The investment motto for the wealthiest small-business owners could well be this: Out with the old, in with the flexible and the cheap.

According to a new survey of almost 1,800 small-business owners, nearly one third report having investment portfolios above $250,000. The analysis, conducted by the American City Business Journals—the publisher of 40 weekly business newspapers around the country as well as Portfolio.com—shows a cautious return of optimism in these owners’ investment plans.

Most strikingly, the survey shows that an increasing number of them are turning away from traditional, full-service brokerage companies, choosing instead to rely on independent advisers and mutual funds.

(Click here for an interactive look at the changing financial planning of those with portfolios greater than $250,000.)

“We’ve seen new clients come in with big and beautiful investment plans from big wire houses that have lost substantial value,” says Karl Mills, president of Jurika, Mills & Keifer, an investment advisory firm in Oakland, California.

The loss in value has been drastic indeed: The average portfolio of the wealthy small-business owner shrunk by 18 percent on average, and their net worth fell by 10 percent in 2009, the survey shows.

Among affluent owners using financial planners, 51 percent got some investment products from full-service brokerages back in 2008. In 2010, that percentage is down to 39. During that same period, independent financial advisers, employee retirement plans, and financial-services firms gained considerable traction as providers of financial products (see graphic).

“The big problem is that these big wire firms were selling investment management as a product and were offering paint-by-the-number plans based on a backward-looking view of the world,” says Mills. “Many investors were told to buy and hold, stay the course. Now these investors want someone with an active point of view.”

Brodie L. Cobb, managing director of wealth adviser Presidio Financial Partners, based in San Francisco, says he constantly hears from prospective clients who have become deeply dissatisfied with their full-service brokerages.

The wire-house business model is “like going to a restaurant and having them tell you what to have for dinner,” he says. “Wealthy individuals have many other options and are looking for customized advice that’s thoughtful and transparent.”

While they're looking at more options, a significantly higher percentage of affluent owners—52 percent versus 42 percent—rank themselves as “highly experienced/experienced” investors.

“Having gone through the economic crisis, these investors have gained a new confidence in their financial-planning skills,” says Godfrey Phillips, ACBJ's vice president for research.

Last year, for example, 26 percent of those using a professional planner and 63 percent of those going it alone indicated that they feel they manage their investments better than any financial planner. This year, those percentages rose to 36 percent and 67 percent.

Looked at through the lens of retirement, 49 percent of those investors operating on their own say they have enough money to retire, while 42 percent of those who rely on planners reached the same conclusion. But when ACBJ asked if the business owners had a "solid financial plan" in place for their retirement, the sides shifted with 73 percent of those who use financial players saying yes, compared with 69 percent on those who don't use such outside help.

“We sensed more confidence, maybe even some bravado, among the business owners who didn’t use planners,” Phillips says. “They were saying they were more in charge of their money.”

(Click here to read more about the survey of affluent small- to midsize-business owners.)