Michael D’Angelo, Staff

The website, financialprofessional.com, a platform developed by two La Salle University alumni, is a new and upcoming company in the financial technology industry.

Here at the Collegian, we love stories which highlight the success of La Salle alumni and how they make a difference in the world around them. Two La Salle alumni, Alan Angeloni, ‘18, and current graduate student Nicholas Dingler, ‘20, are shaking up the financial technology (fintech) industry with their new website.

Angeloni was a finance major at La Salle with a focus in investment analysis and served as vice president of the Investment Club for two years. As an undergrad, Dingler was an integrated science, business and technology major and is currently pursuing an MBA in finance. The website includes various articles and tools centered around personal finance and investing. I had the privilege to catch up with Alan and Nick, where I asked them some questions centering around FinPro, the fintech industry and the financial markets.  Catch the full interview below below. 

Collegian: How did you both come up with the idea for FinPro? 

We started FinPro in 2018 — Alan’s senior year and Nick’s sophomore year of college — as we were in the same fraternity. At the time, we just wanted to spread financial literacy and share what we had been learning at school, in our free time about the markets on social media. We soon came to the realization that these social platforms were here to stay and were replacing traditional media outlets at a rapid pace. We wanted to be where the attention was and where there would be in a future.

We saw that financial firms at the time were avoiding growing audiences on social media due to compliance issues. So, we moved aggressively into social media. We currently have an Instagram page with over 800,000 followers, a TikTok page with over 16,000 followers, and since the launch of our investment marketplace in December, we have matched over 1000 people with investment firms and have over 50,000 monthly readers on our website. 

Collegian: What is the future of the FinTech industry and the financial services industry in your opinion?

Simplicity and accessibility are everything for the technology industry. Traditional institutions are struggling to keep up with the rapid growth of neobanks (online or digital banks), robo-advisors and payment processors, given how fast tech-enabled companies can pivot and add new features on the fly. 

Collegian: What is FinPro’s mission and culture? 

Our mission is to find the right investment for our users. Our culture fosters innovation and creative thinking. We love having an open dialog with all of our team members. If you don’t like something, speak up. We’re here to offer the best product and services for our users. Our stakeholders should be comfortable enough saying to either of us, “This looks terrible, we should be doing this, why aren’t we doing this, have you thought about this,” etc.

How do you think FinPro can change the financial sector?

By fostering transparency, accessibility, and knowledge. One big issue with the financial services industry is that there isn’t a whole lot of transparency on what exactly these firms are doing with your money, how they are profiting with your money and what risks are involved. We strive to make all of these points clear while also showcasing the opportunities that people have access to. We seek to further educate them on these financial products, so that there is no room for misconception.

Collegian: What is the future of FinPro and what do the both of you have in mind? 

We plan to increase our suite of financial tools to help individuals make financial decisions and boost our content production efforts to further spread financial literacy.

Collegian: What do you think about the market right now? Are equities overvalued or undervalued?

It really comes down to each specific sector, but it can be quite difficult to justify some valuations in certain industries. We currently see an abundance of opportunities in the alternative space given the vast attention the equities market has received over the past year. Luckily, the Robinhood effect is occurring within the alternatives industry and it’s never been easier to get exposure to alternative assets. We are currently living in a time where regulations are being lifted to give retail investors access to the same opportunities institutional investors have received for decades. 

dangelom2@lasalle.edu