Bent started his Wall Street career as a managing partner at LF Rothschild and Company Inc. Two years later, he began working at the pension firm, TIAA-CREF, where he met his eventual business partner, Brown. In 1968, the pair created their own firm, Brown & Bent. In August 1969, while brainstorming about investment vehicles, Bent posed the idea for a mutual fund that could offer rates of return while allowing for zero market risk. The idea was to give investors immediate liquidity and safety for their money above all else.