In the meantime, he says, the firm has been adding clients because of its value approach. "For those who are value investors, this is the time we earn our money. A lot of what we do is income-based. The environment for income investing has improved."

Wernau, who has $22 million under management, says that the new clients have come in even though the firm's assets were marginally down in the first quarter. He cites word-of-mouth from existing clients and business networking meetings.

Wernau admits that financial advisors may not be out of the woods. If CD interest rates rise, a client could decide to move all his assets to a bank for a higher yield.

To keep this from happening, he has turned to education-carefully discussing risks with his clients. He also has access to CDs through his relationship with Fidelity. For now, he says, he can get a straight triple-A municipal bond at 4.8%. "Why would I invest in a taxable CD?"

More people have been getting fed up with their advisors not giving them any service, he says. "Advisors are asleep at the wheel by never returning phone calls."

It was a heart-thumping St. Patrick's Day this year when the market dipped close to 20% from its October peak, recalls Bart Schannep of Tucson, Ariz., whose firm Schannep Investment Advisors manages assets of a couple hundred million dollars.

But, like a number of other registered investment advisors, Schannep viewed the market dip and blaring headlines about the worsening economy as a business-builder. "When the market is strong, nobody needs us because everybody can be brilliant," he says. "When we start getting new accounts is when the market has difficulty."

Schannep, a former brokerage branch manager, took to the phones in March to reassure clients. The average bear market drops only 33%, he told them, and the market around St. Patrick's Day was down less than that. "We can't see the future. Neither can they. Until then, we need to count on this being an average bear market. We were trying to manage expectations then," he says.

Amid the turmoil, Schannep recently obtained his certified wealth strategist certification, offered by the Cannon Financial Institute in Athens, Ga. It's particularly worthwhile for financial advisors dealing with older clients, he says, because it emphasizes estate planning more than the CFP designation.
Both clients and assets rose after the drop. "We were just amused that we brought in almost $1 million of new money yesterday from four different clients-unsolicited!" he reported on May 13. "It was money that would have been at E*Trade."

After getting statements at the end of March, clients who already had money with him brought more. All that money should have been discovered in the initial client interview, Schannep acknowledges. But it's a common phenomenon. Many wealthy clients simply don't want to put all their eggs in one basket. So even when they're asked, they don't immediately acknowledge all the money they have.