Are you aware of this great resource?

This mission brief highlights a great publicly available resource for you to use, I know I do.? Also, at the end, I'm asking for your quick thoughts on something that may benefit you and the Code 3 American? Community.? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Last week brought a new administration to Washington and time will tell what new policies may develop and how they may impact 2025 and beyond.

While we wait and see, I want to call your attention to a valuable tool you may or may not be aware of to help you get a feel of the economic pulse so you can make the best decisions for you and your family—the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book. If you haven’t heard of it before, you may put it on your radar.

I review the Beige Book often to stay informed of trends and at least review some of the same boots on the ground info the policy makers are reviewing to make decisions.? Remember, many of these policy makers are not going to change with the administration so it may be worth reviewing some of the data they review.

So, what is it? The Beige Book is a report published eight times a year by the Federal Reserve, offering real-world insights into the U.S. economy from business owners, bankers, and economists across the country.

Unlike the hard numbers and charts from the Fed’s official data, the Beige Book provides a boots-on-the-ground perspective of what's happening in industries like real estate, manufacturing, agriculture, and retail. ?It covers job trends, inflation, wages, and supply chain conditions—everything that affects our livelihoods.? Each issue has an overall summary and then every Federal Reserve bank contributes information specific to their region of the country.

You may know I was a SWAT sniper for over a decade.? In that world, distance and elevation are scientific, much like charts and data—it is what it is.? The beige book, however, is less scientific and more of an art—more like reading the wind and terrain before every shot.? Though very different, each is still very important.

Why should this matter to you? Because knowledge provides an edge. Whether you're running a business, investing, or just trying to get a sense of where things are headed, the Beige Book is a resource providing Code 3 Americans an edge.

When I read the Beige Book, I look for key indicators—how businesses are hiring, where prices are rising or falling, and what sectors are thriving or struggling.? Simply another concentrated ingredient to help us anticipate challenges, seize opportunities, and make informed financial and business decisions.

As a simple personal example, last year we were looking for a specific vehicle for my wife.? We watched nearly every week from late 2022 until fall 2023.? The vehicles never sat long, and prices seemed out of line.? Suddenly, in about September, I started noticing vehicles that had been lasting days were suddenly lasting a couple weeks.? Then four weeks.? This matched the Beige Book intelligence I was reading.? I used this information when negotiating a deal in January 2024 with a dealership.? I highlighted my observations, cited data from the Beige Book and made a take it or leave it offer which saved us nearly 10%.

I clearly consider the data for reasons other than purchasing a vehicle, but the experience did illustrate how being informed provides an edge in unexpected places.

When reading the Beige Book, I pay particular attention to trends relative to consumer behavior, lenders, real estate and employment.? The Beige Book, combined with a basket of other information, may influence our decisions to develop, build or purchase projects.

Additionally, aside from go no-go decisions, it may alter how we structure a deal with our partners.? If a go, perhaps we choose to structure an all-cash deal like a development project in 2024 or perhaps we choose debt.? Maybe we seek seller financing, decide to pursue tax breaks, hold long-term, sell short-term, etc.? You get the idea.

Nobody knows what will happen just like nobody always makes the best decision.? How we structure deals and make decisions is significantly impacted by what we sense in the capital markets, banking system, employment trends, consumer patterns and of course actual data—in a sense it reminds me of reading the terrain and wind in years past.

If you're serious about keeping an edge, I encourage you to start reviewing the Beige Book as one more tool in your tool belt.? I view it like having a bunch of free research assistants operating at levels I would not have access to.

Can you help me by giving your quick thoughts please?

The power of a community is in the collective thought power of the members but this requires a platform to collaborate and share ideas and information.? Relationships are everything, which is why it is often said our network is our net worth.

The problem with social media groups is they can be taken down whenever some decision maker does not like the content, etc.? As a first amendment loving American, frankly I can't stand the idea of being under that type of control.? It's also not affective to organize repositories of information for members to access to learn and advance their own life's mission when they need it.

We have been evaluating something that you may enjoy and I'd like your quick thoughts please. We are currently exploring setting up a Code 3 American? Community portal where members would receive a password and username to gain access, which would still be free.

This would serve like an emergency services communications center allowing us to store and distribute information and facilitate effective communication among Code 3 Americans?.

I do believe this would allow us to have more open conversation, message each other as members, post thoughts, share ideas and store information for easier searching.? Two questions for you:

1. Do you think this would enhance the community and provide more benefit?

2. Would you join us inside and do you know others who would? I'm committed to advancing the mission.

To help enhance our effectiveness, I would appreciate your thoughts which you can DM me. Please put Community portal thoughts in the subject line - THANKS!

Until next time...Team's UP!