For Love or for Money?

Section G was throwing a party when we were graduating from Harvard Business School

It was called G Love, G Money.

I arrived late.

Everyone was drunk so I never learned how to play the game.

Few people were slow dancing and there was lots of fake money flying around.

At the time, I was dating my boyfriend who was building his first company in California.

He and his friends were living in a rental house by the Stanford GSB.

Both scenes were just like in the movie The Social Network, directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin.

When I graduated from HBS, the game started to play out.

I moved to SF to work in high-tech investment banking and to be in the same city as my boyfriend.

I was living the dream in SF!

After I settled into SF, the game got a bit confusing for me.

Boyfriend was laser-focused on building a company and so we broke up.

The dot.com bubble burst which meant deals were depressed and so my job sucked.

Nothing worked out as I thought. I was miserable. My bet on love and money went bad.

Should I just wait around for the tech sector to come back and just settle down?

That didn’t feel right to me. I was young and still had options but I didn’t know what to do.

Then I dated someone who worked in private equity.

He talked about switching careers to work at a hedge fund.

We talked about short ideas in tech and how he could develop his own track record at a hedge fund.

I thought if he can work at a hedge fund, so can I.

I never thought a breakup would turn into a breakthrough in my career.

Soon afterward I moved to NYC and joined a hedge fund as an analyst.

Years later, when I was a portfolio manager at a hedge fund managing $200 million in NYC.

I loved everything about my life - my job, my husband, and the city.

In hindsight, thank goodness I understood the value of optionality.

Otherwise, I would have never explored a new career path and a new life.

“It’s not where you start but where you finish that counts.” — Zig Ziglar

I was pretty lucky to have dated that guy who shared with me a path I would have never had discovered on my own.

Think about small moments you can share that might encourage a woman to do something she might not have considered possible. You might have a huge impact on that women's life and career.

How to build a better financial future?

Change can feel tough. You will never know if you made the right decision but at least you are in control of your actions and you learn to appreciate where life can take you instead of just waiting for life to happen.

A Harvard MBA, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™, and LinkedIn Content Creator, Tiffany Kent writes weekly about making decisions, navigating bad experiences, and her financial journey.

If you or someone you care about is going through a divorce, please feel free to reach out to me, I can help.

Your Friendly Wealth Engagement Guide,

Tiffany Kent

Wealth Engagement LLC

3715 Northside Pkwy NW

Building 100 - Suite 500

Atlanta, GA 30327

Office: (404) 795 - 6124 / (917) 826 - 5955

Email: tiffany@wealthengagement.com

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security.