“What Am I Supposed to Become?”

I remember regularly looking up at the Helmsley Building on Park Avenue, feeling a little like Dorothy on the yellow brick road.

Where was I going?

I was in my early 30s, feeling lucky and smart, walking to my job as a hedge fund analyst on 48th and Madison.

The walk was just long enough to clear my head and admire the enormous wealth surrounding me in Midtown Manhattan.

This was before words like kindness, humility, and authenticity entered my vocabulary.

I was climbing the ladder of success.

Kill or be killed.

It was a zero-sum game.

At the hedge fund, I was paid for ideas. Investment ideas.

I wanted to make money, be successful, and become somebody in the city that never sleeps.

But somebody different. Somebody who couldn't easily be replaced.

I had gone from being outside the circle of wealth in Beverly Hills to working at the very center of it on Wall Street. Yet I still wasn't sure I could stand on my own.

I was making good money, but I depended on my bosses to recognize my talent, give me capital, and let me run with my ideas.

Some were amazing mentors. But did I have what it took to make it on my own?

My friend Tom Morgan writes about something called “the attractor”—a force pulling us toward the intersection of what makes us unique and what the world needs.

For years, I thought money was my attractor. The goal.

But looking backward, I wonder whether chasing money was simply showing me what I really wanted: agency.

Growing up financially insecure in Beverly Hills had forced me to become resourceful, independent, and pretty good at figuring things out.

But I didn't yet have the skills to raise money, build a business, or advise clients.

Those would come much later, after losing my Wall Street career and going through a valley of pain.

But what I unpacked by being an outsider to the center of finance:

The skills I developed as a kid became my compass, helping me recognize which new skills were worth developing.

And eventually, those abilities became the very things other people would pay me for. Maybe that's how we find our alpha. What makes us unique.

We gradually discover the connection between our experiences, our abilities, and what other people need.

The skills that once helped us survive may eventually become the talents that help us thrive.

And perhaps finding our way home, like Dorothy, isn't about comparing ourselves to others or trying to become somebody else.

It's about discovering the unique value of what we've been carrying within us all along.

(I didn't have a photo of the Helmsley so here is a photo of the moon in NYC!!)

Tiffany Kent

Your Friendly Wealth Engagement Guide 

Disclosure: For informational purposes only. This material reflects general views and is not individualized investment, legal, or tax advice. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Wealth Engagement LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser; registration does not imply a particular level of skill or training.