You’d be amazed at how many people there are walking around living a successful existence but with no idea about what they really want to do after working. Or how they want to spend their time and money later on. And it’s okay. You don’t have to know from day one. But at some point, you kind of do. Because decisions need to be made today in order to fund it and plan for it.

This is what the great financial planners in our industry do. They reveal things to people and help to lift the fog. It’s the coolest thing ever to watch this happen in real-time.

One Of Us

Last year we opened our Los Angeles office with a veteran financial planner who is one of the most hardworking and dedicated advisors I have ever met. We met Michelle fifteen minutes before the pandemic began in early 2020 and by the time the world had ground to a halt, there were lots of reasons for why that conversation had to be put on hold. Life, kids, travel restrictions, more kids, etc.

A few years later, Michelle came to the first Future Proof Festival in the summer of 2022 and we started talking again. It was meant to be. She’s one of us. Michelle started to listening to Michael and Ben on the Animal Spirits podcast at the behest of a colleague (who has also joined us now) and they knew that somehow they should be at Ritholtz. When we met them, first Michelle and then Jordan, we felt exactly the same way.

At first, Michelle felt weird about sending Michael emails at 9 o’clock at night east coast time until she realized he was responding to them at 10. She wasn’t sure about texting Kris on a Sunday morning until she saw his three dots pop up pending a nearly instantaneous reply. That’s how we roll here. We get her. Jordan too. We all have the same strain of the fever. It’s infectious.

And that’s how Ritholtz Wealth Management in Los Angeles, California came to be.

The other day we treated Michelle and Jordan to one of the finest establishments in New York, the 175 year old McSorley’s Old Ale House in the East Village. If you’re a fan of the firm or a client, you might also recognize the Bills here along with President Jay and my chief of staff Anna. We did a few rounds of “ten lights, ten darks” and then gave up the table to thirstier souls than ourselves. IYKYK.

This April 29th and 30th we’re coming to Los Angeles, California to celebrate the opening of our LA office and say hello to all of our amazing clients who live in the area. LA is one of our biggest client population hubs so having two local advisors in the area who are truly a part of our tribe is a dream come true. We can’t wait to get out there to see everyone.

I’m bringing out some of our Ritholtz Wealth all stars with me like Jay, Anna, Michael, Kris and some of our top financial planners from around the country. We’ll be posted up for two days of meetings, hellos and hugs. I wanted to give you the opportunity to come see us if you’ve ever been curious about what it’s like to become a Ritholtz Wealth Management client.

The In-Person Thing

Everywhere we go and set these meetings up with prospective clients - in the last year we’ve done this in Austin, Chicago, Charlotte - it’s always super-productive and fun. People like you come in to tell us the story of how they’ve gotten to where they are and what they want their money to help them do in the future. We tell them more about our planning services, tax and insurance consultation, asset allocation, portfolio management and more.

We’ve onboarded thousands of clients on the internet over the last ten years but there’s nothing quite like sitting in a room and talking. It’s how breakthroughs occur and epiphanies can strike. I’ve seen the ray of light come across people’s faces when that sudden realization hits. The answer. “Oh yeah!” they say, “that’s what I want.” I hope to spend the rest of my career helping people all over America have that moment of clarity.

Come See Us in LA

If you live in the Los Angeles area and you’d like to get on the calendar to tell us about your situation and ask us some questions, it’s easy to do so. Just shoot us an email. I can’t promise we’ll have slots open for long so I would send it now just in case.

email [email protected] with the subject line LOS ANGELES and we’ll be sure to get you set up for one of those two dates at the end of April.

Separately, if you’re a financial advisor in the area and you’d like to come talk to us about our LA office and your career, you can use the Join Our Team page at ritholtzwealth.com to get plugged in.

We’ll see you next month!

TCAF

Todd Sohn is an ETF strategist at Strategas Asset Management and he absolutely crushed his first appearance on The Compound and Friends today.

We had so much fun talking Nvidia, ARKK, the Bitcoin ETF race, fund flows, money markets, sentiment, the Russell 2000 and all the biggest topics of the moment with him. You can listen on the podcast app of your choice now or find it at the link below…

Apple:

Everywhere else:

The YouTube video with all of Todd’s amazing charts will hit later tonight if you want to wait.

Okay, that’s all from me. Wishing you an awesome weekend! Talk soon - Josh