments. The housing markets and mortgages will be fixed, the financial system restabilized, the automakers (hopefully) revamped, and a system that will benefit both the free markets and government sectors.

If President Elect Obama does come in and spend money on education, it will be a positive both today in terms of jobs and funding, but additionally in the future with better equipped children. Educators are at the forefront of society literally making a difference day in and day out, and there must be a system in place to allow them to continue to succeed.

I wish your families and you a Safe and Happy Holiday season and a prosperous Happy New Year!

Taking a Step Back

Over the past few months I have talked with many clients and educators about various financial matters. From questions regarding investing to pensions to annuities to savings accounts, and it is from these discussions that I have learned a great deal that I wish to share.

Being an avid history buff, it is interesting to me that the group of people that seem to be least worried about the market fluctuations are those in their late 70's and older. In talking to them, they stress that this is nothing like the "Depression" that is "talked about on the news."

When I ask them what they think, they let me know that things have come full circle. From humble beginnings where family and friends helped each other with the necessities of life to the growth of materialism... and now back to the little things. I think that is sometimes lost on many of us.

The have pointed to the change in government programs from prior to the Great Depression.

• There was not a FDIC guarantee at your bank for the your account. When a bank went under, your account was gone. Now we have $250,000 guarantees at FDIC banks.
• Social Security was non-existent. Now it is an important part of your retirement benefits.
• Medicare/Medicaid was not even a thought until the 1960's.
• Unemployment benefits started in 1935.

While some would argue whether these programs are run efficiently, they are still better than nothing. Imagine waking up tomorrow morning, and finding out your checking and savings accounts are gone. A "run on the bank" was a real and ever present danger until the government backed the banks.

No one event or program will move us from our current economic situation back towards a "normal" growth pattern, but if you look at the various moves by the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury, Bush administration, Congress, and proposals by the soon to be Obama administration, things are in the works. Just the various rumors about the stimulus proposals by Congress for a package that promotes revamping the infrastructure of the U.S. is promising. If it is implemented with speed, it will mean immediate jobs throughout the country on items that must be done and will take months and years to complete. This is just one of the many ways that we will start the growth cycle again.

I wrote today's blog simply to explain that while the current times may look bleak, our country and economy has weathered and grown through many trials. From these previous trials, we have learned, adapted, and anticipated some of these issues. Changes will be implemented after this latest trial, and if history is any judge, we will be the better for it.

Next time, back to more educator issues.