Orange County Partnership”™s annual awards dinner Dec. 1 attracted more than 600 people to Anthony”™s Pier 9 in New Windsor.
Although there was some high-profile competition a few miles away ”“ President Barack Obama was at West Point speaking about the war in Afghanistan ”“ the crowd at the partnership event wanted to hear how the county”™s economic development arm weathered 2009.
Awards were presented to:
- Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, Quality of Life;
- RoadLok Security, Spirit of Innovation; and
- First Columbia L.L.C., Alliance for Balanced Growth Golden Shovel Award.
In addition, Dr. Bill Richards, president of SUNY Orange, received Leadership Orange”™s annual recognition award.
Partnership President Maureen Halahan congratulated the winners and acknowledged that Orange, like its mid-Hudson counterparts, has gone through an extremely tough year. Nonetheless, she said, “We have helped to create 900 jobs within the last 12 months and we”™re very proud of that.”
To bring some levity to what has been a dreary economic scene in the Hudson Valley, independent financial adviser Ric Edelman delivered the keynote address. His remarks were fun and fast-paced and his message was clear: Watching the Dow Jones on a daily basis can be hazardous to your health.
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“It”™s been a rather raucous year-and-a-half; tracking the market has now surpassed tracking the growth and development of our children,” said Edelman. “It”™s fortunate we”™re able to laugh at it, because a year ago, there was fear that eventually turned to anger ”¦ and what”™s going to happen next is the question on most people”™s minds.”
If there is a silver lining, it is that reality is bringing people back down to earth, he said. “We got a little cocky in the 1980s and 1990s. People were choosing between two kinds of investments ”“ those that went up and those that went way up ”¦ and got rather cavalier, buying whatever investment opportunity that came along. People began to think real estate should grow 24 percent every two years, rather then the reality, which is every 20 years.
“People are beginning to turn to financial planners to achieve important goals. For most of our clients, and most of you, I”™m sure, primary goals are getting kids into college, securing retirement, caring for family and supporting the community. Those are the four most commonly cited reasons people give when talking about saving for the future.”
People who invested heavily in too few markets took the worst hit, said Edelman, which is why he encouraged the audience to “diversify ”¦ a word hardly heard back in the 1980s, but something I”™ve believed in and have encouraged our investors to do.”
“People should be planning for the long term, not for the next 30 days, but for five to 15 years out. We have been focusing on the market because (the) media tells us to. It wants us to pay attention on a moment-by-moment basis, and because of it, many are losing sight of our long-range goals. ”¦There”™s nothing wrong with the stock market ”“ it has never lost money in a 15-to-20-year interval in American history. What”™s wrong is our perspective. We”™ve become trained to believe what is happening in the market today is what matters.”
