Weekly Update: Good morning! Happy 2020! All of us at McQueen Financial Advisors are excited for a fun and prosperous 2020. We hope you have set strong personal and professional goals for 2020.  Financially speaking, 2020 has been good thus far, although the saber-rattling between the USA and Iran is causing some angst in the markets. As we look forward to the new year, we wish you the best for

Weekly Update: Good morning! Happy holidays! All of us at McQueen Financial Advisors wish you and your loved ones a joyous holiday. Christmas is one of several holidays, and religious events celebrated this time of year, and we respect and celebrate all of them. What excites me are the two areas that I focus on during the holidays: One, I strive to encourage all family members to travel from near

Weekly Update: Good morning! This last week the US Government and China announced that they have a partial trade solution.  Tariffs on certain goods will slowly expire, which may be the beginning of the end of the tariff headlines that rock the market.  Although, there appears to be a lot missing from the agreement. The impeachment trials on President Trump continue in Washington, DC.  I believe it is safe to

Weekly Update: Good morning! The economy continues to move forward; the unemployment rate is at a new record low rate of 3.5% due to an estimated 7 million jobs created in the last three years. Wages have improved, with the average hourly earnings growing at a 3.1% annualized pace.  Additionally, job openings (positions currently open) are closer to 4.5%, which results in a net shortage of workers. When everyone has

Weekly Update: Good morning! It is time to put up the Christmas tree and let the festivities begin. It is officially December, which is also the time to focus on achieving 2019 budgets and planning on a good start to the 2020 budget. Budgeting can be difficult in this unique environment as daily tweets seem to modify peoples’ moods and spending habits.  It is a good practice to ensure that

Weekly Update: As we enter this holiday week, I recommend that we all pause and think about what we are thankful for.  We are all fortunate to live in this great country. McQueen Financial Advisors will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and closed on Friday so we can all go shopping. Financial people love deals. It appears that everyone on our email list put an order in on their new

Weekly Update: Good morning and happy Monday! Enthusiasm was rampant in the stock market last week, as we reached a new record high.  Also, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned energy company Aramco is having an IPO.  The company is valued at $1.7 trillion, or a little below the goal of $2 trillion. On the obscure side of things, I (unfortunately) saw my first presidential campaign ad on television for the 2020 election. 

Weekly Update: Good morning and happy Monday! Winter is here in the great north.  We have a full-blown winter advisory and snow is blanketing our parking lot this morning.  And it is only November 11th. No one likes to go on home tours in the snow, so it is no surprise that home sales are down,  although the snow is not to blame this time.  Existing home sales have remained

Weekly Update: Good morning and happy Monday! Economic news was in vogue last week.  The FOMC decided to lower the Federal Funds rate by 0.25% to a range of 1.50% to 1.75%, and we feel they are done lowering rates until well into the first quarter of next year.  Additionally, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the third quarter of 2019 was announced this last week, coming in at 1.90%, which

Weekly Update: Good morning and happy Monday! After a week of mixed messages, both economically and politically, we are looking forward to a “quiet“ week.  Although, with the geopolitical world in a bit of turmoil and continued political action with impeachment I doubt that it will be a quiet week. The fires in California along with the related power outages may start to add concern to the consumer spending strength.