Ritholtz Wealth Advisors has partnered with technology startup Upside Financial to add a digital advisor platform, Liftoff, to its offerings.
Working in a similar way to robo-advisors such as Betterment, Futureadvisor and Wealthfront, Liftoff takes data on investors' individual financial situations and incorporates it, along with their risk tolerances, into portfolios designed to help them work toward their goals.
"Liftoff is designed to launch investors on their way, with responsible behavior and a sound, highly defensible approach to asset management," Upside says.
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Users are asked questions not just about their comfort level with risk, but also about which type of strategy they're trying to create: straight investment, setting financial goals, or making a retirement plan. Liftoff then uses the information they provide to create a portfolio of ETFs. The portfolios rebalance automatically.
Upside works exclusively with financial advisors. And while Ritholtz is apparently the first to do so, other planners can also use the Liftoff platform to offer an online milieu to clients who prefer to use such platforms — something more popular with younger generations — and who may not have the investable asset level necessary to work directly with advisors. At Ritholtz, the minimum requirement to invest on Liftoff is $5,000.
"We created Liftoff for investors who haven't traditionally been served by thoughtful, high-quality financial advisory firms," said Barry Ritholtz, chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management. "It is our answer for so many who haven't had access to the kind of conflict-free advice that we believe so deeply in."
Upside also announced that Ritholtz and Josh Brown, chief executive officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, will be joining Upside's board of advisors.
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