The young firm added 100 clients to its base in the past two years and will grow from nine to 14 staff members this year. Although it services clients with small portfolios, the typical client has $200,000 to $20 million in investable assets. In addition to nearly $100 million in assets under management, First Genesis is responsible for $340 million in protection products, such as insurance, for clients.

"We want to acquire new clients and add relationships with advisors who share our philosophy of serving the community, but we want people to become clients for life," says Sanders. "We want to under-promise and over-deliver. I loved the financial services industry in the past, but it is even better now, in part because of changes in technology that make it more efficient and easier to provide services. We can reach the global investment marketplace at the same time that we have been able to carve out a local niche of clients, and there is something magical about seeing our clients reach their goals."

In order to help clients reach those goals, First Genesis concentrates on a wide mix of asset allocation, including global investments. "We make sure the portfolio is global and that our client also understands where bonds and stocks fit in and where they need alternative assets," Sanders explains. "You need a good mix of traditional and nontraditional asset classes, not just 60% stocks and 40% bonds. You also need international equities and bonds, and some of that needs to be in emerging markets and some in established."

Sanders feels strongly that a diverse portfolio can include growth opportunities in countries such as China and India, and at the same time markets such as Ghana in Africa, which has a strong stock exchange and where First Genesis "has friends on the ground."  The firm's emerging market plays include investments in growing infrastructure, but First Genesis also likes commodities such as gold, corn used for ethanol production, and the wheat and soy needed for growing populations.

"With some people, we start with education: How do stocks and bonds react in a bull or bear market, and how do you take advantage of this? What does the Federal Reserve Board really mean to the individual? If there is a recession, should you move or reallocate resources?" Sanders asks. "If you are a client of ours, we began to anticipate the recession in the market a year ago, and we began to move more into commodities."

Fees at First Genesis vary by services provided. Asset management costs range from 70 basis points to 185 basis points. The client mix is about 40% small and medium-size business owners, 40% retirees or near-retirees and 20% institutions and individuals. If a client desires it, the firm will screen investments for a variety of social concerns, taking into account religious beliefs, concern for the environment, a client's union involvement or their desire to avoid "sin" products.

Even though part of First Genesis' target audience is near-retirees, the firm has recruited young people, such as Christopher Glover, 30, who is now senior investment analyst. "I was on a trading desk of a municipal bonds firm with 50 traders and 2,000 agents. I and one colleague made up the entire minority membership of the firm. I needed a mentor, and Steve was that person," remembers Glover. "He gave me guidance and then we talked about First Genesis. Steve said he did not want me to work 'for' him, he wanted me to work 'with' him. Everything at First Genesis is about individual success and personal growth and responsibility."

Sanders adds, "One of the challenges for a young person is working with a client twice his age. We have advisors dealing with people their grandmother's age. I have spent a lot of time training young people so they are willing to listen. We say clients who know us will like us and will trust us because of our depth of knowledge."

Two types of clients tend to show up on First Genesis' doorstep: those new to wealth management who are frustrated by the prospect of investing and those who are dissatisfied with their current investment returns. "But sometimes it is not a dissatisfaction with the returns, but a lack of communication on the part of the advisors," Sanders says. "For those who are overwhelmed by the prospect, we revert to an old African proverb. 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.' We prioritize, and then we chip away a little at a time."

One First Genesis client also relies on an old saying to explain his involvement with, and enthusiasm for, the firm. "My father used to say there were preachers who were so busy doing the Lord's work, they never had time to pray," explains Dr. Bernard E. Anderson, a nationally known economist and author who was the first African-American to earn tenure at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. "I am an economist and have served in academia and the public sector and private sector, but I never paid enough attention to managing my own money."