Stop waiting for the economic reports. Start looking around you.
Most investors wait months for official economic data before making decisions. Our managing partner Richard Consul, CFA, calls the alternative being a street economist, and the concept is simple:
When you walk into a restaurant, is it busier than last week? More tables filled? Longer wait times? That’s a real-time economic signal.
Your eyes are one of the most underrated research tools you have. If you can see it happening, it becomes far more tangible than any report that lags months behind reality.
Richard breaks it down into habits anyone can start today:
- Track what you observe in daily life: foot traffic, consumer spending behavior, local business activity
- Connect those observations to what’s happening in your portfolio
- Use those signals before the data catches up
The numbers will confirm what the streets already told you. You just have to be paying attention.
Look around. The economy is happening in real time. Are you watching?
Episode transcript (excerpt)
“I like to think of things as being a street economist. Look around, open up your eyes, and be aware: the restaurants I’m going into – are they busier today than they were yesterday? Start tracking that in your head. Because if you can see it with your own eyes, it becomes much more tangible than economic numbers from months down the line.”
Richard Consul, CFA | Mitch Vermet, CFA, CAIA