Vantage Point Financial Advisor, Sophia Tronolone

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

Hi Sophia. I am glad to talk to you. Can you describe your job and what you do in simple terms?

Vantage Point Financial, Sophia Tronolone

Yes. I am a financial advisor at a registered investment advisory firm. So I help clients, normal families that live in the community, plan out their retirement, create their financial plan, and help them on a path towards financial freedom.

Essentially, I meet with clients on an annual or biannual basis, talk with them about their financial situations, advise them on what they should do, and then execute those items for them. I work at a small boutique firm, rather than what you might traditionally think of as a large broker or wire house, like Charles Schwab or Fidelity. That’s a completely different company structure called a broker-dealer, and it differs significantly from a boutique firm like the one I’m at. They require different licensing, can offer other services, and I prefer a smaller-company focus.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

Sounds good. Does your job include a lot of structure from your day-to-day, or is it more flexible? I’m the kind of person who likes not doing the same thing every day, but I don’t necessarily want a job where every day is entirely different.

Vantage Point Financial, Sophia Tronolone

I am the same way, having different responsibilities and not doing the same task every day. There’s both structure and flexibility within my role. There’s structure because on Mondays and Fridays, our advisors typically spend a lot of their time preparing for meetings and following through on action items from client meetings that week. On the other hand, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, we typically host our clients in our office or do virtual meetings, and our day may be packed with client meetings all week.

But there’s a lot of flexibility because it depends on the advice and the clients’ schedules. There may be weeks when you don’t have as many client meetings, and you have more flexibility and freedom to work on other side projects outside of just day-to-day client work.

My firm offers excellent opportunities to work on passion projects for the company during free time. One of my side responsibilities is helping with our marketing and culture committees. And those obviously don’t take priority because our priority is always our clients. Still, I have the freedom and flexibility to focus on things that interest me outside of just financial advising when I have extra time.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

Okay. Let’s pivot back to before you started. Is there anything that you studied in college specifically that contributed to your success? Or on the other hand, was there anything that you regret not studying that you think would have been useful?

Vantage Point Financial, Sophia Tronolone

Another great question. The majority of my success came not from the content I learned in the classroom. It was from my experience at college outside of the classroom. So, for example, while I learned a ton in the classroom, I also learned a lot of foundational material. I learned a lot of things that helped me build a strong foundation as I entered the workforce and the finance industry. There’s no denying that.

But where I saw the most success was focusing outside the classroom on things like my resume, attending every LinkedIn workshop the college offered, getting a free headshot on campus, and learning how to practice interview skills my first year. I’ll never forget the time I went to a resume builder for the first time, a workshop hosted on campus, and I was the only freshman. Every other person in that room was a senior. And I remember the guy next to me turning to me and saying, “Oh my God, I wish I were in your position. I wish I started this in my freshman year.”

That was enough confirmation for me to realize that was where I would find my success, focusing on these things now rather than waiting until senior year, when everyone’s scrambling to find a job and start interviewing. I had already spent four years, or three years in my case, building and honing those skills. And that set me up for success more than anything. So I don’t negate my classroom experience. It was so wonderful. I still learned a lot. But the majority of my success came from outside the classroom.

On the flip side, something that I regret not studying further is more personal. And that would be minoring in Spanish. It was a goal of mine in high school to minor in Spanish, expand my knowledge beyond business, and focus on something that would improve my communication skills and strengthen my background in different cultures. But I didn’t have the room or the time in my schedule to complete my degree in three years to fit that in. Looking back, I wish I’d spent more time on something that would have benefited me in my role.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

You are the youngest businesswoman I have interviewed because it is important to understand the perspective of a GenZ woman. How has it been navigating the finance industry and working at your firm at a younger age?

Vantage Point Financial, Sophia Tronolone

In my experience, I have not faced issues or challenges simply because I am a woman. If I have faced any challenges in my role, it’s because of my age. And that’s because the clientele we work with are typically in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and sometimes 80s, and they’re looking for a seasoned expert to give them advice.

So when they look at someone like me walking in the door, they’re immediately thinking, ‘ Does this person have the credentials? ‘ Do they have the experience? Do they know what I’m looking for if they’re so much younger than me?

