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What Could a Covered-Call ETF Do for You?

We just opened a second headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. It was so close to never happening. Like so many things in life, everything needed to go exactly right.

My origin story starts in 2012. I’ve told it many times before, so here is the abridged version.

I was sitting down in Madison Square Garden for game 3 of the 2012 NBA playoffs when an email came in that my last legitimate job opportunity wasn’t going to happen. It was the exact bottom of my professional and personal life. My mother died the year before, and I was going through the money she left me with no end in sight.

My life was leading me deeper and deeper into a black cave without a lantern.

The Knicks were getting killed, and when Mario Chalmers hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put us down by 15 points with five minutes left, I had seen enough. I ran to catch the train to Merrick. The same train that Josh was on. He gave me an emergency flare and brought light back into my life.

The story of us meeting our Chicago crew is not quite as dramatic, but it’s one worth telling.

Before I get to it, if you’ve ever wanted to learn what working with an RWM advisor was like, or what it’s like to be an advisor here, we’d love to see you at the Salt Shed. Email us at [email protected] and put Chicago in the title. We’ll be there the week of June 2nd. Myself, Josh, Ben, and about 45 more of us. Barry will be there signing books as well.

And if you’d like to see us do a live TCAF with Kunal Kapoor, the CEO of Morningstar, we still have a few tickets left. Hit this link.

So in the spring of 2017, Josh, Kris, and I went to Chicago for an industry conference. We had a late night, another story for another day, and were a decision away from canceling an early breakfast the next day before we headed to the airport. But we went, and it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. We met with Jonathan Novy and Brian Rosen at the Cherry Circle Room. It was eight years ago. Feels like just yesterday.

Jonathan and Brian were the first pair of advisors outside of New York to express serious interest in joining us. At the time, we were an idea that was in proof-of-concept mode. And they saw the proof early. They saw our future better than we did.

When they came to New York to meet us, Brian said something about my future that I’ll never forget. Brian’s older than me, and he’s someone whose personality naturally commands a lot of attention. So when he said those words, it meant a lot to me. It was the first time I had ever heard anything like it. And eight years later, he was 100% right.

Making the deal with Jonathan and Brian wasn’t easy. We had never done something like that before, and they wanted to make sure, understandably so, that this was the last move they were ever going to tell their families they had to make. There was a lot of back and forth, but we finally got a deal done. I was in an Uber driving down the Eastside Highway on my way to a friend’s wedding when we got the green light. I’ll never forget that moment. It was a big deal for us. I’d say it marked the end of the beginning of Ritholtz Wealth Management.

We knew what we were getting with Brian and Jonathan. We didn’t know we were also bringing on two of the people who would become some of the most important people in the history of RWM, Anna Chaiken and Colleen Parker. They had worked with Rosen and Novy and were part of the deal. They weren’t going to be left behind.

Anna is now our Vice President. The only Vice President. We don’t have a dozen people with that title. She makes the firm run. She touches everything and everyone inside our organization. Nothing gets done without her seeing it. From hiring to new technology, processes, and everything in between, Anna is all over it.

Colleen is our Director of Client Service. She takes care of advisors and their clients and oversees all of our client service administrators. She also knows how to throw a hell of a party. When we’re on the road, Colleen makes sure we’re at the right place at the right time. She is everything that makes RWM special.

So we started with these four incredible people in Chicago, and now we’re up to 11 and growing. It was time to invest in them like they’ve done to us. So we went out last year to see a few places and we all fell in love with The Salt Shed on Goose Island. Jonathan and mostly his wife, Laura, have spent the last few months designing it, and they crushed the assignment. I can’t wait to see it with my own eyes next month.

A lot had to go right for RWM Chicago to be a thing. And I’m happy it did. It’s the little things in life that change everything.

Hope to see you in Chicago.