The Predator in the Suspenders of Bulls and Bears

A journey from financial detachment to awakening, exposing Wall Street’s predator mindset disguised in suspenders and pinstripes.

I. The Suspenders

This is the photo I use when I talk about who I used to be.

I’m in my early thirties, lounging in a staff meeting in an Park Avenue high above the city, wearing a tailored Armani suit, a Sulka silk tie knotted with just the right symmetry, and suspenders decorated with bulls and bears. The image looks almost staged — like a costume from a movie about Wall Street in its glory days. But it wasn’t a costume. It was a uniform. And I wore it like armor.

In that world, we didn’t just believe in the market — we embodied it. We dressed in pinstripes like priests in vestments. Power ties weren’t accessories; they were declarations. Every part of the uniform said: I know what matters here. I speak the language. I belong.

But the truth is, it also kept us from seeing.

Paradigms work that way. They’re not just belief systems — they’re sensory filters. When you’re inside one, you don’t question it, because it’s not presenting itself as an option. It’s presenting itself as reality. The culture of high…