Laura Mattia ’82,’90 MBA, PhD CFP® Gets to the Heart of Wealth Management

As a wealth advisor, Laura Mattia ’82, ’90 MBA, PhD CFP® is passionate about helping her clients align their financial strategies to their life goals. She is also on a mission to help more women to pursue careers in finance.

When Laura Mattia ’82, ’90 MBA, PhD CFP®, senior vice president and financial advisor with Wealth Enhancement Group’s Atlas Team, spoke at a Montclair workshop last October, she didn’t focus on the latest stock pick or crypto strategy. She talked about values. 

“Money is a tool, not an end goal,” Mattia explains. “If you can identify your key values, you can identify what you do and don’t want in life, and then figure out how to get there.  Money and time are our most valuable resources. How can we use them to better our lives?”

Mattia didn’t grow up in a wealthy household, and like so many Montclair students, she chose the University because it was an affordable option. She also didn’t begin her academic journey in business and finance, opting instead for psychology and studying dance. 

“Montclair’s visual arts program was a major attraction for me,” she says. “At the time I was considering a career in dance therapy.

Mattia put off graduate study to marry at a young age. She got a job as a customer service manager at the now defunct People Express Airlines. “I enjoyed the work but was relying on marriage to provide me with financial security,” she says. “When that turned out to be untrue, a light went on. I realized that I needed to understand money.”

“I saw that there were good jobs in accounting and finance, so I enrolled in Montclair’s MBA program,” Mattia continues. “I chose the Accounting concentration.”

Mattia’s corporate career began at M&M Mars, where she served as group controller for nearly 10 years. She spent five years as CFO at Telcordia Technologies and then Geller & Company before transitioning into financial services. 

“I started out in strategic corporate roles, but I found that I preferred working one-to-one with clients,” she says. “I enjoy guiding people toward decisions that will improve their lives. Financial advising can change someone’s future if it is approached in a certain way. I focus on life planning, using money as a tool.”

Mattia earned certification in financial planning at Fairleigh Dickinson University and in 2016 completed a doctorate in personal financial planning at Texas Tech University. That same year she founded the Women’s Money Empowerment Program at Women’s Resource Center, a nonprofit that provides life, financial and career counseling and support for women across Florida’s Manatee and Sarasota counties. She also taught personal financial planning for many years at Texas Tech as well as Rutgers University, William Paterson University, and the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business. She worked closely with the Florida Board of Governors and the CFP^® board to create a new CFP^® registered program at the University of South Florida. In 2018, she authored Gender on Wall Street: Uncovering Opportunities for Women in Financial Services, in the hope of encouraging more women to seek careers in financial services. She has published academic research as well as non-scholarly articles and is quoted on a regular basis by journalists in major financial publications.

In 2020, Mattia founded Atlas Fiduciary Financial LLC which recently merged with the Wealth Enhancement Group. Her passion for helping people, especially women, take charge of their finances is stronger than ever. She is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNBC, MarketWatch, USA Today, Investment News, MSN, and ABC News. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and her TEDx talk, “Why Investing in Women will Revolutionize the World,” is available on YouTube. Her podcast, “Money Matriarchs,” inspires women to harness the power of money to create change in their lives, families and communities.

Mattia is a member of the board and co-chair of the investment committee for the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, and continues to work with the Women’s Resource Center. “I provide pro bono services for women who are struggling financially, to help them get on the right track,” she says. “We offer quarterly workshops on financial decision making when going through a divorce, and how to manage the financial aspects of being widowed. Divorce and widowhood are a financial wake-up call for so many women.” 

Although Mattia had to work full-time while studying at Montclair, she has many fond memories of gathering with fellow psychology and dance students. “I didn’t have time to join a student organization, but both departments were close-knit,” she recalls. “I met a lot of wonderful people who were really interested in developing themselves. We were focused on becoming better people.”

For several years Mattia served as a member of the University’s Planned Giving Board, helping to strengthen charitable giving to her alma mater. “I have had a really good life and enjoyed a lot of success because of Montclair,” she points out. “I want to give back and support the next generation. And it is exciting to see my alma mater thriving. Montclair clearly has become a contending university.” 

She especially enjoys encouraging students to stay true to what they want to achieve, while also remaining open to possibilities. “It’s okay to take chances, but always remember your guardrails and keep an eye on where you really want to go,” she advises.