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Financial Empowerment
Ritholtz Wealth Management, the RIA co-founded by Josh Brown and Barry Ritholtz, passed $5B in AUM in 2025 using financial media as its main growth engine.
Financial Empowerment
Founded in 2014 by Barry Ritholtz and Josh Brown, Ritholtz Wealth Management grew out of their shared conviction that smart, transparent financial commentary could attract clients directly. Ritholtz had already established The Big Picture blog and a Bloomberg column, while Brown was writing The Reformed Broker and appearing on CNBC. The firm launched without acquiring a book of business from another advisor, relying instead on the audience their media platforms had built. The firm manages assets across individual equities, fixed income, and ETFs, with a strategic tilt toward evidence-based, low-cost investing. Client portfolios are concentrated in liquid public markets, avoiding the private equity and venture mandates common among competing New York RIAs. Known positions and strategies tilt toward broad market index exposure, factor-based tilts, and direct indexing where tax-loss harvesting adds value. The firm operates from a hub in New York City with a network of advisors working remotely and from satellite offices including Los Angeles, Lake Oswego, and Austin. Ritholtz brought in roughly $1.8 billion in new assets in 2024 alone, pushing its client asset total past the $5 billion mark (per Citywire, 2025). The firm employs roughly 40 people, including a bench of younger advisors cultivated through internal training. Its media footprint has expanded beyond blogs to include the hit podcasts Masters in Business and The Compound and Friends, plus a YouTube presence that captures a younger demographic. In early 2025, the firm hired former BlackRock executive Salim Ramji to its board, signaling ambitions to scale institutional-grade practice management alongside its consumer brand. Ritholtz Wealth's structural distinction lies in its flat-fee, technology-light model that resists the platform economics of larger consolidators. It charges a percentage of assets under management rather than building proprietary software, and it refuses to accept outside private equity capital. The firm's equity is held entirely by its founders and senior advisors, with a published succession plan that envisions internal ownership transfer rather than a sale to a roll-up. This architecture keeps the firm independent and aligned with the consumer-disclosure ethos its founders write about daily.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2014
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Principals
Josh Brown
CEO
Barry Ritholtz
Chairman and Chief Investment Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Ritholtz Wealth Management?
Barry Ritholtz serves as Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, setting the firm's overall investment philosophy and macro views. Day-to-day portfolio construction is handled by a committee of advisors, with each client receiving a tailored allocation of ETFs, individual equities, and fixed income aligned with the firm's evidence-based model. The firm does not run a centralized model portfolio that all clients must follow without deviation.
How does Ritholtz Wealth Management source clients?
The firm sources clients almost entirely through its founders' media presence, including the Masters in Business podcast, The Compound and Friends YouTube show, Ritholtz's Bloomberg column, and Josh Brown's appearances on CNBC. It does not cold-call, purchase leads, or run traditional advertising. The firm's advisors also write regularly on the Ritholtz Wealth blog network, which drives organic search traffic from individuals researching financial planning topics.
Does Ritholtz Wealth Management invest in private equity or venture capital?
No. The firm stays entirely within liquid public markets, using ETFs, individual stocks, and bonds. Barry Ritholtz has publicly stated that the firm avoids private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund allocations because of their illiquidity, high fees, and lack of transparency. This distinguishes Ritholtz from many competing New York-based RIAs that offer private-market feeder funds to their wealth management clients.
How does the firm charge for its services?
Ritholtz Wealth charges a flat percentage of assets under management, with fee schedules that decline at higher asset tiers. The firm does not sell proprietary products, charge commissions, or accept payments from fund companies for shelf space. The founders have been vocal critics of wrap-fee structures that embed hidden costs, and they publish their fee schedule publicly on the firm's website.
Who owns Ritholtz Wealth Management?
The firm is entirely owned by its founders, Barry Ritholtz and Josh Brown, along with a small group of senior advisors who have been granted equity stakes over time. It has not taken outside private equity capital, unlike many rival RIAs that have been acquired by consolidators like Focus Financial or CI Financial. The founders have stated publicly that they intend to transfer ownership internally to the next generation of advisors rather than selling to an aggregator.
What is the firm's geographic footprint?
Ritholtz is headquartered in New York City, with advisors also based in Los Angeles, Lake Oswego (Oregon), Austin, and several other cities across the United States. The firm adopted a remote-work posture early, with many client relationships managed virtually. This distributed model allows it to serve clients in every US state without maintaining expensive real estate in high-cost urban centers.
How is Ritholtz's media business separated from its investment advisory business?
The podcasts, blogs, and video content are produced by Ritholtz Media, a separate legal entity from the registered investment advisor. This separation ensures that the media properties' editorial output is not regulated as investment advice. The firm's compliance team reviews content to avoid conflicts, but the media arm does not charge subscriptions or manage money, keeping a bright line between content and client assets.
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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