Bell Inspired by the Personal Aspect of Financial Planning

A knack for numbers and a love of spreadsheets set James Bell on course for a career in finance during his undergraduate career at Tulane University in New Orleans.

It was 20 years ago, but he still remembers his initial fascination with the idea that abstract problems on a page could relate to the real world in a concrete, meaningful way.

“It turned a light bulb on for me,” Bell said.

That path ultimately led him to Garrison Financial in Fayetteville, where he has worked as vice president and equity portfolio manager for the past 12 years. 

During that time, while his affinity for the technical side of the job endured, he also discovered a more crucial element of his profession, one he now considers to be the driving force in his career and the core of his work: improving the lives of his clients.

“Much like a doctor or lawyer, when people come to see me, they need help,” Bell said.

But rather than suffering from a physical ailment or legal issue, his clients are looking for assistance in making decisions that bring them closer to their financial goals.

These are the professional moments he cherishes.

It’s been six years since Bell, 40, was honored as a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class in 2008, and he is happy with the fact that some things have not changed.

He still works with a lot of the same clients, and he has the same coworkers.

By now, the small staff is more like family, he said. “I love the people I work with.” 

Also since Bell’s appearance on the Forty Under 40 list, Garrison Financial weathered the financial crisis.

Although he considers the time to have been “trial by fire,” Bell said the company fared better than most due to its strategy of creating balanced portfolios using both stocks, which are “sexier and more interesting,” with bonds, which offer more stability.

To Bell, the company’s resilience proves the strategy. 

Garrison Financial now has 585 accounts and more than $290 million under management (see list, Page 16), up from $162 million in 2008, when Bell was a member of Forty Under 40. 

Bell is proud to be a part of the company. “We started out as a small startup,” he said. “It’s a good business that continues to grow.”

However, he gives most of the credit to his clients, asserting they put in 80-90 percent of the work. “What we do is just the icing on the cake of financial success,” he said.

“It’s more about the person across the table. They do their due diligence, start saving early and as much as they can,” he added. “It’s a partnership.”

And, as far as partners go, Bell has a credential that grants him instant credibility.

Back in 2001, he became a Chartered Financial Analyst.

The notoriously rigorous CFA program takes a minimum of three years to complete, and its exams are widely considered to be extremely difficult.

As of July 2014, there were only about 120,000 CFA members in 35 countries worldwide, according to The Economist magazine.

Within the firm’s partnership with the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas through the Garrison Financial Institute, Bell said he encourages students to pursue the CFA if at all possible, as it has served him well in his career.

Besides his involvement with GFI, Bell works with the nonprofit Junior Achievement and serves on the alumni board for the UA chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha.

In the last few years, he has taken up bicycling and running, having completed a half marathon and a duathlon.

This past July, he participated in Ragbrai, a bike ride across the state of Iowa. “That’s something I would never see myself doing back in 2008,” he said.

Bell also coaches a soccer team for his 7-year-old son, Ellis, and he and wife Shelli have another son, Owen, 10.

Born and raised in Springdale, Bell and his family now live in Fayetteville.