In the early 1990s, three recent college graduates took an unusual path to building careers as investment advisers: they teamed up to manage retirement plans for public and private corporations. Soon they were advising big investment banks in New York, handling multimillion-dollar plans. Eventually, they went on to form Sterling Global Strategies, a well-respected investment advisory firm.

Now, one of these three men, author Mark Eicker, shares the partners' inspiring story, their strategies for investment success, and important lessons they learned from some of their mistakes.