We were delighted to welcome Thomas ‘Tom’ Giunta as our newest member. He is a Financial Planner with Equitable Financial Advisors.
Tom was born and raised in Staten Island, NY. Growing up, Tom loved playing baseball. He was chosen to be on the all-star team for many years. At the age of 13, he rode an ATV and had an accident in which he was nearly killed. This caused the end of his baseball career. However, it opened his eyes to the world in a whole different light.
He was just entering high school and decided to get involved in the community and helping others who maybe were not as fortunate as he. Tom had just lost an uncle due to Myasthenia Gravis (a form of muscular dystrophy or MD). He wanted to help others affected by this disease. His sister and he raised money for MD. He was fortunate to have been chosen to take part in the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon and was given the honor of presenting a check in the amount of $220,226 which he and others had raised that year.
Tom attended Seton Hall University, where he obtained a BA in Economics and another BA in Business Administration. While there, he was involved in a portfolio management program where his team researched different stocks and investments to determine if they were a good fit for the Seton Hall Endowment Fund. After they made their analysis, they presented it to the Endowment Board. That taught him a lot about how an endowment operates, but it also helped to educate him about financial markets and how they operate as well.
Tom was in a fraternity which had two different philanthropic areas. The first was the Amazing Day Foundation which helped promote suicide prevention and mental health awareness. They went to local schools and talked about the program to help bring mental health awareness to students. The second was the Altruistic Campus Experience (ACE) which focused on giving back to the university. Each year they hosted various events on campus to show appreciation for the university. They did this through various youth mentorship programs, after school programs, sports coaching for local schools, etc. Being that Seton Hall is in an area where not everyone is very fortunate, it was great to be able to see these mentored kids learn things and do things they otherwise would not have the opportunity to do.
During and after graduating college, he realized many people lacked financial literacy and financial education. He felt that our school systems lack educating students financial literacy. That really pushed him into the financial services industry.
After finishing school, it was his mission to become a financial educator where he could educate people on financial matters and help them make smart financial decisions. Many things are changing, from laws to strategies, and he wanted to educate them on these changes.
He is proud that he’s able to help people make informed decisions that will set them up for a successful financial future.
After he was with Equitable for five years, he decided it was time to transfer with them to South Florida. In July 2019, he and his girlfriend Molly visited the area on vacation. After a day of being here, they decided to move here. In June 2020, they moved to Delray Beach, and they have been living here happily ever since. This past June, they got engaged. They plan to get married in June 2023.
He is excited and thankful to be the newest member of the club.
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