On a Mission to Diversify the Financial Industry

Breaking Free to Drive Change

To hear Tony Frigoletto talk about financial services is to hear someone who truly cares — about his clients, his team, the industry, and especially about underrepresented communities. In an industry that’s not exactly known for its diversity, Frigoletto is on a mission to make changes.

“Statistics show this industry has severe underrepresentation of folks in certain communities,” Frigoletto said. “Earlier in my career, I was always blown away by how few women there were. Some of the brightest people I’ve met and worked with have been women. But my colleagues were always men. It didn’t make sense to me.”

Frigoletto began his career in 1997 with Prudential Securities. Over a short period, he became successful, earning recognition as the top new advisor. He then followed a path that took him from UBS to Wells Fargo. In 2020, he launched River’s Edge Wealth Partners as one of the first teams to leverage LPL’s supported independence model, Strategic Wealth.

He chose the model both for the freedom of running an independent practice and for the comprehensive support it offered. Unlike similar competitors in the supported independence space, LPL coupled its full-service team with self-clearing broker-dealer solutions. This combination would provide everything River’s Edge Wealth Partners needed under one roof.

“If you’re interested in owning your own practice and having strategic partners, what Strategic Wealth is doing is exceptional,” Frigoletto said. “You can have access to things you were afraid of leaving at the firm you were at, but you get what you want at the firm you’re going to.” And although it may seem like a small thing, Frigoletto appreciated that his clients would receive only one consolidated statement.

Gaining Support, Growing Diversity

For Frigoletto, independence represented the opportunity to do what was best for his clients — including better representing the communities River’s Edge Wealth Partners serves. He cites a lifelong progressive bent and close familial relationships with people in the LGBTQIA+ community as contributors to his ideology. As an employee of larger firms, where his outward presentation was accountable to corporate brands, many of those beliefs hid behind closed doors. Now, Frigoletto feels free to outwardly present his own values — particularly around the intentional inclusion of people of color, women, and LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Under the supervision of Frigoletto and team, the Strategic Wealth marketing partners executed a campaign that included advertising on social media, as well as direct mail and outreach to individual advisors. “That’s the cool thing about Strategic Wealth and being independent,” Frigoletto said. “If you want to be versatile, you can bring in different types of relationships. I see that as an opportunity.”

Ideally, Frigoletto would like to find representative advisors who can either join the firm as employees at the start of their careers, or who are more established and seeking more of a partnership than a vertical relationship. His goal in either case is for the advisors and their clients to find a long-term home with River’s Edge Wealth Partners.