Pros
There is a degree of independence that few other corporate employees will ever have. But remember, despite the hyperbole and kool-aid you are still just a corporate employee. Jones offers great training for licensing, good sales training and very minimal "Financial Advisor" training...but they are very clear about that. "You are here to be a salesperson, not an advisor" is something you will hear upfront. You get support from people who have been out making sales for a while. Some do it for the idea of "paying it forward" others for hopeful recognition when Limited Partnerships come up. Some know something about sales, some don't. Some know something about finances and the markets and some don't. I felt pretty lucky throughout, but I know of others who ended up with completely unhelpful dolts as their trainers and mentors. The company has worked hard to maintain a decent reputation. Not a lot of brand recognition, and not perceived as elite, but people who have heard of the company will generally have a positive association with the brand. The company is hiring to a type, so you will tend to like almost everyone in your training program and your region...if you give them a chance you might find even the biggest dolts are charming.
Cons
This is not just Jones, but basically the job is a numbers game. Meet enough people, ask enough questions, schedule enough meetings. Repeat. However Jones' insistence (until recently) to be commission-only put the advisor in a place where the little ratwheel never stopped. You know on January 1 that you are starting from zero again. Again that's just the sales game, but Jones' model and lack of brand awareness makes it that much harder (in other words, no one will ever walk into your office with money and the brand name will never open up any high-net worth doors for you) . The Jones model is also very numbers oriented on the number of accounts you open. I'm a golden shovel (120 accounts the first year) and double digit accounts every month after that kind of guy. After a few years, I had hundreds of crappy little $50/$100 a month DCA's. Hey, don't get me wrong...those dinky commissions added up, but they also subtracted...because you still have to have some contact with them ( I believe in contacting each of my clients at least every 90 days). Meanwhile, I'm living and working among very affluent clients who have no affinity for Jones. C'est la vie. One of the things you see from the start is how few of your fellow associates, advisors, reps whatever corporate title you get assigned make $100k net. That's because the company places your focus on your "Gross" which is what they get paid. They also want to see you make $18,000 a month gross, which ends up translating into $80K Net. Even at the vaunted segment 4 level (Which I did not reach, but is $27,000/mo gross), you are talking about working exceptionally hard at an exceptionally hard job for less than $120K net. $120k is probably decent pay in the boonies where Jones makes its bread and butter, but if you live in any productive city in the country, and you are willing to work that hard, you will make much more at a more comfortable job. At your summer regional meetings, you will see just how few of your colleagues are making over $100k. I counted and over my five meetings only about 10% of the region hits the century mark or over. After I went independent, a Jones million dollar producer explained the system very clearly and honestly with me: "Look the company puts me out there and tells you "This could be you", but the reality is that every region has one me and forty guys scrambling to make 50k before taxes!" Once I freed my mind from the inanity of "Gross" and focused on "Net", I used Jones training to establish my own truly independent practice and started to really enjoy the net proceeds of the hard work! However you need to build your practice to at least $20-25 million before you can take it with you. And when you do, leave the little accounts behind. Jones is really well set up to deal with small fry and if you want your own practice to succeed you'll want to focus on your bigger fish and their friends. By the way the company talks up the incentive trips. That's great if your idea of a vacation is hanging out with 75 other sales people, all telling you what Big Swinging D's they are. I'd rather go on my own dime with my best friends and family. As far as bonuses...again maybe it works pretty good in the podunks. In a big city with higher rents and secretary salary you have to "Gross" $30k+ a month just to hit break-even. Finally, as far as bennies...forget it. The worst Health plan I have EVER seen. Nice deferred comp plan, Roth 401k is nice too. Flex spending if you need it.