It takes confidence, connections, and conviction to set up a mutual fund and there's little doubt that Marshall Berol and Malcolm Gissen have all three. The duo are among the advisors who have successfully leveraged these attributes to venture out beyond running money privately or outsourcing money management and into the big, broad universe of public money management in the form of running a 40 Act mutual fund.
While names like Ron Muhlenkamp and regular IA contributor Ben Warwick come to mind as advisors who've made that journey, Gissen and Berol are quick to admit that it is not an easy path to follow. But being experts in particular areas such as real estate, precious metals, and natural resources (the same areas in which they are invested) and having strong connections both with brokerage firms and industry players helped the duo tremendously and gave them both confidence and conviction in their style of investing, and in the belief that their mutual fund brings something new to the table.