Simon Baker, the founder of Baker Avenue Asset Management, got his start managing wealth at big Wall Street firms.

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But the U.K.-born money manager bristles when presented with arguments for the traditional "buy and hold" methodology still touted by his various alma maters.

"I don't want to be coy or anything, but I think people are tired of seeing these same commercials and seeing these same adverts," says Baker. "It's like that expression of putting lipstick on the pig. People are like, 'Wait a second, you can change the quote but it looks exactly the same and tastes exactly the same.'"

With characteristic British drollness, he refers to a marketing campaign by Charles Schwab: "It's not 'Talk to Chuck;' it's 'Chuck Up.'"

Of course, Baker's San Francisco-based firm is also in the business of managing people's money — albeit on a much smaller scale than Chuck, Fidelity or Vanguard, where the "buy and hold" catch phrase originated and flourished. Baker manages $600 million in assets, vs. $1.4 trillion to $3.3 trillion at the titanic buy-side firms.

But unlike its bigger competitors, Baker Avenue managed to earn strong returns throughout the financial crisis and its ensuing volatility, by exiting the stock market when equity prices began to flounder.

In fact, Baker Avenue ranked No. 1 in referrals and assets raised through Fidelity, its custodial partner, in 2009 and so far this year.

Baker Avenue's assets have grown in each year since its founding in 2004 and the firm touts a 53% return over that span, vs. a broader market return of 2%. Simon Baker attributes the performance to his fearless ability to park assets in cash—something unheard of during the boom times, but assuring for investors today.

Baker Avenue held cash for 10 months during the rocky times of 2008, which doesn't sound all that alluring to investors who need to play catch-up on with 401(k)s. Yet the firm says its All Cap Core strategy still managed to capture 104% of the S&P 500's upside for the past five years and just 34% of the downside by getting out ahead of big crashes—including the "flash crash" of May 6.

Baker, who began his career at Morgan Stanley

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[MS  Loading...      ()   ] in 1994, and Baker Avenue's Chief Investment Officer King Lip developed a market-sentiment indicator to warn of coming sell-offs over a decade ago. The two honed their skills in the wealth-management divisions of Bank of America

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[BAC  Loading...      ()   ] and the one-time investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, which was acquired by Credit Suisse

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[CS  Loading...      ()   ] in 2000.

Baker and Lip spoke with TheStreet about their "buy and hold" alternative and how average investors can capture upside the Baker Avenue has in recent years: