Peter Nicoletti, Managing Director/Investments, Stifel

The wealth management and investment landscape is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the ongoing transfer of wealth to a new, more financially savvy generation. This demographic is pushing firms to evolve their services beyond traditional assets to meet a demand for new investment classes and a more modern approach to client relations. “I think that’s really driven us in our practice to make sure we have all of the tools and resources that they need,” Peter Nicoletti, managing director/investments with Stifel, told Invest:

What major changes in the wealth management and investment landscape have most influenced your work?
There is still a wealth transfer from generations, with the baby boomer generation sending its wealth down to the next generation. That next generation has more tools and resources, and they tend to be savvier. That has driven us in our practice to make sure we have all of the tools and resources they need. While they may be interested in traditional assets such as stocks and bonds, they are also very interested in new and alternative asset classes that were often overlooked by or even not available to the previous generation.
That has been one of the biggest transformations we’ve seen over the past year. They are also looking for better ways of communication, transparency, and digital access. That is mostly what we see happening in our industry.

Can you share the recent successes that Stifel achieved during the last year?
I think the first is being ranked No. 1 in employee advisor satisfaction among wealth management firms in the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Financial Advisor Satisfaction StudySM. This marks the third straight year that Stifel has earned the top ranking, which is calculated based on responses submitted by Stifel advisors. That says a lot about the culture of Stifel and our ability to be transparent and serve our clients. The most important thing when developing a relationship with a potential client is that they know you put their interests first, above your own. That’s a big part of it.
I think The Nicoletti Financial Group being named to Forbes’ 2025 Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams has strengthened our standing in the community. Having a team approach is critical when working with wealthy families. It’s incredibly difficult for a single traditional mainline stockbroker to manage the complexities of wealthy families and what they expect today.

What differentiates Stifel from other companies in the market?
For Stifel, it’s really about the synergies created among the different teams we have. Stifel has a very large middle-market investment bank that helps people looking to grow and sometimes sell businesses. It creates tremendous opportunities with large liquidity events. Our team works closely with the investment bank to assist executives with compensation packages, retirement plans, and other esoteric issues that investment banking doesn’t typically handle.
Having those synergies creates an environment where a business owner can go to one company for all aspects of their business and have one contact, one resource. In today’s world, that is very important. Talent remains a critical differentiator in financial services.

How do you approach attracting and developing young advisors?
That’s a challenge for sure, because the industry as a whole does not always do a very good job of training younger employees. That’s not the way it has traditionally been set up, and the success rate for people entering the industry at a young age is extremely low. So we’ve stepped back and thought about that. More of what we’re doing now is hiring people as client service associates, where they can learn the industry and figure out what they like and don’t like about it. Then we try to plug them into areas where we feel they will be successful.
That has been a big part of creating success among some of our younger employees. It has also been a great way to provide them with opportunities in our industry that they probably would not have elsewhere.

Are there any partnerships with local institutions and universities your team is spearheading in the wealth management space?
Unfortunately, not locally. Much of our talent is sourced from inside the company at other locations. We have a robust internship program based regionally in New York, Richmond, St. Louis, and across the country, but not in South Florida. Here, we spend most of our time working with individual clients and less on the institutional side.
That said, when you look at all we do — investments, estate planning strategies, tax planning, risk management strategies, philanthropy, executive services, and business succession — we’re going to find something that someone likes or gravitates toward. Once that happens, the light goes on and we can plug that person in and develop ways to help make them successful.

What are some of the most pressing challenges in the industry?
The regulatory environment is challenging. Our CEO sits on the board of a national organization and serves as chair, working to initiate change in that environment, which has been a big advantage for us.
There’s also competition in the investment world: we can do our best to offer faster and better service, but it’s really about educating clients on what they don’t know. What they’re trying to understand often isn’t about buying stocks and bonds. More often, it’s about how they can source capital, develop plans for growing their companies, and learn from other companies facing the same trials and tribulations.

How does your team engage with the Palm Beach community, and what role do you see financial professionals playing in local development and philanthropy?
I spend a lot of time serving as president of the board of a nonprofit preschool in Palm Beach County called Opportunity Inc. It has been extremely rewarding over the 15 years I’ve been on the board.
We’ve grown the school from about 50 or 60 children to 280, and expanded the building from 7,500 square feet to 24,000. We’ve added aftercare programs and other services. It has been very rewarding to see the organization grow and thrive.