Pros
Unlimited compensation potential.For most people starting new (Level-New), the onboarding and training process is head and shoulders above what you'll see at other large firms. During the hiring process, you'll do a business plan; a 'virtual day in the life' assessment, and at least three phone/in-person interviews. Edward Jones will then extend an offer. Day one, while studying to take the Series 7 and 66 exams, you'll be paid an hourly wage. 40 hours is recommended for study time, but you can do extra hours and get paid time and one half for additional work you put in (wink-wink). Once you pass the exams, you'll go to either St Louis, MO or Tempe, AZ for your "Know your Customer" training. Following this training, you'll be expected to hit the streets, making 25 contacts per day. At this point, you'll be on salary, but ineligible to earn commissions until you complete a requisite number of contacts over a 5-6 week period. You'll be told that you can make these contacts any way you deem necessary, but the only true way you'll get 25 quality contacts per day is by going door-to-door. In order for a contact to be considered "quality", you must have a name, a phone number, and permission to contact them. This last part is very important because these are the people you'll be calling on when you go back for "Launch your Practice" which is essentially a glorified graduation where you can officially call yourself a Financial Advisor. After evaluation-graduation. you still won't know a whole lot about being a financial advisor, though you will have mastered making contacts, handling objections, and setting appointments. Then, over the next 17 weeks, you'll work under the mentorship of an experienced Financial Advisor. You'll have a home-office coach, a field trainer, a level-leader, and anyone else you decide to take advice from. This firm is really well known for its helping culture. Just about any other FA will help you...but you have to ask.
Cons
Lead generation is cold-calling; primarily door-to-door. The decision on how you will start will be delegated to the leadership in the region you join. Here are a few examples: A. You start new. Nobody shares anything. You create your book of business. You keep what you kill and watch others joining the firm after you pass you in earnings. This is what we call New-New and it is very difficult to start this way, though the home office swears that many successful advisors build their business this way. B. Somebody quits because they've started as type "A", and you take over that book. You'll spend a great deal of time convincing clients that you aren't a quitter, but you'll be held to a higher production standard since you received these assets. Might as well be A. C. If you are lucky, perhaps you've demonstrated your determination during the 17 weeks and another FA (or several FAs) pool some assets and clients to get you started. By the way, these won't be people they enjoy working with; however, you may have better chemistry with the clients. That doesn't mean you've made it though. You'll need to continue door-knocking and asking for referrals until your business is profitable and sustainable for you. Keep in mind that your salary will drop off at year 5 and your highest ever commission will be 40% of revenue. There is a suggestion that you should have gathered $26 Million in assets by year 5 to be successful. Here's some math on that: 1. $26 Million (assume that half is in Guided Solutions) 2. $13 Million X 1.35% = $175,500 x 40% = $70,200 to you 3. There may also be residuals from the other half of your book, but keep in mind that stocks, bonds, CDs, and other investments only pay once. So, once you sell a $1M in 30-year municipal bonds, you're never getting paid on that asset again. D. You are the chosen one. EDJ recruited you from another firm where you might be able to bring assets over. (By the way, Edward Jones will sue you if you leave and try to take clients, but they'll darn sure poach from other firms.) You'll never knock on a single door. FAs in category C will resent you a bit, but those in A or B will hate your guts. E. You are the family member of a retiring FA, or you come from a line of Edward Jones royalty. Don't worry, you'll never knock on a door, you'll advance profitability levels very quickly as you are handed tens of millions of $ in assets to work with. You'll quickly surpass people in categories A, B, and C, even though you joined the firm three years after they did. You'll be lauded for the business you've built and encouraged to mentor those beneath your level of production. You'll make over $200K per year to start and those poor schleps who were 'successful' at building a business will be happy with their $70K at year 5.