Scary it might have been, but Tonkinson had a few things in his favor, including an impressive work ethic, a supportive family, access to a mentor, a proven ability to further his education as circumstances required and, it might be argued, a substantial account in the bank of good karma. Since starting out as a paperboy at age 12, Tonkinson had always held some kind of job. He worked through his undergraduate years at Penn State, where he earned a B.S. in business administration, and became a Peace Corps volunteer in Bogotá, Colombia, right after graduation. Stints in asset-based lending at CIT and trust management at Manufacturers Hanover preceded his move to First Union.

The nexus of his family support was wife Margarita, at the time a graduate student at UM. She would later join him in RT&A, as would their son, Steven, who now manages the firm's Coral Gables branch and its office of supervisory jurisdiction. The mentor was his cousin, a former teacher who'd launched a successful CFP practice in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Having completed MBA and MPA degrees in his "spare time" over the previous decade, Tonkinson wasn't fazed by the 12- to 14-hour days he knew would be required to earn his Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Life Underwriter credentials while working full time.

And then there was the karma thing. For many years before launching his firm, Tonkinson was a regular at Shorty's Barbecue, a Miami landmark famous for good, cheap eats. He always made it a point to sit in the section served by Wilma, a longtime waitress whom he describes as "a lovely woman, a grandmotherly type," and he always over-tipped her, even when it left him broke for the rest of the day.

Finding clients is a challenge for most new businesses; so, too, for Tonkinson in the early days. When a friend gave him a tip about a Florida Power & Light meter reader he knew who was retiring after 41 years, Tonkinson went and knocked on his door. It was answered by the meter reader's wife, none other than Wilma herself.

The door Wilma really opened was to the vast market for retirement plan rollovers by FP&L employees. Today, RT&A captures about 30% of that market, and much of the rest of its client roster consists of BellSouth/AT&T workers, police officers, teachers and people employed in similar professions. The firm has no minimum account requirement and will not accept any account over $2 million. "I know I'm almost contrarian to the industry standard in that regard, but I just don't want the drama and personality issues that come with high-net-worth clients," he says. "I'm from the blue-collar world. I'm made of the same stuff."

Also contrarian is RT&A's fee structure, one-twelfth of 1% charged monthly, with no minimum time commitment. The firm's business model has evolved to provide its blue-collar investors with the kind of service and advice that would require an account balance ten times larger at a big bank or brokerage. That engenders a tremendous amount of customer loyalty. "We manage expectations as much as we manage money," Tonkinson says. "We try to under-promise and over-perform. That kind of focus is lacking in much of the industry."

A benefit of RT&A's conservative approach to money management is that its clients' portfolios generally fare better than the overall market during periods of steep decline. Tonkinson called the recession and the subprime mortgage fiasco early in 2008, pulling out of stocks and bonds on January 23. "A lot of people thought we were nuts at the time, but not so much in hindsight," he quips. He stayed in cash until April 2009, so his clients were also spared the impact of AIG, Lehman et al. He pulled off a similar performance in 2001, exiting equities following the dot-com crash.

"We were in cash and government bonds on 9/11 and so missed the ensuing 30% market drop," he relates. "We looked like geniuses, but it was really just a reflection of our underlying risk management strategy. Clients were calling me up, wondering why they weren't losing money. As a result of that, word started to spread that Rick Tonkinson doesn't maximize your profits, but he minimizes your losses. That is what we are all about. We are boring and dull, and if that is what you want, talk to us."

Tonkinson puts his own money where his mouth is when it comes to spreading the wealth. He and his family are major donors to and supporters of an array of charitable causes, both personally and through the Rick Tonkinson Family Charitable Trust.
Among the beneficiaries of that largesse are the University of Miami, the Diabetes Research Institute, the Rotary Foundation, the Miami Performing Arts Center and the Florida Grand Opera. "One of the greatest rewards of our success is the opportunity it's provided us to be generous and to help others," he says. "That's really what it's all about."

To be sure, Tonkinson believes the challenges facing retirement security are a long way from solved. In fact, he characterizes the situation as having the potential to become a national crisis. Since many of his clients have pensions, they can sustain somewhat higher withdrawal rates than individuals forced to live off their portfolios alone.