The operators of the Spokane-based private investment firm Richards, Merrill & Peterson say they take great pride and pleasure not in the amount of assets it oversees, but in the diversity and size of its client base.

The firm oversees more than $800 million in assets, and firm President John Larson believes it will surpass the $1 billion mark in the next few years. Larson, one of four partners at the firm, says it has more than 3,300 clients.

“We pride ourselves in helping just about anyone, from high net-worth individuals and families to young investors just starting out in life,” says Larson.

And historically, he says, Richards, Merrill & Peterson has always recruited clients from beyond the Spokane metropolitan area and Spokane County.

“We’ve got clients in Adams, Grant, and Lincoln counties. This firm has always made it a mission to make sure farming and rural community members had an opportunity to invest their resources,” he says.

Larson says at least 20 percent of the firm’s total client base lives outside metro Spokane.

Seth Richards and Arthur Blum founded the firm on July 27, 1923, making it the oldest independent, locally owned investment firm in Spokane, Larson says. 

Richards, Merrill & Peterson is located in the U.S. Bank Building, at 422 W. Riverside, in 6,500 square feet of office space near the skywalk that spans Riverside Avenue and connects the U.S. Bank Building with the Paulsen Center.

Larson and his brother, Steve Larson, along with Monique Corigliano and Tom McDonald, are the firm’s partners. Steve Larson is the CEO, and Corigliano serves as the firm’s investment adviser. McDonald is vice president and CFO.

The partners are among a total staff of 10 employees, seven of whom are financial advisers, and three make up its administrative staff. 

After Richards and Blum founded the firm, Beardslee Merrill came aboard later in the 1920s, and Hall Peterson joined the company in 1930. Peterson recruited Dick Larson, John and Steve’s father, to the firm in 1947.

In 1953, Larson began buying into the company when Richards sold some of his stock. Larson started managing the company in 1962 and was majority owner for several years.

Despite the firm’s name, the surname with the longest running history at the firm is Larson. Steve Larson succeeded his father in that position in the early 1980s, and eight years ago, John Larson assumed the role of president, while Steve became the CEO. Steve Larson’s son-in-law, Mark Calkins, joined the firm three years ago.

“Our family’s connection to this firm is what I think gives us a unique quality compared to other firms in our area,” John Larson says. “It’s not our family business, but the environment here is family like.”

He adds, “There’s an institutional memory we have of our clients. Through the years, all of us—and not just Larsons—have worked really hard in getting the firm to where it is today.”

McDonald has worked at the firm for 25 years, and Corigliano, who once was an auditor and became familiar with Richards, Merrill & Peterson’s accounts in that capacity, has been with the firm since 2000, Larson says.

Alex LeFriec, who joined the firm as an investment adviser at the beginning of 2016, says for now, the firm will continue to keep the name Richards, Merrill & Peterson because of its name recognition.

Larson says the firm’s approach to investing for clients is one that has remained conservative, steady, and consistent through the years.

“Whether it was Black Monday in ’87, the nonevent Y2K, the dot-com bubble, 9-11, or the Great Recession, we stay the course, whether it’s in those crises or in flourishing times a little like now,” he says.

Says Larson, “My father taught us that investing is a marathon and not a sprint.”

What has aided firm employees in an unprecedented way, he says, was the decision five years ago to hire St. Louis-based First Clearing LLC, which offers software support, research and planning tools, and cybersecurity expertise to investment firms, Larson says.

“That decision brought us into the 21st century unlike anything else we’ve done,” Larson says. “We were handling our own back office duties, if you will.”