Spokane-based Hart Capital Management Inc. has opened an office in Coeur d’Alene, saying that 20 percent of its client base now is in North Idaho.

The company expanded last month into a 2,200-square-foot office space on the main floor of McEuen Terrace at 701 E. Front, in Coeur d’ Alene.

Craig Hart, the investment firm’s president and chief investment officer, says Hart Capital is not only in a better position to serve its existing customers, but the company is now in a better position to build new relationships throughout North Idaho.

“The economy here is growing nicely,” Hart says. “We continue to strengthen relationships with our existing clients and are acquiring new clients who continue moving into our region.”

While Hart Capital is best known regionally for a focus on investment planning and portfolio management, its expanding list of client services include financial, retirement, and estate planning, as well as Social Security analysis, 401K and IRA distribution, and management of funds for life events, such as divorce or inheritance.

Hart Capital is based in a 4,000-square-foot space on the 12th floor of the Chase Financial Center, at 601 W. Main in downtown Spokane.

Now 18 years old, the firm has 10 employees in downtown Spokane and three in its Coeur d’Alene office, he says.

Today, the firm has 300 clients and manages assets exceeding $300 million, more than double the $120 million managed in November 2009.

Additionally, the company tracks and markets what it calls the Hart Composite, which is an index of 10 publicly traded companies in the Inland Northwest similar in design to the S&P 500.

In August, Hart reported that the composite value of those 10 companies rose to $9.8 billion in the second quarter of 2016, an increase of $1.6 billion, or 19 percent, from the previous quarter. It’s the third straight quarter the composite value has risen.

Hart Capital founded the Hart Composite in 2002, and since then, it generally has performed better than the S&P 500, he says.

Hart was raised in Spokane and attended Gonzaga Preparatory School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at the University of Washington, then worked eight years in Seattle as a securities analyst with Shearer/American Express Inc.

He returned to Spokane in 1990 to join Hart & Associates Inc., a commission-based investment brokerage founded by his father, Donald W. Hart. In 1988, he launched Hart Capital Management, a fee-based independent company.

Hart Capital formed one of the state’s first hedge funds, which it dissolved at a profit in 2003. The company is now dedicated to individual managed accounts. 

Hart says the financial industry has undergone a “tectonic shift” in the last two decades.

“Every individual is saddled with managing their own retirement plans today,” Hart says. “Pensions are all but gone, and there’s this new world of ever emerging 401(k)s. People need more and more assistance managing their own savings today.”

Hart says it’s easier to stay abreast of changing markets via the Internet, however, more information makes it harder to process and decipher. 

“The other real challenge today is creating a long-term investment plan in a short-term investment environment,” Hart says.

Hart says the firm’s growth through the years has allowed it to expand its ability to provide additional services to existing and new clients.

Hart is one of four members of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute making up the in-house financial investment research team. The firm also employs its own attorney and certified public accountant.

Hart says he’s hired six new employees since May, including company vice president of business development, Ryan Arnold. 

Arnold, who lives six blocks from the Coeur d’Alene office, most recently served as the entrepreneurship program director for Greater Spokane Incorporated.

Arnold says his previous position with GSI brought him extensive contact with Hart Capital. 

“The firm has always had a team approach to investment management and client relationship,” Arnold says. “But with the growth of our team’s bench, it allows us to be one of the best positioned firms in the region to help our clients reach their financial goals.”

Adds Hart, “We’ve got more than 100 years of collective experience in the investment industry and have built a uniquely client centric investment experience that should endure through the continually shifting landscape of financial markets.”

Hart says he doesn’t believe the outcome of the U.S. presidential election will have a substantial outcome on financial markets.

“The presidential race affects our clients’ psyches depending on who they’re for more than anything else,” Hart says.

“Throughout the history of our country, the financial markets have gone through so many changes regardless of which party occupied the presidency. What we’ve seen is that regardless of the winner, the markets will adjust to the outcome,” Hart says.