Surprised by Vegas
I am not a Las Vegas person. I was sure of it.
Scott and I just returned from Raymond James' annual Elevate conference in Las Vegas — a few thousand advisors, still mostly male, from around the country, all congregating in one hotel. We kept ourselves entertained at the pool playing "Raymond James or not Raymond James." The overheard conversations made it a dead giveaway most of the time.
The conference itself was good. I focused on the team-building sessions, which felt timely. I've been wrestling with a real choice: close our doors to new clients or build a team that lets us help more of the people who need and want what we do. I've tried saying no over the last few years to a handful of hopeful prospective clients, and it never felt right. Increasingly, building a team and mentoring a new generation of advisors feels like the right answer — and I'm starting to see what that might actually look like.
My Vegas imagination ran to seedy strip clubs, drunk bachelors, and down-on-their-luck gamblers — and yes, it had all of that. But it had so much more. Sometimes you brace for the worst, and the world catches you off guard. I found a thriving Ashtanga yoga community. One of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on. Fantastic Thai food. A concert at The Sphere. Warm, breezy desert air. Lazy hours by a beautiful pool. And two new women friends in my industry — one of them a fellow Ashtangi.
On Sunday morning, the day after arriving, I was ready to leave. By Wednesday, when it was time to pack up, I was a little sad to go.
Every morning I practiced at Mysore & Ayurveda Las Vegas — a sweet community with wonderful teachers, just seventeen minutes from the hotel. That's where I met Bree, my fellow Ashtangi financial advisor. The last morning, as we said our goodbyes, we talked about how much the practice helps with the work of advising. She laughed telling me about a client who was anxious about the war and asked if she had a chant or something he could use. She told him she did.
The market chant, she said, goes like this:
“Volatility is the price you pay for building long-term wealth in the markets.”
More on the market chant — and some visuals to accompany it coming in my next post.
