Tim Van Lohuizen and Joe Angelo, the principals at Financial Strategies, a small Post Falls financial-planning and risk-management firm, left larger companies so they could be closer to clients.

Van Lohuizen says he worked at an investment brokerage in which he couldn't do business with any prospective client who had a net worth of less than $500,000 and less than $200,000 to invest.

Such limitations were too exclusive for his liking, so he left the brokerage in 1998 and, with four associates, started Financial Strategies, in Coeur d'Alene, with the goal of providing wealth-management services to ordinary people, he says.

The firm moved three years ago to 1910 E. Schneidmiller Ave. in Post Falls, where it occupies 2,500 square feet of floor space. Today, the firm has four associates and a support staff of four employees in addition to the two owners.

"We're not trying to grow exponentially," he says.

The firm's client base has grown to about 550 clients. The average value of the portfolios managed by the firm is $300,000 to $400,000, Van Lohuizen says, although it has taken on some accounts that started with investments of just $25.

While portfolio values are down for many investors in the current financial market, Financial Strategies has maintained its revenue in this recession by taking on new clients and offering new products and services, Van Lohuizen says.

The firm's revenue stream is derived through insurance premiums it has been generating through risk-management services that it began integrating into its business after Angelo came on board. So far, about 20 percent of the firm's clients have its insurance products in their portfolios, Van Lohuizen says.

Angelo, who bought a half-interest in the business two years ago, says he had worked for 10 years for a national insurer, making "almost meaningless decisions" that he felt were too far removed from clients to be considered personal service.

Van Lohuizen says Angelo's expertise in risk management is helping to fill a growing need at Financial Strategies to protect clients from exposure to liabilities.

Angelo adds, "A lawsuit or a fire could wipe somebody out if a financial plan doesn't integrate the right insurance products."

Most of the firm's clients are retired or are near retirement age. Most come to Financial Strategies through referrals from current customers, Van Lohuizen says.

"We don't charge a fee or expense to sit down and talk," he says. "We just offer to see if we can help, and go from there."

Generally, the firm develops a financial plan after analyzing a prospective client's income, investments, insurance coverage, debts, tax situation, and goals.

Once a financial plan is put together, the client isn't locked into staying with Financial Strategies, Van Lohuizen says.

"When we put a plan together, you can walk out the door with it and shop it around," Angelo adds. "We have no strings that say you can't leave today."

Financial Strategies has the same investment capabilities as the big securities and investment firms, Van Lohuizen says.

Transactions are handled through the Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

"We don't hold clients' assets personally," Van Lohuizen says.

Financial Services gets most of its financial-planning revenue by charging clients about 1 percent of assets managed on an annual basis.

"We're working hard on maintaining relationships with our clients because of what's going on in the market today," Van Lohuizen says. "Last year, we called every client four times to talk about what's going on with their financial plans."

For about the last year and a half, the firm has concentrated on reassuring clients that their financial plans are based on their own cash flow and the income potential of their assets, and that philosophy has withstood other downturns.

"Anyone who says their clients aren't panicking hasn't talked to them this year," Van Lohuizen says. "With the way the financial world is going today, everything needs to be reevaluated."

Despite volatility in the value of clients' individual portfolios, most still are generating income, he asserts.

"That's the philosophy we put forward for all of our clients," he says. "To make sure we take advantage of what the markets give us—not that they're giving us much lately."