COEUR d'ALENE - A Lake City financial adviser not only made the list of the Barron's top 1,000, he made it to the top of the list in Idaho, and was the focus of the story.

"It was more than I would have imagined," said Dan Pinkerton, president of Pinkerton Retirement Specialists in Riverstone.

Following several phone interviews, the company was featured in the Feb. 22 issue of the financial industry magazine. Also ranking among the top five in the state was Janice Baldwin of Merrill Lynch in Coeur d'Alene, who moved to the fourth spot from the fifth in 2009.

"Coeur d'Alene beat Boise," where the other three were located, Pinkerton said. "It's quite the privilege."

Pinkerton, which has 19 employees with clients in 25 states, is an independent company affiliated with LPL Financial, the fifth-largest financial services company. Pinkerton uses a proprietary "automated exit strategy" system to analyze markets and move assets.

"There is no reason to stay on a sinking ship," Pinkerton said.

The company manages $251 million in assets, and the typical net worth of clients is $2 million, Barron's reported. A minimum portfolio of $500,000 is required to become a client.

Founded in Anchorage, Alaska, where Pinkerton was born and raised, the company relocated to Coeur d'Alene in 1997, with six employees.

"Last year our four advance and protect diversified portfolios averaged 22 percent in returns, with proactive exit strategies built in," Pinkerton said. "Having a disciplined sell strategy is rare in this industry, and that is what we specialize in."

Pinkerton Retirement Specialists is a comprehensive wealth management and planning company that weighs a dozen factors each day to determine where to place clients' assets.

"You name it," Pinkerton said. "Stocks, bonds, annuities, hedge funds."

Though he guessed there was more in the works when Barron's told him he was in the running for the top state spot, he was not notified until the day of publication of how big a part he played in the story.

"When it came out I was grateful," he said.

Client retention was among the criteria Barron's used to make its selections, and Pinkerton is not about to neglect any of his existing clients, even though numerous inquiries resulted from the story.

The company sent out some information packets, but "We have made a commitment to limit new clients," he said. "We screen by assets and realistic expectations and realistic goals."

PRS is also unique in having most of its staff licensed, and having its own research team that developed strategies over the course of years.

"What Barron's was looking for was the makeup of the company, that makes us different from others," Pinkerton said.

Because of corporate and legal restrictions, Baldwin was unable to comment on the story prior to Press deadline.