Kevin Latty exudes a sense of calm when he talks about his life and his solo advisory practice. “Most advisors wouldn’t believe how little stress I have in running my practice,” says Latty, 56, a 30-year financial services vet who’s been an independent advisor representative with Raymond James since 1990. It’s not totally stress-free, of course, but he thinks it’s pretty darn close.

It wasn’t always that way at his Atlanta-based practice. In the 1990s, Latty’s business was based on trading individual stocks. But the dot-com crash and the travails of companies such as Enron and WorldCom taught him that the potential for bogus accounting and the vicissitudes of the market can make individual stocks a dicey proposition. “My profession epiphany came when I decided to go with pooled portfolios and quit living for the next quarterly earnings report,” he says.

Latty serves about 100 families with roughly $60 million in total assets––almost all of it fee-based. He says he does two things that anchor his business in calm waters. First, he sets expectations up front by telling clients his practice is based on a long-term investment philosophy and his belief that over time the markets are very efficient regarding asset classes and returns.

“I set up client portfolios based on goals, and I allow the required rate of return to suggest the appropriate asset allocation,” Latty says. “I don’t tinker with that allocation based on market forecasts, though it’s a different issue if their goals change. When clients know that going in, I don’t get a lot of calls about what to do with portfolios during periods of market volatility.”

Second, he chooses clients who share his values. “Everyone in this business wants the high-net-worth or ultra-high-net-worth client, but I don’t want them because their needs and expectations are greater than what I can, or what I care to, deliver upon,” Latty says.

A number of his clients came to him through his ministry work. In 2005, he co-founded Souly Business, a Christian leadership development ministry for businessmen. “It’s not appropriate for me to prospect those people because it calls into question my motivation for leading the ministry,” Latty explains. “That said, people know what I do for a living, and the majority of my clients the past 10 years have come through the ministry.”

Prior to starting Souly Business, Latty helped form a faith-based organization called Childspring International, which coordinates time and services from hospitals, doctors, host families and airlines to bring sick children in poor nations to the U.S. for treatment.

Latty’s work with Childspring took him to several underdeveloped nations, and he noticed people in places he visited seemed to be at peace despite their deprivations. Then he’d come back home to his relatively affluent Atlanta suburb where people were stressed out and captive to their stuff.

“And I counted myself among them,” he says. “That’s when I started going deeper into what it’s all about. What inspired me to start Souly Business was to create an environment for men to reflect more on the things that are important in life.”

Latty sits on Childspring’s advisory board, but devotes most of his ministry efforts to Souly Business. He estimates he spends 70% of his time on his advisory practice and 30% with the ministry, and he’s pleased with the balance in his life.

“Clients ask about my plans for eventually retiring, and I say I don’t have anything to retire from,” Latty says.