And my way of overcoming those obstacles and challenges is simply by building trust with that person, showing them that maybe I don’t have every single answer in the world, but I do have access to them. And if I am open and honest with them, hey, this is what I know, and here’s where I’m going to go back to the drawing board and find this answer for you, they’re going to be a lot more willing to trust me than if I act like I know the answer.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

So, more about being a woman in business specifically, who did you turn to for advice or guidance in a male-dominated industry when you were first starting your career?

Vantage Point Financial, Sophia Tronolone

Well, I love all these questions, first of all. Second of all, I did something very similar to what you’re doing now, where I set up meetings with different individuals at different firms. I was very focused on wealth management from the start. I knew that was something that interested me, so I spent a lot of my time focusing on people in that industry. Still, I tried to speak with individuals from different firm sizes, different experience levels, different education levels, some that had their certified financial planner or CFP, some that didn’t, people at broker-dealers, people at registered investment advisory firms, and gather different perspectives from the different types of firms, and then narrow down my job search. This helped me understand what kind of company I was looking for, and where I think my strengths would be most useful.

Also, I relied a lot on professors with whom I developed excellent working relationships. I went to a smaller college, and so I was in a classroom of 30, I would say 25 to 35 kids at most, and taking the time to get to know my professors, go to their office hours, they always knew me by name, they knew the type of student I was. And so when I would come to them for support or help, they were more than willing to help me in any way that they could, because they were familiar with the type of person that I was.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

As the business world continues to evolve, how do you see new opportunities arising for women in finance, specifically as an advisor?

Vantage Point Financial, Sophia Tronolone

Financial planning and financial advising are huge opportunities for women right now. Historically, it’s towards a male-dominated field, but I think that the tides are changing because it’s been proven that women tend to outlive men, and it’s just a biological fact that women tend to outlive men. And so if in a married couple, let’s say, the man is the head of the household who takes care of the finances and develops a relationship with a financial advisor who is a man, and the wife isn’t as involved or she doesn’t have an equal voice in their finances, if the man passes first. The woman may not stick with that advisor if she doesn’t feel like she can trust them or even has a relationship with them.

Women have an opportunity to create a space where they can help other women in this field. Women who have experienced divorce, widowhood, and single motherhood can create opportunities for other women to enter the financial planning space and gain valuable experience. I would also say women tend to have high emotional intelligence and empathy naturally, so it works well working with male and female clients because, at the end of the day, we’re all human. Human nature is to panic when you see your money or investments drop. And as you know, the stock market ebbs and flows over time, and women have an innate sense of caring for their clients and, emotionally, helping them see past a significant market drop.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

My last question is, what advice do you have for girls looking to go into business?

Vantage Point Financial, Sophia Tronolone

Focus on building and maintaining relationships because you never know when they’ll come back into your life. So I’ve had experiences where my company was looking to hire somebody, let’s say, for a marketing position, and I immediately thought of a classmate I had two years before who majored in marketing. We shared a general business class, and I thought they were phenomenal. We weren’t friends. We didn’t really talk day to day, but we stayed connected. I was able to see her portfolio of work on LinkedIn. And I reached out to her and said, ” Hey, my company’s hiring. I’m not sure if you’re even looking for a job right now, but if you are, here’s an opportunity you might consider. And it never even worked out or came to fruition, but that person appreciated me recognizing that we had worked well together two years before and stayed connected.

And on the flip side, I’ve had people reach out to me and say, “Hey, I’d like to introduce you to so-and-so. I know you’re happy at your current job, but this is someone you should connect with in the long term.

Focus early in college on things like resumes, LinkedIn, and professional networking; all of that helped me build that network sooner. And then after graduation, continue to maintain it and nurture those relationships.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

I love that advice. Thank you.

Vantage Point Financial. Sophia Tronolone

You are welcome. I really appreciate you thinking of me for this interview, even though you’re obviously looking for many women with more business experience than I have. However, I do appreciate that you wanted to have a conversation with me about careers, finance, and college. I’m happy to be part of it and hope this helps other young women.