Despite a slow economic recovery – one that makes turtle racing look speedy – there remains a contingency of investment advisers who won’t budge from enforcing client minimums. They adhere to the traditional, even as other money managers opt for a more flexible approach in regard to the subject of just how much money a new client ought to bring to the investment table.

Damian Bell, a founding manager and partner with Rockbridge Wealth Management in Daphne, Alabama, is one of those more flexible financial advisers. He admits that he and partner, Mark Baggerly, revisit this question at least once a year, particularly after going to training conferences, hearing yet another so-called “expert” tell attendees about the importance of establishing client minimums.

“We just keep coming back to the fact that some of our very best clients came to us with less than what most of the recommended minimums are,” Bell said. “We came to the conclusion that we are a better firm – and better people – when we agree to help whoever comes to us. We help anyone who comes to us, no matter what the account size is.”

Bell began his career in financial planning in 1992 when the branch manager of the financial services firm he used for his own retirement savings encouraged Bell to visit the offices – not as a client, but for a job interview.

Bell was in auto sales at the time. His friends, family – and even his wife discouraged him. At 37 years old, they told him, it was too late to start another career from scratch. But when he met with the branch manager, Bell quickly discovered that he had a great deal of interest in the financial services industry.

He decided to prove them all wrong. Initially joining Prudential Securities, a mere two years later Bell went to work for Merrill Lynch, where he met Baggerly. The pair worked together as a team at Merrill Lynch for several years before deciding to form their own independent firm in 2001. Shortly thereafter, Bell said that the pair were able to add an office manager. Today, three other advisers work for Rockbridge clients.

“We feel blessed every day that we made the decision to run our own firm and to take care of our clients in the fashion that we do,” Bell related.

That fashion includes “the plain, unvarnished bottom-line truth,” no matter how bleak the immediate situation appears. It included some very frank discussions during the recent Great Recession from 2007 to 2009, when markets dropped precipitously. “Contrary to other advisory firms, Rockbridge grew during that tumultuous time period,” Bell told The Suit.

“We were getting so many referrals from our existing clients,” Bell said. “The one recurring theme was that these prospective clients understood that markets can drop and that there are risks – but that their adviser at the time was simply not communicating with them. People just want to be informed of what is happening.”

Learn more about Rockbridge Wealth Management online at www.rockbwm.com