They train well over 20,000 advisors per decade, yet only have a little more than 12,000 employed there, most of whom are not new. Can you say, "meat grinder" and "financial ruin?" Because that is the reality for the vast majority of people they hire as financial advisors. Other cons are that Edward Jones engages in investment banking, manufactures proprietary products, and has preferred products, meaning financial institutions share revenue with Edward Jones and their advisors in exchange for shelf space, face time with advisors (information bias) and subsidize their extravagant, semiannual diversification trips. Think about that from a consumer standpoint: do you want your advisor to only be concerned with the best option in the world, or do you want them to routinely show you solutions that academics, journalists, and history continually demonstrate to be inferior? What these conflicts of interest means is that every time you as an Edward Jones advisor say you do what is best for the client, you are either naïve or lying because doing what is best for a client means terminating these conflicts of interest regardless of the consequences and holding yourself and your firm out as a fiduciary at all times. The reality is that as an employee of Edward Jones, you are a salesman, not a professional advisor and will always be limited in your profession by this affiliation. You work for and look out for the interests of Edward Jones, and clients systematically come in second. The saddest thing: Edward Jones is the absolute best national full service brokerage hands down. It is a fantastic profession, but I would encourage job seekers in this particular industry to look for a professional career path, not a sales career path. The best opportunities are with local independent firms and RIAs, not national brokerage firms. They may not have national hiring campaigns, but that is where the real money and quality is. Doing so will provide you with far more security, income and pride.
