Pottle Financial Services, Inc

Pottle Financial Services, Inc. is a solo independent registered investment adviser managing roughly $62 million in discretionary assets for about 45 client relationships, including individuals, families, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, endowments, pension and profit-sharing plans, and small businesses. The firm provides discretionary portfolio management and incorporates a basic level of financial planning (a net worth overview and retirement projection) into its services when requested.

The sole adviser employs both fundamental and technical/charting analysis and describes a value-at-purchase, growth-oriented investment philosophy with diversified portfolios, a preference for long-term security purchases and individual bonds held to maturity. Short-term trades and strategies such as short sales, margin and options are available only upon client request; the firm custodizes assets at Fidelity and generally executes trades for individual accounts rather than routinely aggregating block trades.

Noteworthy for a small independent practice, the firm explicitly serves corporate and small-business clients — a client type that is uncommon among solo advisers — and the adviser also operates a separate consulting company that provides financial analysis to small- and mid-size non-public companies, which may produce shared clients despite no formal referral arrangement. The adviser serves as co-trustee on three client accounts, a relationship the firm treats as custody and which has prompted compliance measures including a surety bond and subjecting the firm to surprise examination requirements.