Econintersect: Barry Ritholtz and Josh Brown announced Monday they are leaving Fusion Analytics to form a new investment advisory firm, Ritholtz Wealth Management. Brown will be the CEO of an organization starting up with five advisors and managing over $100 million. A report in Investment News said the specific figure was declined when the question was asked.
The new firm has some ambitious goals. From The Big Picture:
Our primary goal remains serving our clients’ interests: The only reason any service firm to exist is to satisfy its clients’ needs. Managing risk, analyzing opportunities, generating returns, and communicating our viewpoints are what we do for the benefit of our clients. If it does not further the interest of the clients, it has no place in our shop.
However, we believe that it is way past time to Rethink Traditional Beliefs: For way too long, our industry was run on unproven assumptions, myths and false beliefs. It is time for a more empirical approach. Any set of market beliefs has to be based on more than a hunch, they must be also backed up by data and hard evidence. Unfortunately, this is not what much of traditional Wall Street does.
Last, we want to pursue the truth, wherever it takes us. This means investigating to the best of our abilities the data that underlies the market; the policies of the various institutions that impact those markets, including Central Banks, Congress, the SEC, and public companies themselves. The pursuit of Truth has not been a traditional Wall Street value, but it is one of ours. If that means we are, to use a word that has become cliched,Disruptive, so be it.
Josh Brown writes at his blog, The Reformed Broker:
…the new firm is entirely and exclusively focused on financial planning, wealth management and ensuring that each family and foundation we’re responsible for reaches its specific goals.
Sources:
- Announcing: Ritholtz Wealth Management (Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture, 16 September 2013)
- Here We Go! (Joshua M. Brown, The Reformed Broker, 16 September 2013)
- Ritholtz, Brown launch RIA firm with five advisers (Trevor Hunnicutt, Investment News, 16 September 2013)