This past Friday I helped ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
Sorry I haven’t responded to those who emailed with questions… Here is a quick overview and some other trip photos. (I’m writing a more lengthy post for my other work blog which will drop this coming Friday! I’ll share the link afterwards)
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So what happened? Why is this a big deal?… The NYSE is the worlds largest stock exchange. One of their oldest traditions is hosting a bell ringing ceremony, which happens twice each trading day — once when the market opens and another when it closes.
The ceremony lasts about two hours. It includes a quick tour, walking the famous trading floor, some speeches, awards, a lot of clapping, and of course… the ringing of the bell when the market opens/closes. Here’s a pic…
Why was I invited?… Only NYSE listed companies are invited to ring the bell (or sometimes big non-profits). I am by no means a bigwig stock guy or anything… But I have some friends that are! Haha. I was invited by Taylor and Brett Sohns who founded a company called LifeGoal Investments. I met these dudes about three months ago at FinCon, and we hit it off immediately. (Full disclosure: my wife and I invested a little bit of seed money into their company!)
Brett and Taylor are the nicest guys. They come from a small town in upstate New York and most of the people they invited were close family and friends. Here’s another pic — Brett and Taylor are front and center and their Mum is in the middle!
When was this planned?… You’d think big events like this are planned months in advance (some probably are), but we were only given ~48 hours notice for this. I was told about it last Wednesday, packed bags that night and flew out the next morning. That’s why I didn’t have time to share many details with y’all.
Video Recording:… I didn’t realize last week that the ceremony was televised live. But here is a video recording of the announcement and bell ringing. It’s only 60 seconds long 🙂
Here’s a pic of the trading floor…
It’s just like you would imagine, or like you see on TV. A million tv monitors with flashing lights, people bustling around and in a hurry, news cameras and media everywhere. Very fun!
Other activities in New York?… I was only there for 1 day so only got to do a few touristy things. Here are a couple trip photos!
Here is the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center (the one in Home Alone 2 where Kevin and his Mum reunite!!)
And this is St. Patrick’s Cathedral…
I went inside and lit a candle. It’s absolutely beautiful in there, I wish I had more time to look around…
Times Square was fun to walk through. I also saw the Statue of Liberty (but from really far away), Empire State, One World Trade Center, Bryant Park, New York Public Library… Come to think of it, I actually saw A LOT in just that one day walking around. Must have walked 15-20 miles!
Anyway, just wanted to share some quick details and photos. For those interested more in the NYSE exchange story and tour details, I’ll share the link to my full post this coming Friday.
Have a great day, y’all! Thanks for letting me share this awesome experience.
Love, Joel
This is the sunset out the plane window while flying home. Since we were flying from East to West, the sunset lasted for about 3 HOURS as the plane was chasing the daylight.