A NYC Wealth Management Firm Created A Super Cheap Way For Young People To Get Professional Investment Help

Traditionally, having a money manager is a luxury afforded only to those with significant wealth. As technology has improved and advising has gotten cheaper, the threshold for "significant" has gotten lower.

But it's still pretty high for young people just starting out or parents who want to start something small for their kids.

A number of so-called "robo-advisors" have been launched in recent years to help investors automatically allocate their portfolio.

But what if you want advice from a known investor?

It was with this in mind that Ritholtz Wealth CEO Josh Brown and CIO Barry Ritholtz decided to create the first robo advisor for young people. They wanted to be able to service people who don't need the same advising has high net worth individuals, but still want to know who is running their money. Ritholtz and Brown are both well known as writers and investors on Wall Street, and now they're giving younger investors a chance to buy into their strategy.

The program is called Liftoff, and it only take $5,000 and a computer to get started.

"Liftoff combines various attributes of financial planning and classic low-cost asset allocation to help people get started and stay on track for their goals," Brown told Business Insider via e-mail.

Ritholtz partnered with California-based tech company Upside to make a super clean interface where set up is a snap.

Here's what it looks like when you start out.

After a few questions about how much risk you're willing to take as an investor, and setting the amount you want to start with, Liftoff gives you a projection of what your portfolio will look like.

Once you've set it, you can basically forget it. That's the idea.

Surveys show that young people are really distrustful of the stock market and don't see it as a solid way to save for retirement.

It's understandable - the financial crisis is basically what young people know about investing in the stock market. However, by staying out, they're missing out.

"The single most precious resource that investors have is not experience or capital or market wisdom - it is time," said Brown. "By not taking full advantage of their long time horizons, we believe that many young people are squandering this resource and missing out on the power of compounded returns."

So check it out.