.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} They met by happenstance more than 15 years ago and have been working together ever since. Now, Jamie Cross and Troy Christensen are beginning a new chapter of their professional relationship by starting a new company, Integrated Financial Solutions.

“We’re a great team,” Cross said. “I feel really blessed and fortunate that we met.”

Until May 4, both men, and their staff of one part-time and two full-time employees, were members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Cross said he and Christensen had talked for many years about one day going out on their own, but six months ago the talk became serious.

“There were changes we wanted to make that wouldn’t have been possible at a large company,” he said.

“I use the analogy of a big boat trying to turn around in a harbor,” he continued. “It would have been a slow-moving process that we don’t have to worry about as a small firm.”

It was just finally time to strike out on their own, Cross said.

The new financial planning business’s No. 1 priority is client satisfaction, Cross said. So when he and Christensen decided to start IFS, they knew they would succeed or fail based on the reaction of their clients.

“We’ve been very lucky that the response has been wonderful,” Cross said. “For us, these aren’t just business relationships. We’ve built our client base for more than a decade, so many of them have become our friends.”

Cross said forming those relationships with clients makes the financial planning process a partnership and a collaboration.

“It’s all based on trust,” he said. “They have to get to know us to understand we will always have their best interests in mind. Trust is the key.”

The company’s freedom to innovate because of its small size is also an advantage, Cross said.

“We can be very nimble,” he said. “We have all the resources at our disposal that we’ve always had, but now we have the ability to take it all in and change course much more freely.”

Cross said that though he loves the office space IFS has on University Avenue in Clive, he knows that if the company grows, they may have to leave. But with Cross and Christensen being Iowa natives, he knows he will always stay in the Des Moines market.

“I love it here,” he said. “This is a great place to live and do business. I would never dream of leaving.”