You Can Go Your Own Way

It took thirteen years, but we finally did it. We dedicated resources to building a real, professional website.

My attitude for the first, I don’t know, eight years of our existence was, “Our website isn’t a big deal. Nobody finds us there. People become our clients because they’ve been following our work for years. They don’t find us on the website. It’s sole purpose is for them to fill out a form to get in touch with us.”

I wish I had changed my mind about this sooner, but better late than never.

The overwhelming majority of our clients are indeed familiar with our work, but we’ll never know how many people weren’t, hit our site, thought we weren’t serious, and never thought about us again.

Live and learn.

I’m proud of the new site, and want to thank the fine people at wedu for helping us show the world a version of us that better reflects who we are today.

When Barry, Josh, Kris, and I started this business in 2013, it was just the four of us, fewer than one hundred client households, to who we’re eternally grateful, and ~$65 million in assets. None of us had ever run a business before. Like everyone else who’s ever built something new, we made mistakes, had growing pains, and learned lessons along the way that only experience can teach.

Over time, my view of who we are and where we’re going has evolved. Earlier this year, I shared some of that perspective with our team at a firmwide dinner. I’ll get back to this in a second.

In the beginning, we never used assets under management as our north star. It wasn’t even a topic of conversation. Honestly, it would’ve been crazy to think we’d one day be on a path toward $10 billion and beyond., because for the first few years, we didn’t have a single client who entrusted us with more than $10 million. Looking back, it’s not a mystery - we weren’t ready.

Today, I can confidently say that there isn’t a client in the world who we can’t serve exceptionally well. And to anyone who thinks people hire us just because they like our podcasts or videos—come on. Nobody with $10 million says, “Hey, I like your podcast, take my money!” It doesn’t work that way.

One of the things I’m most proud of- something the outside world rarely sees- is the talent inside RWM. Our internal engine is every bit as strong, probably stronger than what you see on The Compound. We’ve built a world-class team of advisors, traders, ops professionals, client service associates, investment experts, and leaders.

Back to what I told the team at dinner. I shared with them that one year, I think it was 2018 when there were just 20 of us, I said something like, “Let’s just get to a few billion dollars and shut it down. Let’s only work with the people we want to work with. And let’s just cruise, and we can all live a very comfortable life.”

It hurts to type that. Easily one of the dumber things I’ve ever said. For the record, nobody thought it was a great idea at the time.

There are a few hundred reasons that mindset was wrong, but two big ones stand out:

1. I had no idea how many people it would take to get to $5 billion. 88% of the firms in this industry never get there. And for the ones that do, I’m guessing it takes 20 years on average. We did it at a breakneck pace, and it took a village.

2. The economics of our business did not and could not make sense if we stopped growing. Like many early growth companies, our margins were slim, by design. We had to grow our way out! The train left the station with no final destination.
   
   Businesses that stop growing start dying. People get restless, they leave, and the whole thing falls apart. You have to keep going.

As of the end of 2024, there were 15,870 registered investment advisors (RIAs) in the United States serving 68.4 million clients and managing $144.6 trillion in assets. The size of firms vary widely, but the median company is eight people managing $427 million. We’re currently 80 people pushing towards $7 billion. And I really feel like we’re just getting started.

I have a goal for Ritholtz: I want us to be the largest independent RIA in the country with no outside investors. This type of thing is dangerous to put out into the world because if you’re wrong, it’s on record. The internet never forgets. But whatever- I don’t care. As of today, I’m telling you: I want this company to stay 100% employee-owned forever.

And as far as the goal goes? That’s going to happen.

The explosive growth across the RIA industry over the last decade has been fueled by deals— more money, higher multiples, more transactions. More, more, more.

We’re not playing this game. We’re doing something different.

We’re lucky to have something that very few firms have in the industry; organic growth. Our assets under management have compounded at ~45% a year for thirteen years - with no outside investors, no signing bonuses to advisors, and no referrals from either of the giant custodians.

We’ve built this firm ourselves. We answer only to each other, our clients, and our employees—and that’s exactly how we plan to keep it.

If you’re an advisor, and this message resonates with you, please reach out. We’d love to hear from you. And if you’re a prospective client, and you want to give us a shot, we’d love that too.

Find us here