Financial planner Ted Demars founded what would become family-run Demars Financial Group LLC here in 1973, when he was still doing mostly insurance work, and the handheld electronic calculator was just coming onto the scene.

Though such calculators initially cost upwards of $350, they were 10 times faster than the conventional mechanical calculation tool called a slide rule, when it came to working up insurance rates.

“It sure made life a lot easier,” he says.

Demars Financial Group, in which his son David Demars also is a principal and a financial planner, continues to integrate technological innovations in its services with advanced finance software and often providing live presentations to remote clients, he says.

Ted Demars takes pride in the company’s videoconferencing capabilities, which are convenient for clients who can’t easily travel to the company’s office in east central Spokane.

“They can see exactly what they would see if they were here in the office,” he says of videoconferencing capabilities.

Demars Financial Group has been located in the Tapio Office Center, at 104 S. Freya, for 20 years, and currently occupies 2,500 square feet of office space in the center’s Lilac Flag Building. 

In addition to the two principals, the company employs an investment analyst and a support staff of three people.

Today, Demars Financial Group primarily offers independent advisory investment services, with securities brokered through California-based Crown Capital Securities LP, although life insurance is still an important component of financial and estate planning, he says.

David Demars joined his father’s business in 1996 after having worked several years for the big, London-based Price Waterhouse accounting firm now known as Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

Price Waterhouse had stationed him in Venezuela, where the focus of his work was with oil companies.

“It was demanding more travel,” he says, adding that he was ready to relocate to Washington state when the opportunity arose.

“My father gave me an invitation to join him, and I liked the opportunities he had to work with people,” David Demars says, adding, “I’m still here 21 years later.”

He is one of 11 siblings, and the only one of them to join his father as a professional financial planner.

Adds Ted Demars, “He makes the business certainly better than when I started.”

Most of Demars Financial Group’s clients initially come to the company to work out strategies to “retire and stay retired,” Ted Demars says. Some clients also are looking for tax-savings strategies.

David Demars says prospective clients often approach Demars Financial Group with a number of questions about how to set and attain goals for financial well-being.

After a meeting or two, they often leave the office with greater confidence about integrating financial and estate planning, wealth management, and insurance, with an outlook toward retiring in comfort and leaving behind a legacy, he says. 

“We do our best to work with whatever circumstance the client may be in,” he says. “We have regular meetings with clients and try to match what we think we know about their risk tolerance with what might or might not have changed.”

Ted Demars adds, “We don’t promise to accomplish miracles, but when people come in, we work with what they have.”

Most strategies involve investments in securities, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds, while aligning individual risk tolerance and time horizons.

Many clients also want peace of mind, knowing their spouse will be taken care of in their absence, he says.

“People need life insurance. It’s not our main focus, but it happens,” he says. “When I started the business, we seldom had a death claim,” he says. “Now it’s happening on a very regular basis. … They’re passing on, and we’re seeing the goals we worked for coming to pass.”

Adds David Demars, “Our services are needs based or goals based rather than product based.”

Demars Financial Group generates about 80 percent of its revenue through fees, and 20 percent through commissions, he says.

Today, Demars Financial Group has 400 clients and manages $80 million in client assets, according to the Demares.

David Demars says clients are mostly individuals and small businesses.

New clients often come to Demars Financial Group through referrals from and beneficiaries of longtime clients.

Most clients live in the Pacific Northwest, if not specifically in the Spokane area, although the company’s client base isn’t geographically limited, thanks to videoconferencing technology.

Demars Financial Group also has grown its client base through acquisitions of four other small financial-planning firms.

In its most recent acquisition, it acquired the financial planning business of Peter Bock CFP, of Spokane, in 2012.

Peter Bock has stayed on at Demars Financial Group as its investment analyst.

“His clients had similar needs to ours,” David Demars says. “Transitioning his business into our business was a very good fit for his clients.”

David Demars says he’s comfortable with the current size of the company, although the owners are on the lookout for new clients and growth through acquisition.

“We’re not looking to become the biggest business on the block,” he says.