. . . and speaking of rainbows, advertising consultant, Peter Hodgson, found his pot of gold in March 1950.

Early during WWII, Japan attacked many of the rubber-producing countries in Asia, drastically affecting critical rubber supplies needed to fight the war.  The U.S. government tasked companies to invent a synthetic rubber that had the qualities of rubber but made with non-restricted ingredients.  In 1943, General Electric laboratory engineer James Wright was experimenting with a combination of boric acid and silicone oil and produced an interesting goo -- but,  unfortunately, not something to replace rubber.  He found it could bounce, stretch more than regular rubber, did not collect mold spores and had a very high melting temperature.  Hoping to find some practical use for the putty, he sent samples to scientists around the world, but none of them found a use for it.  It earned the nickname "nutty putty." The goo was passed around to family and friends to find a use for it.  A putty sample eventually found its way to Ruth Fallgatter, owner of The Block toy store in New Haven, Connecticut. When Peter Hodgson, an advertising consultant, saw it, he convinced Ruth to place globs of the goo in clear plastic cases and add it to her catalog as "Bouncing Putty" at $2 each.  Amazingly, the putty outsold everything else in the catalog (except for a 50-cent set of Crayola crayons)  After a year of strong sales, Ruth decided to drop the putty from her catalog.

Despite being $12,000 in debt, Peter saw an opportunity for himself with the putty. In March 1950, he took a chance and borrowed $147 to buy a large quantity of the putty. He recruited college students to separate the putty into one-ounce balls and place them inside red plastic eggs. The goo's name was changed from "Bouncing Putty" to "Silly Putty" a $1 price tag placed on each egg.

Silly Putty sales were enormously successful until 1951 when Peter was almost put out of business by the Korean War.  Silicone, a main ingredient in Silly Putty, was put on ration, harming his business. The restriction on silicone was lifted a year later and production of Silly Putty resumed. 

At the time of Peter Hodgson's death in 1976, his net worth was around $140 million. A year later, Binney & Smith (makers of Crayola products) acquired the rights to Silly Putty. By 1987, annual Silly Putty sales exceeded two million eggs.  As of July 2009, 20,000 Silly Putty eggs are sold worldwide each day.  Since 1950, more than 300 million eggs of Silly Putty (approx. 4,100 tons) have been sold!   Silly Putty was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2001.

-- Elbert Hubbard (writer and artist) 

Everyone can benefit from keeping on top of their finances and ensuring their affairs are in good order. For Credit Education Month, why not take the opportunity to give yourself a money make over.

Credit Education Month was originally created to remind consumers and companies alike of the importance of good financial management. It can seem a little daunting to go through all your incomings and outgoings, but it's incredibly beneficial and could save you money.

 

The best place to start is by making a spreadsheet with your income and outgoings, then look at each in turn. For example, could you save money by switching your credit card to a different provider? If you're paying only the minimum on a loan, could you pay a bit more and pay it off faster? All of these small changes can improve your financial health.

 

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A new business was opening, and one of the owner's friends sent flowers for the occasion.  But when the owner read the card with the flowers, it said, "Rest in Peace."

The owner was a little upset and called the florist to complain.  After he had told the florist about the obvious mistake, the florist said, "Sir, I'm really sorry for the mistake, but rather than getting angry, you should imagine this:  Somewhere there is a funeral taking place today, and they have flowers with a note saying, "Congratulations on your new location!"