Few investment newsletters have done better for their readers over the past two decades than The Prudent Speculator. As of June 30, Hulbert Financial Digest had The Prudent Speculator in the top spot for investment newsletters over the past 10 and 20 years.

Buckingham -- who says he's been accused of never meeting a stock he didn't like -- believes in broad diversification. Although the company doesn't invest based necessarily on market capitalization, the Al Frank Fund is classified as a small cap value fund by Morningstar, largely because many small companies happen to be undervalued in Buckingham's view. He will buy mid- and large-cap stocks if he finds them to be inexpensive. Whatever the fund buys tends to stay as a holding for quite awhile: the average stock in Buckingham's fund is held for six years.

The Al Frank Fund has a mixed record since it began in 1998. According to research firm Morningstar, the Al Frank Fund's returns exceeded the small cap value average in 1999 and 2001, while falling below in 1998 and 2000. So far this year, the Fund is down almost 28 percent, after a 30 percent gain last year.

Buckingham started at the very bottom of the financial world with a two week part-time stint as a stock broker's assistant. After realizing that "stock broker's assistant" was a euphemism for cold-caller, Buckingham used a connection made in those two weeks to land an entry-level position with legendary value investor Al Frank shortly before graduating in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and a minor in business administration from the University of Southern California.

After more than two years as an assistant stock analyst, Buckingham was named Research Director in October 1989 and began writing stock commentary for the Al Frank newsletter. In 1990, Buckingham became Al Frank Asset's chief portfolio manager and the newsletter's associate editor. By 1995, Buckingham was an officer of Al Frank Asset Management and a minority owner of the business. In 1998, Buckingham launched The Al Frank Fund, a value-oriented mutual fund that he has managed ever since.

Buckingham recently became president of Al Frank Asset Management and editor of The Prudent Speculator. Buckingham and his team presently follow more than 1,000 stocks for money-management clients and subscribers to The Prudent Speculator.