Largely ignored by big brokerages, where do mass-affluent investors turn to for help in investing their $50-500k? The answer is The Mutual Fund Store, a nationally branded fee-based advisory firm, founded by Adam Bold.

The firm, which manages $3.3 billion in customer assets is the fastest growing investment adviser in the country according to data from Schwab Institutional.

Bold's investment strategy is simple. "We follow managers, not funds," Bold told The MFWire. He believes that some mangers are just better at picking stocks than others.

"What we look for in a manager is consistency and performance," Bold said. "That means that in a good year they make more and in a bad year they lose less."

If a manager that Bold has invested in leaves a fund, then he will re-evaluate his position in it.

This occurred with Margie Patel's departure from Pioneer Investments. Bold says that once Patel gets set up in position at Evergreen he will definitely look into investing in the fund.

Bold doesn't just go for well-known managers like Patel, he also looks for managers of smaller undiscovered funds with great returns.

Someone Bold puts in this category is Brian Barish, manger of the Cambiar Opportunity Fund. Barish's fund has beaten the S&P 500 index every year of its existence. 

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