In this issue: Two kids. Two battles. One ref who needs to find a new hobby. And your mid-year financial check-in... because spring is almost over and your budget has probably been leaking somewhere since January.

Saturday was a physical one.

Lincoln has been working on his center back role and we have been pushing him to be a pest... get in the forward's head, be physical, win every duel. Boy did he deliver.

He had that kid completely rattled. Got fouled hard multiple times with zero calls from the center ref. At one point a forearm straight to the chest. Another moment where the opposing player literally pinned Lincoln's arm to his side while he was dribbling... in plain sight... and nothing. Not a whistle. Not even a look.

Michelle was running the line as AR and came about as close to walking off that field as I have ever seen. Momma bear was activated and I completely understand why.

Me? I loved every second of it. Not the bad officiating... the response. Lincoln didn't complain. Didn't pout. Didn't back down. He kept being physical, kept competing, kept doing his job. That is exactly the development we are looking for from a kid learning a new position at a higher level. The game is not always going to be called fairly. You adjust and you keep playing.

Croix on the other hand had what might be his best game yet as a goalkeeper for his guest team. We are talking damn near 10 saves on the day. In his first full season in goal... that kind of performance doesn't happen without real improvement happening underneath the surface. Quietly. Consistently. Week after week.

I've been hammering the chaos pretty hard in this section for the past few months and honestly... that dead horse has been beaten enough for now. So let me give you something a little different this week.

We are starting to see some positive movement.

Not everywhere. Not dramatically. But our clients and prospective clients are starting to see new deals coming in. Different opportunities opening up. People who have been sitting on business ideas are starting to get their footing and make moves. That is meaningful.

The broader data is starting to reflect something similar. Small and midsize businesses entered 2026 with a renewed sense of optimism, with nearly two-thirds of smaller firms expecting revenues to rise in the next three months. The factors driving that optimism are operational levers... customer acquisition, new offerings, improved efficiency... not just macroeconomic ones. Owners aren't reacting to headlines. They're responding to what they're seeing in their own pipelines. Bloomberg

More than 60% of middle market business leaders say they feel more positive about their own business now than at any point in the past five years. 74% are optimistic about their company's outlook for 2026. Only 27% expect a recession in 2026, down from 39% at mid-year last year. Georgia Public Broadcasting

That last number is worth paying attention to. Not because a recession is off the table... it isn't. But the shift in sentiment from 39% recession expectation down to 27% in a matter of months tells you that business owners are starting to see things they like in their own numbers.

Here's my honest take... spring always brings optimism. That's not cynicism, that's just seasonal reality. We are coming out of a brutal few months of global chaos, market volatility, and economic uncertainty. The warmth hits and people feel more hopeful. Some of that is real signal. Some of it is seasonal noise. Take it as an encouraging data point... not a trend yet. Keep building. Keep your reserves in place. Keep the foundation solid. But do not be afraid to pursue the opportunity that's presenting itself right now either.

📌 Receipts:

No new episodes from NoBS Wealth or LGR this week. We are working on something for LGR that needed more time to get right... a two-parter that I couldn't figure out how to say clearly until now. Stay tuned for that one. Worth the wait.

In the meantime... go check out what Lincoln and Croix are building over on their YouTube channel. New video just dropped. Filmed and edited entirely by the boys themselves. No adults. No direction. Just two kids doing their thing.

Go subscribe. Leave them a comment. Show your kids. It is genuinely one of the most fun things happening in our house right now.

📺 New video: @TheBigBoys1324 📺 Subscribe to the channel

It's mid-year audit time. Do not skip this.

We are heading into graduation season, end of school year, start of summer, sports tryouts... the calendar is shifting and that means your budget deserves a hard look before the next season starts. Here's what to do right now.

1. Pull your budget and find the leaks Four months of spending have happened since January. Something has leaked. It always does. Maybe it's the food budget we talked about last week. Maybe it's a subscription you forgot about. Maybe it's a category that just quietly crept up as life got busier. Find it. Adjust it. Don't wait until December to discover you've been $200 over in some category every single month.

2. Review your W-4 withholdings This is the one most people skip and it costs them every single year. Your goal is to owe as close to zero as possible at tax time... not get a massive refund. A big refund feels good. But what it actually means is you gave the government an interest-free loan for 12 months while your cash flow was tighter than it needed to be.

If you got a large refund this April... that is money that could have been in your pocket every single month. Adjust your W-4 with your employer now. Bring that money back into your monthly cash flow and put it to work.

3. Check what changed in the last four months New job? Pay raise? Kid aged off an insurance plan? Business revenue shift? Life changes create budget misalignment. What was true in January about your financial picture may not be true today. Update your numbers to reflect your actual current reality... not the one you planned for in December.

4. Set your summer budget intentionally Summer is expensive. Travel, activities, camps, eating out more, the kids being home... it adds up fast and it adds up faster when you don't plan for it. Build a summer line item now before the spending starts. Know what the number is before you need it.

If you want eyes on your full financial picture before summer hits... that conversation starts with a Power Hour. blackmammoth.com/powerhour 60-minute 1:1 session. Your questions answered. Walk away with a plan.

Lincoln took a forearm to the chest with no call. Kept playing.

Croix faced shot after shot after shot and kept making saves.

Neither one of them waited for the conditions to be fair before they competed. Neither one of them stopped doing their job because something outside of their control wasn't going their way.

That's the whole financial lesson for this week.

The economy is not going to be fair. The market is not going to be fair. The opportunities are not going to be distributed evenly. Something is always going to happen that wasn't called correctly.

You adjust. You keep playing. You do your job.

The kids figure out something on a soccer field that a lot of adults are still working on with their money...

The conditions are never perfect. You compete anyway.

See you next Tuesday.