Todger Anderson's mind turned to the famous investor, the late Sir John Templeton, as the Dow closed on Friday, ending its worst week ever.

"One of his principles was to buy at the point of maximum fear," the chairman of Denver Investment Advisors said in his office overlooking Coors Field. "That's really easy to say and damn tough to do. Of course nobody knows when it is."

Anderson, like everyone else, has seen his firm's portfolios get hammered amid a financial crisis. The Dow fell more than 18 percent in the past week alone.

Anderson's job is to serve as mentor to a team of stock and bond fund managers, keeping everyone cool during a stressful time, posing tough questions and trying to find opportunities in a sea of battered stocks.

"It's very important to remember that all of the financial panics we've had since 1928 are built into the rate of return numbers we look at in stocks and bonds, and it assumes you hang in there," said Anderson, who has been with the firm for 32 years.

Seeking to prevent further losses for investors after a period that has left some of the company's Westcore stock funds down more than 40 percent over the past year while being ready for gains is a tricky balance.

The company's managers and analysts have been working late, scrutinizing balance sheets and bouncing ideas off each other in heated hallway discussions.

"It's exhausting," Anderson said as he walked around his office making introductions. "You are being pushed by what you see happening in the market, by trying to think creatively, by clients, by fellow employees."

The firm's assets under management hovered around $9 billion at the end of June. The value of its holdings has dropped since, along with the market, though Anderson said few clients have bailed out.

Taking a deep breath after the markets closed, some of the stock fund managers said they had been busy buying.

One analyst, Mark Adelmann, said he realized as he made his way to Starbucks Friday that his job was like crossing 17th Street diagonally.

"Cars are coming and going in four different directions and you don't know which way to look," said the stock picker, who focuses on the financial sector.

Mark McKissick, a bond specialist at the company, said managing money these days is like being in the middle of a grueling race "when the pain is high."

"Are we worried about the market taking another leg down and performance being bad or are we more worried about missing the opportunity that exists?" he asked. "It's more about missing the opportunity. So we are going to try not to miss it. We intend to catch it."

Originally published by James Paton, Rocky Mountain News.

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