Edward Jones reviews

Safe, conservative firm that sticks to the basics with regard to investing. We offer the same products and services to someone in any town, USA (small town America), that we would to someone in New York City (we have no offices there). It’s plain and simple that people in major cities are more sophisticated investors than small town investors. So they want options, alternative investments, and better research and stock opinions. Middle Market vs. High Net Worth: It’s very hard to attract sophisticated clients who have $ 2 million plus. If they want all mutual funds or stocks fine. But when they start to want a full slate of offerings it’s hard to get them to bring all of their assets to Edward Jones. High net worth clients go to the Merrill, UBS, Morgan Stanley, etc... We get the $200/month person contributing to his IRA. Technology: We are way behind when it comes to technology. In the last few years we just gained the ability to email to non work personnel. Computers are slow and out dated. Door Knocking: Still focused on this method of meeting new people. In small town America this works fine. Small towns offer trust and comfort. You have no problem meeting a stranger at your door and giving him your assets. You may know him from church or see him at the local high school football game. In a major metropolitan area you see news stories all the time about people getting robbed, raped and murdered by home invaders. Why would you open your door and give out personal information to a stranger, yet alone put your retirement accounts with someone who you met at your front door, like he was selling vacuum cleaners.

The opportunity to run your "own" practice is remarkable, but keep in mind you are an employee of the firm and thus forgo rights to legally own the practice you run. You also are held to strict performance standards which if not met will eventually result in termination. The company has established an amazing volunteer effort to train new FAs, which is extremely critical to the recruitment and training process. Tenured FAs volunteer as field trainers and mentors to "train" new FAs. In return for their service, tenured FAs get to establish their participation in unpaid firm activities, which is weighed in the considerations for becoming a firm partner. This is a great responsibility consdiering that they also have to run their practice. In my opinion, some field trainers are spread thin and may not be as helpful to new FAs as the firm expects them to be. The training for new FAs lacks in this area. Lastly, like most sales careers, it takes persistent effort and time to build your practice. The firm requires you to market your services the old-fashioned way, face-to-face, door to door, which they call doorknocking. In my opinion, this is effective but its also hunky dory and may not be the best way to market in some areas.