Pros
Company has more extensive training than others in brokerage industry, loves you if you are a competitive hetero white male with a wife and kids who can support you, does not force brokers to sell proprietary products, has a conservative investment philosophy that rarely hurts clients (but they don't know what they're missing).. Supportive in terms of offering help from other brokers in the region. Great company for brokers in small towns with no competition.
Cons
They say it's your own business, but it's not, you're an employee and are replaced immediately. All they want you to do is sell, they don't tell you about costs of your office, you don't negotiate your own lease; there are quotas and production requirements, and they often move the line up, no one is safe. The only way to be successful here is to go into a LARGE (not a small) office of someone who left -- and be careful that they didn't jump ship and will take clients. You want the office of a retiree. They have one way to do things -- doorknock, then repeatedly call prospects -- and if you don't want to do that, or it doesn't work in your large or mid-sized city, they don't know what else to do and you must not be doorknocking enough. Just started offering advisory accounts and investments are chosen by home office, there is little choice for broker. They will fire a broker who doesn't have the numbers, give his office to someone who is new, lose a lot of clients who liked the old broker, and it'll take 2+ years for the new guy to get to where the od guy was before they canned him, plus clients are lost and damage done to brand. That's the biz, though. They're not the only ones who do it.