For John Larson, the rewards of being an investment adviser and watching the culmination of his work materialize into comfortable retirements and perpetuation of wealth for his clients are just beginning to take hold. 

“I have people in retirement now who are so appreciative of what we’ve done in preparing them for retirement,” says Larson,  president and CEO of Richards Merrill Wealth Management. “To see that whole process with my clients' lives—starting for me personally 40 years ago, to where we are at today—is very satisfying." 

Even more rewarding for Larson and his brother, company chairman Steve Larson, is building a succession plan for the 100-year-old company that will pass on knowledge to a younger generation and bequeath their clients’ portfolios to advisers they have personally trained and trust, while remaining headquartered in Spokane.

“We don’t want to have (clients) leave and start over when we’re at the most critical part of our lives, which is executing on what they’ve built and now are living off of,” says John Larson. 

Steve Larson echoes his younger brother’s sentiment and adds that Richards Merrill has spurned offers to be bought out from larger firms. Rather than taking the easy paycheck, he was eager to pass on the business to his family, the way their father Dick Larson handed the reins to him and John. 

“I’m so fortunate because when you get to be my age, you worry about your transition, you worry about your career,” Steve Larson says. “It’s been an absolutely wonderful transition for me.” 

While the succession plan will take about seven years to process, Steve and John have named JM Larson, John’s son, and Steve’s son in-law Mark Calkins as successors. 

For Calkins, the opportunity is simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking.

“It’s an honor and a privilege, but it doesn’t come without some sleepless nights,” he says. “I’m just amazed at the opportunity that there is here, but also the legacy of what their dad built.”

JM Larson agrees: “It’s such a privilege to learn from two industry greats,” he says. “I feel like you can learn more spending time with these two guys than you could ever at any gig, so I don’t take that for granted.” 

Richards Merrill Wealth is based on the second floor of the M Building, at 612 W. Main, in downtown Spokane. The company moved there in 2022, after a 70-year tenure at the U.S. Bank Building, formerly the Old National Bank building, on west Riverside Avenue. The company has 13 total employees, including eight advisers and its support staff. In all, Richards Merrill manages north of $1.5 billion in assets for over 3,000 clients, says John Larson. 

A sizable part of that growth happened in the last 15 years as the company grew from $500 million in assets managed in 2009. In 1985 when he first joined Richards Merrill, the company managed about $300 million, he says. 

Richards Merrill was founded in 1924. The Larson family became part of its bedrock in 1947 when Dick Larson joined and went on to take leadership of the wealth management company in the 1980s. 

Evolution 

For decades, Richards Merrill functioned without much technology, says John Larson. When Steve Larson joined in 1982, computers weren't yet being used, and the company relied on newspapers for stock quotes, he says. When technology company IBM first debuted its personal computer, Steve Larson was tasked with purchasing the new technology and learning how to run it, he says. Later came the arrival of the internet, which John Larson helped usher in.

In an industry that's always adapting and evolving with the advent of new technologies, the regulatory environment, and a shrinking workforce, John Larson says staying locally owned and managed has aided Richards Merrill in navigating these changes. 

“It keeps us accountable for everything that we do,” John Larson says. “We’re not following anybody’s lead or chasing anything. Our philosophy is client first. … As long as you do what’s right for your client, everything else will take care of itself.” 

Part of that accountability is demonstrated in client relationships, says Steve Larson. Over the years, the changes in the industry have also come alongside new investment opportunities that seem to promise overnight results. When clients ask him if they should be investing in the latest craze Steve Larson says he likes to calm his clients’ anxieties by letting them know whether he has the same investments. 

“We eat the same lunch is what I often say,” he says. “One thing I like to tell people is if I’m talking to you about stocks, ask me if I own it. You can even ask me how much of it I own. It’s not just guiding people into securities; it’s also talking people out of a lot of situations.”

One recent example is the arrival of Bitcoin. John Larson says it will be up to the new generation of leadership to navigate through the cryptocurrency market. Steve Larson and the other advisers say they don't own any personally. 

"Like (Warren) Buffett said, it's rat poison on steroids. That's how we feel about it," Steve Larson says.  

JM Larson, who joined Richards Merrill two years ago, says the philosophies that his grandfather, Dick Larson, established during his tenure are the ones that are being passed down to him today. Quoting his grandfather from a 1989 Journal of Business article on the company, Dick Larson spoke of how Richards Merrill is “investment oriented, not speculation oriented, we’re not promoters of stock, we’re an old investment firm that deals in fundamentals, we’re promoters of companies, we want to own that company.” 

Looking back at his grandfather’s legacy, he feels those ideals still hold. 

“I thought it was so fascinating reading through this," JM Larson says. "(Because) that has not changed. The world has changed dramatically, technology has changed dramatically. The companies have changed, and we have changed with them, but we’re still looking at the fundamentals of the company. … We’re owning, we’re not speculating."

Another philosophy that John Larson says has aided Richards Merrill has been its focus on being primarily a boutique investment company while partnering with other service providers that specialize in other fields within the financial services industry. 

“We want to prepare our clients for retirement and manage assets and investment goals,” he says. “So partnering with other professionals in our clients’ lives is important, and then we stick to what we do really well.”

When Steve Larson started his career, he worried about how Richards Merrill could compete with other well-known, established firms. Dick Larson would tell him not to worry about others and simply to focus on the clients, and the rest would take care of itself. 

"And he was dead right in the end," Steve Larson says. "Everybody else either failed or merged or got bought out. We're very unique in that sense. Our hope is these guys will continue that trend."