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Ethic
Ethic provides the technology for 300+ advisory firms to run $8B+ in personalized, values-aligned, and tax-managed direct-index portfolios.
Ethic
Founded in 2016, Ethic operates as an outsourced technology and investment infrastructure provider for wealth managers rather than a distributor reaching individuals directly. The firm partners with registered investment advisors, multi-family office networks, and institutions to power direct-indexed separately managed accounts, unified managed accounts, and values-aligned model portfolios. Its client base has grown to over 300 advisory firms across North America. Ethic deploys client capital across a range of listed equities and funds, structuring the portfolios to reflect custom sustainability criteria while actively managing for tax efficiency. The platform's tax-loss harvesting engine, personalized transition tools, and securities-gifting capability are designed to boost after-tax outcomes without straying from mandate constraints. The firm reports helping clients reduce portfolio carbon footprints by more than 400,000 metric tons relative to benchmark holdings and has voted on over 83,000 proxy proposals on behalf of client accounts. Confirmed software and research integrations include proprietary sustainability scoring and data science tools that translate client priorities into constrained portfolio tilts. The firm managed roughly $2 billion in 2021 (per Citywire, 2021) and has since grown to over $8 billion in managed assets, serving more than 300 advisory and institutional firms. Its network spans RIAs, family office platforms, and large wealth-management institutions. Ethic introduced the "Prospect Plus" prospecting capability and has expanded engagement through a podcast series, "Work Ethic," featuring interviews with leaders in wealth management. Ethic functions as a middleware layer between asset managers and financial advisors — it does not itself operate as a family office, GP, or direct lender, and it does not raise commingled funds. The firm's structural role is that of an enabler: it gives advisors the technology stack to offer direct-indexing and values-based mandates typically reserved for ultra-high-net-worth family offices, without requiring the advisor to build the research, trading, and reporting operations in house.
General information
Firm type
Consultant
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does Ethic actually implement 'values-aligned' portfolios?
Ethic builds a proprietary sustainability research layer that scores companies on environmental, social, and governance dimensions, then uses that data to tilt direct-indexed portfolios toward or away from specific exposures. Advisors and their clients specify priorities — reduced carbon footprint, faith-based screens, or other custom exclusions — and the platform constructs a basket of individual equities that tracks a chosen benchmark while overweighting or underweighting holdings according to the values criteria. The firm reports that clients have collectively reduced portfolio carbon footprints by more than 400,000 metric tons versus benchmark composition.
What asset classes does Ethic cover?
The platform offers separately managed accounts built from individual equities, unified managed accounts that combine multiple strategies including direct indexing and listed funds, and model portfolios allocated across listed funds. The offering is centered on public-market instruments — primarily US equities and exchange-traded funds — rather than private equity, venture capital, or real assets.
Is Ethic itself an RIA or does it partner with RIAs?
Ethic is a technology and investment-operations provider, not a registered investment advisor marketing directly to end individuals. It functions as an outsourced investment platform for RIAs, family office networks, and wealth-management institutions that want to deliver direct-indexing and values-tilted portfolios to their own clients. The advisors maintain the client relationship; Ethic supplies the portfolio construction, trading, tax management, and reporting infrastructure.
How does Ethic handle proxy voting on behalf of client accounts?
Ethic executes proxy voting across the individually held securities in client portfolios and has reported voting on over 83,000 proxy proposals to date. The voting guidelines are designed to align with the sustainability and governance criteria that clients have selected, giving advisors and their end-clients a mechanism for active ownership without managing the voting logistics themselves.
Does Ethic do any direct-to-consumer business or manage pooled funds?
No. Ethic does not market directly to individuals, nor does it operate a line of commingled mutual funds or ETFs that it sells to the public. All portfolios are managed within advisory relationships through the RIAs, family offices, and institutions that use its platform.
What is 'Prospect Plus' that Ethic mentions?
Ethic references 'Prospect Plus' as a newly introduced capability on its website, but the firm has not publicly detailed its features beyond positioning it as part of the advisor-facing platform. Based on the context of its broader offering, it likely supports the client-prospecting and proposal-generation workflow for advisors — but no technical specifications or launch date have been released, so this is an Altss inference.
Who are Ethic's competitors?
Ethic sits within the growing sub-industry of direct-indexing and values-based portfolio-customization platforms serving the intermediary channel. Competitors in various dimensions include firms like Aperio (owned by BlackRock), Parametric Portfolio Associates (Eaton Vance / Morgan Stanley), Canvas, and Just Invest (Vanguard). Ethic differentiates by coupling direct indexing with a robust proxy-voting service and a sustainability-research engine purpose-built for advisor-driven customization.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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