Hello friends!

It’s starting to feel like winter now! With only two more weeks until Christmas and Hanukkah already behind us, the holiday season is in full swing.

In economic news, we’ll talk about the jobs report that came out recently. Then, we want to congratulate one of our team members on hitting the 20-year mark with Obsidian!

On with the show. The jobs report came out late last week to an interesting reception. At first, people were upset to see that the number of jobs fell, unemployment ticked down, and that participation rates are among the lowest in history.

The jobs report, or monthly economic employment report, is released monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It bases its data on the current employment statistics survey of employers and the current populations’ survey of households. Its primary focus is to estimate the number of people employed and unemployed and the number of hours they worked, along with other statistics.

According to the November jobs report, the jobless rate is currently at 4.2%, the lowest it has been since the pandemic struck. In the meantime, employers are slowing their hiring, so it’s a mixed bag, but economists think it’s a sign of a “resilient economy that’s putting people to work.”

Although the threat of inflation still looms, Americans are spending freely. Plus, the fall in the unemployment rate happened at a time when half a million job seekers entered the workforce and found employment.

While we’re looking at the economy, we should note that China just put another stimulus of $188 billion into their economy and changed the reserve rate, which is a sign that they are worried about their overblown real estate market. We’ll keep an eye on that situation as it evolves.

In definitely more fun news, we want to highlight Sean McCarron, who recently celebrated 20 years with Obsidian. The team enjoyed a catered luncheon in the office to mark the occasion. We are grateful for the countless contributions he’s made to the team and his dedicated service to our clients. We’re also proud to have many long-term team members! It’s part of what makes Obsidian a special place.

That’s it for us this week. We hope everyone has a delightful weekend and can enjoy the temporary nice weather.

How We Help:

This week, we had a client come in with questions about when to draw their social security. We recommended they start taking their social security payments immediately, because upon analysis, they would hit the breaking point in their late 80s. This client wanted to have the money now, while they’re young and can potentially do more things with it. So in this case, it made more sense to start drawing the payments. If you’re unsure when you should start collecting your social security, give us a call! We can run the numbers and chat about your priorities.

Advisory Services offered through Obsidian Personal Planning Solutions, LLC. Securities are offered through Triad Advisors, member FINRA/SIPC. Obsidian Personal Planning Solutions, LLC, and Obsidian Personal Planning Solutions, Inc, are not affiliated with Triad Advisors.