Jim founded Bell Investment Advisors in 1991. Since that time, the firm has enjoyed steady growth, primarily through personal and professional referrals. Jim has appeared as a guest on MSNBC’s Power Lunch, CNN Financial News, and CNBC, and has been interviewed for a variety of online and print media, including Money magazine, mutualfundwire.com, and the San Francisco Business Times. He has appeared on View from the Bay with his wife Bonnie Bell, Principal and Director of Career & Life Coaching for the firm, addressing financial and life planning issues, and with her, writes a regular column in the Piedmont Post called Making a Good Life Happen®. 

Jim derives great satisfaction from the way in which the staff at Bell Investment Advisors has developed into a tightly-knit relationship management and performance team. “I love helping clients pay attention to the quality of their lives as well as the amount of money they have. I am especially proud of having many long-term clients at this point whose children have grown up and become clients as well.” 

Jim earned a degree in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master’s of Divinity from The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He completed the Professional Educational Program of the College for Financial Planning and was awarded the designation of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ in 1992. He has worked in the investment field since 1982 and has served on the board of Financial Planning Association.

Jim and Bonnie actively donate their time and resources to the Oakland Symphony, the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choirs, Cazadero Music Camp, and the Oakland Youth Symphony. Jim has served as Association Chair of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, and with Bonnie leads a Marriage Preparation Team at Newman Hall in Berkeley.