Episode 57: A Masterclass in Business: Money Philosophy with Barry Ritholtz

On today’s episode, we are so happy to be joined by none other than Barry Ritholtz! As the founder and CIO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, host of the Masters in Business Podcast and regular financial blogger for more than 15 years, Barry is someone we have been dying to speak to on the show and who we have taken loads of inspiration from over the years. We talk to Barry about his own podcast which has been going strong for years now and is just about to reach its 250th episode! He also explains the beginnings of his firm and how his role has evolved in it since it started. From there, the conversation turns to the different parts of an investing philosophy we and Barry pretty much share and we ruminate on the state of the financial industry in US and Canada currently. We all feel that it is surprising that brokerage firms still find business in this day and age, when it has been shown so many times, for an extended period of time to be a far inferior business model for clients. Barry offers some pretty sensible advice on how to pursue financial growth in the long term and shares how RWM approaches client acquisition. For all of this and so much more, be sure not to miss this great episode!

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Key Points From This Episode:

• Why Barry feels he has the easiest gig in podcasting. [0:03:17.6]
• The inspiration behind starting the firm and Barry’s day to day work. [0:05:53.9]
• The RIA model versus the brokerage model in investment firms. [0:12:45.4]
• How Barry and the firm have chosen to run their business model. [0:16:03]
• Specific portfolios at Ritholtz and the philosophy behind them . [0:21:18.8]
• It’s no good breaking a record if you crash straight after! [0:28:13.1]
• How Barry and the firm find customers and the client conversations they have. [0:34:04.2]
• Behavioral counseling as RWMC’s biggest value proposition. [0:42:34.8]
• Barry’s opinions on robo-advisors and the factors to consider. [0:47:06.2]
• Why are there still commission based advisors in 2019? [0:50:38.9]
• Things Barry has changed his mind about since starting the firm in 2013. [0:55:09.9]
• Small cap tilts, lower rates and the longer term vision that is necessary. [1:01:11.1]
• How Barry defines success in his life. [1:07:01.5]
• And much more!

Tweetables:

“I’m very good at reusing a lot of the same time for multiple things.” — @ritholtz [0:05:53]

“I was not enthusiastic about all the hard work that went into it and at the same time, I was interested in philosophy and I was interested in logic and rhetoric and logical reasoning.” — @ritholtz [0:08:25]

“We didn’t want to be different for difference sake, we look around and saw a lot of things we didn’t like. What we didn’t like was the way people were performance chasing and overcharging.” — @ritholtz [0:20:19]

Links From Today’s Episode:

Rational Reminder Website — https://rationalreminder.ca/

Barry Ritholtz — https://ritholtz.com/

Bloomberg — https://www.bloomberg.com

Masters in Business Podcast — https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts/masters_in_business

Bailout Nation — https://www.amazon.com/Bailout-Nation-New-Post-Crisis-Update/dp/0470596325

Ritholtz Wealth Management — https://ritholtzwealth.com/

Animal Spirits — https://animalspiritspod.libsyn.com/

Scott Galloway — https://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/scott-galloway

Michael Lewis — https://ritholtz.com/2019/04/mib-michael-lewis-good-book/

Barbara Tversky — https://www.edge.org/memberbio/barbara_tversky

Amos Tversky — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amos-Tversky

Malcolm Gladwell — https://www.gladwellbooks.com/

The Undoing Project — https://www.amazon.com/Undoing-Project-Friendship-Changed-Minds/dp/0393254593

Thomas Gilovich — https://psychology.cornell.edu/thomas-d-gilovich

How We Know What Isn’t So — https://www.amazon.com/How-Know-What-Isnt-Fallibility/dp/0029117062

’10 Terrible Things People in Finance Should Never Say’ — https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-06-10/10-things-people-in-finance-should-never-say

Lift Off — https://liftoffinvest.com/

The kinda-eventually-sorta-mostly-almost Efficient Market Theory — https://ritholtz.com/2004/11/the-kinda-eventually-sorta-mostly-almost-efficient-market-theory/

Eugene Fama – https://www.chicagobooth.edu/faculty/directory/f/eugene-f-fama

A World Lit Only by Fire — https://www.amazon.com/World-Lit-Only-Fire-Renaissance/dp/0316545562

Download the transcript of this episode here: Rational Reminder Podcast – EP.57 – Transcript