Ritholtz Wealth Management's Liftoff automated investment platform still represents a "very small part" of the company's business, but it's growing significantly and is "going to be a very important part of our business in the future," according to Josh Brown, the firm's CEO.
That is because Liftoff will serve as an internal lead generator for the firm, he said Tuesday during a webinar presented by Orion Advisor Technology.
"I very much believe that the few hundred clients that are currently on the Liftoff platform are our future comprehensive wealth management clients," he said.
"It's just a matter of time," he explained, as those mostly young clients get older, their money starts compounding and the company's staff keeps them "in the loop" and introduces themselves to those investors "every time they have a question or they call in."
The firm is also using Liftoff to train the "young, early stage financial planners on staff … to speak with clients," he noted. It makes sense that, "before they're ready to get on the phone with a $7 million prospect, they should be speaking with people that are keeping $50,000 [to] $80,000 with us and just getting more comfortable in answering questions about the firm," he explained.
Liftoff client assets have "doubled since last November," from about $10 million to about $20 million now, according to Nick Maggiulli, Ritholtz's chief operating officer. There are now 300-400 clients on the platform, he said.
Despite that growth, the company doesn't think that, with the 50 basis points it charges clients, Liftoff is going to be a huge revenue generator for the firm, according to Brown. Liftoff client assets are also still just a tiny percentage of the firm's $1.8 billion in assets under management.
Liftoff is "really just a way that our young [investors] can start engaging with us early and we don't have to send them somewhere else," Brown explained.
