Very unfair when it comes to how advisors are helped with existing assets to start your business. And, without getting a decent sized "Good Knight Program" your chance of failure increases exponentially. If you don't get a GKP (even though I am supposedly the coveted woman advisor with EDJ and "scratch starts" are something they are working hard to avoid, I did not get one when EVERYONE else who started with me did), it is going to be really tough to make it work and there is nothing you can do to try to change it. Honestly, a lot of it is luck. It depends on who is quitting or retiring, where their offices are, and the age of the advisors in your region. Some of it comes down to politics. None of these things are things you will know or think to ask when you take the job, so you can position yourself accordingly either. I have heard multiple times from management "don't expect fair at Edward Jones. Fairs are for showing pigs" or some other ridiculous pig/fair quip. I am in an affluent area, with extreme solicitor restrictions, so without a GKP I am just about sunk. The only advice I seem to get is "just go knock on more doors!" I feel like nobody is listening. I am an experienced, successful salesperson so somebody SHOULD be, but all you hear is "we have been doing this since the company was founded, and obviously we are doing something right...it works."
So, that brings me to consider leaving to find a company that will help support me with a base book of business and alternative prospecting ideas and strategies. Umm....nope to that too. Edward Jones owns you for 3 years post "can sell date", meaning post passing your exams. If you leave OR get fired and go to work for any company deemed as a competitor or go independent, you owe them $75,000 (may be more now) for training expenses (moderately reduced every few months after month 13), and they will go after you legally if you try to contact any of your clients. EJ is not part of the agreement that allows advisors to freely move between firms that most other firms are part of). So, if your career doesn't take off with Jones, you are pretty much finished as a financial advisor. Period. I understood the agreement when I signed it, but if you want the job you sign it. It is like buying a house or any other major purchase. You are at the mercy of the company offering it, and they aren't going to negotiate. But, you go ahead, take the chance and sign the non-compete thinking that if you 've gotten that far, you can make it work out and it is a great company right?
Bottom line, I should never have given ANY company this much power over my life and career. You don't notice that you gave your power away when things are going well. But when you DO notice, you realize you are dancing with the devil in a jail cell. It has been an absolutely AWFUL 3 years.
