A working trip to Pauillac near Bordeaux

As an independent wealth management advisor, I receive all kinds of invitations, from investment funds, insurance companies, real estate firms, from anyone looking for advisors to distribute their financial or insurance products. In the past, while I was working full time at the Paris Opera as a ballet dancer, I refused almost all of them: my schedule at the Opera was already packed.

Now that I am a free bird, I go to these events more often. I still believe it is essential to stay impartial and unbiased in my advice, but I learn a lot from listening to the presentations and from talking to other advisors. And last week, one of my main suppliers invited me to a séminaire, a two-day work trip, in Pauillac, near Bordeaux, which is, obviously, good place for wine.

The place is called Château Grand-Puy Ducasse, and it belongs to the Crédit Agricole group. We spent most of the trip there, starting with the almost sacred apéritif and a cocktail déjeunatoire, with a few glasses of wine.

Then the asset management companies presented their analyses of the economic situation and their convictions for the months ahead. After these serious talks, we visited the château and they showed us how the wine is made, quite fascinating I must say. The visit ended with a tasting.

I am not really a wine person and I couldn’t tell you whether it was good or bad. But I am grateful and glad to have been to my very first séminaire.

Among the twenty or so advisors, however, I could feel a certain distance. At some point I realised I was the only one who came from another country, who was not a native French speaker, and who grew up in an artistic world. I realised that art and culture still matter enormously to me, and that I cannot live without them. So this afternoon, I am going to enjoy the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, I’ll try to see the Mobilier National, in the 13th arrondissement.