Triumvirate Tops Investing

Wall Street’s got nothing on downtown Fayetteville.

Registered investment advisers Mary Ann Greenwood, Elaine Longer and Rebecca Garner operate within a mile of each other. Last year they managed combined assets of more than $435 million.

High-net-worth individuals, corporations and municipal bodies depend on the trio as trusted counselors to protect and grow their invested assets. As industry leaders, the advisers share a love for analysis and a despise for routine.

“It’s the most fascinating business in the world,” the three agreed.

As discretionary managers, the advisers don’t bother clients with day-to-day changes, but portfolio research never stops.

Garner, Longer and Greenwood’s firms each conduct private securities research, using Wall Street numbers as second references.

Because they enjoy the research the industry entails, these advisers make a tough job look easy.

Longer said her husband of 25 years knows the briefcase will accompany them on their vacations. Garner scans her desk’s three computer screens for by-the-minute market changes while she makes lunch appointments. Greenwood personally approves each of her more than 200 clients’ investments.

“You either eat, drink and sleep it — and you absolutely love it — or you can’t do it,” Longer said.

A Tenured Adviser

Although they play the same game, Longer, Greenwood and Garner use different strategies to satisfy their clients’ investment goals. Each company owner fills a niche in the financial market.

Greenwood runs M.A. Greenwood & Associates Inc. on Center Street as president and chief investment adviser.

She’s been a chartered financial analyst in good standing since opening her own firm in 1982, according to the Association for Investment Management and Research in Charlottesville, Va.

Of the three, Greenwood has been in the business the longest. During the last fiscal year, her firm managed $155 million in 704 accounts, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Nearly all investment advisers who manage at least $25 million annually must register with the SEC.

Greenwood said about 280 of her accounts are separate clients who need face-to-face time. The rest are organizations or families sporting multiple accounts. Still, Greenwood by far hosts the most clients of the downtown Fayetteville advisers.

She doesn’t set any firm minimum-investment limits for new clients because she prefers to consult with each customer personally.

According to the most recent SEC documents, 51-75 percent of Greenwood & Associates’ patrons are individuals. Another 11-25 percent are considered high net worth individuals, and 11-25 percent are pensions and profit-sharing plan clients.

Greenwood’s clients pay for the advisement with a percentage of their managed assets, Greenwood said, and her firm doesn’t take soft-dollar incentives, commissions or rebates on investments.

She, like Longer and Garner, invests for the long-term results. Although Greenwood & Associates invests in some bonds, it focuses on equities.

“Our clients come to us to intelligently assume risk on their behalf,” Greenwood said. “I think I’m fairly good at what I do, and it’s all I know how to do.”

In 1962, after Greenwood earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas, she worked in public investment planning through the Arkansas Planning Commission. She enjoyed it so much that she went back to school to earn her Ph.D. in economics and finance from the UA.

She credits patience, focus and hard work for building her firm.

At that time — before the Tysons, Waltons and Dillards blossomed in Arkansas — most local investors had their money tied up in real estate and farmland, Greenwood said.

Adventures in Economics

Last year, according to SEC filings, Longer Investments Inc. managed $96 million in 105 accounts. Individuals and high-net-worth individuals count for most of Longer’s clients.

Although she loves her career now, Longer didn’t start out to become an investment adviser.

In college, Longer studied pre-medicine because she enjoyed analytical science and math.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University, she took a job as a medical technologist.

But days filled with routine bored her.

Disciplined by her premed studies, Longer wanted a challenging, analytical job, and the nature of investments captured her interest. Robert Kennedy, who then taught a portfolio management class at UA, helped Longer plan her courses to earn a master’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance and investment.

John Lewis, chairman at The Bank of Fayetteville, gave Longer her first job after she received her MBA. At that time, in 1983, Lewis worked at First National Bank of Fayetteville and had created a new banking position, trust investment officer. Lewis hired Longer to fill it.

The position gave Longer a sample of trust account and fixed-income work. First National also sponsored Longer’s three-year enrollment in the chartered financial analyst program through the Association for Investment Management and Research.

Now, Longer generally sets a minimum investment limit of $500,000 for new clients, who are often referred to the company by existing clients or professionals such as lawyers and accountants.

Although her business is relatively large now, Longer said she wants to grow more slowly in order to maintain the quality of service she now provides. Seven employees staff Longer Investments, and every client gets face time with Longer herself.

“Keep the quality high, and the corporate growth will follow,” Longer said.

“I’ve never faced a year where I wondered where the next growth leg would come from.”

Garner, Llama, Garner

Garner is the relative newcomer to the Northwest Arkansas financial circle.

She started Garner Asset Management in 1991 in Little Rock. In 1994, Alice O. Walton bought the firm, moved it to Fayetteville and named it Llama Asset Management.

In 1999, Garner bought the business back and retitled it Garner Asset Management. She’s now settled in an office on Meadow Street.

Compared to her peers, Garner might seem somewhat nontraditional. She opted against becoming a chartered financial analyst, although she said she respects its weight in the industry.

She wears cotton clothing to work because, she said, her clients don’t need her to look pretty … they need her to make money.

Garner’s client pool is smaller and more concentrated than the others — last year, she managed $184 million with about 40 accounts, according to the SEC.

Right now, she said, Garner Asset Management manages about $230 million. About 90 percent of those assets deal with bonds, which are Garner’s specialty. She only manages cases with a fixed component, and she currently works with about 31 clients.

Less than 3 percent of Garner’s clients rely on strictly fixed-income portfolios, and the firm usually abides by a minimum investment limit of $2 million for those accounts.

Four employees, including Garner, staff Garner Asset Management. Chartered financial analysts Kerry Watkins and Glenn Atkins are investment advisers for the firm.

Watkins handles the company’s stock market investment, and Atkins focuses mainly on bonds. Garner said she plans to make Watkins and Atkins partners in the firm soon.