Best Places to Work

According to whom? How does it go…Ignorance is bliss.

Hey Spammer, either post this propaganda in “general” or “What’s up at the firms”.  I don’t need to vomit twice.

Best place to work as long as you are handed a 50 million dollar office.

How could it not be one of the best places to work - what other firm gives you the ability to provide yourself with an 81% pay raise while not providing a payout raise to slaves who earn the money?

I would vote in favor of that too!

I remember Bachman saying that the IR’s were the “profit center” of the firm. He was’nt lying, we did all the work and the GP’s kept all the profits! Best Place to work…right.

You guys are hillarious...

Edward Jones - 2005-2006

#1 place to work in Indiana

#1 place to work in Indiana

#1 place to work in Kentucky

#1 place to work in Hawaii

#2 place to work in New Jersey

#3 place to work in Rhode Island

#1 full-service brokerage SMART MONEY MAGAZINE

#1 Brokerage REGISTERED REP MAGAZINE (13th consecutive year)

Ranks Highest in Investor Satisfaction with Full Service Brokerage Firms- J.D. Power

One of the best advocates for its customers - FORRESTER RESEARCH

Naysayers can continue to bash EJ for whatever respective reason they have.  The FACT remains that Edward Jones continues to uphold a CULTURE of doing what is right for the client.  If they did not, there is truly no fathomable way they continue to win awards...the track record is too long. 

Of course there will always be execptions, as with any organization of 30,000 employees, but the company is not as bad as this forum would have everyone believe.

Now...Go ahead and let me have it.

Is it Edward Jones that causes its advisors to do what's right for its clients or is it the advisor? 

This company is not as good as you blind followers would believe either.

Is encouraging clients to continuously turn their assets over in their best interest?  Some want that, I understand, but others are better suited for buy and hold.  It's kind of a new wave in investing.

The thing that people get so bent out of shape with, jewalter, is that they will tout that all day everyday.  What happened to modesty and humility?  I work with a mid-sized indy BD that has won numerous awards and ranks higher than Jones in Dalbar surveys, but they don't feel the need to shout it from the rooftops. 

At the end of the day, why does a client care what awards a company has received when it's the people that are driving the bus?  I want to know that my advisor (who is not with Jones) is good at what he does, whether he works for EDJ, Merrill, out of his house,  gas station, wherever.  The lack of modesty and humility is just annoying, that's all.  You don't hear blarm telling you that ML is best because they have the highest production average do you?

dont need to… ML versus EJ is a f-ing joke…

BrokerRecruit,

"Is encouraging clients to continuously turn their assets over in their best interest?  Some want that, I understand, but others are better suited for buy and hold.  It's kind of a new wave in investing."

Huh?  You obviously have no personal experience with Jones.  To say that Edward Jones encourages clients to turn assets over is asinine.  FACT - Edward Jones is given a priveledge by the SEC to not have a branch manager in every office.  This is due to our compliance record. 

To your other point of modesty and humility...

Is it not human nature to be proud of accomplishments and accolades?  I submit that the reason you hear sooooo much about the accomplishments at Jones on this forum is due to the fact that the company is constantly defamed by disgruntled former employees.  It's been said before, Jones is NOT for everyone...but to say that Jones tries to harm it's clients merits a distribution of reasons why that is just pure baloney.

With humility,

-jewalter

Is it baloney or bologna?

Read between the lines, bud, I'm not saying that every person at the firm encourages this, but when there are no trails, many have to resort to churning.  It's a flaw by design that you will have this.  Are there great Jones reps out there? - Absolutely.  I know many and some of which are on this forum.  There are bad ones too, just like at every firm.  I would have to think, though, that at a firm where you don't have to constantly see new money or make more trades, and so on, that you will see less churning.

Again, nothing against Jones.  I could care less.  It happens everywhere.  And you are mistaken that I do have experience with Jones.  I have been door-knocked more times by Jonsers' than the traveling religion salespeople.  I have spoken with a couple about my investments (long time ago) and I personally, as a client, don't like the model.  Some do.  Good for them.

And isn't humility also about taking your licks without firing back a retort? 

Mr. Hill- I mean- Jewalter- What we have here is a failure to communicate or understand. Being named the best place to WORK does not really equate into best place to INVEST. See, people who WORK for a firm vote on whether they like the environment or not. This is a perspective from folks WORKING for the firm. Do they like their boss, do they like their benefits package, do they like the location,etc. Being HAPPY as an EMPLOYEE does not mean the CUSTOMERS are better off at that firm.

But somehow, that is how it is regurgitated back out. "I work for the best firm to work for, therefore I am the best advisor for you.." see how stupid that sounds?

Next, doing what is 'right' for the client. Were you an ethical person BEFORE you joined Jones? Did you give the clerk back the change when they paid you too much? Did you give your seat up on the bus? If you are an ethical person by nature, working at Jones doesn't make you better. NOR does leaving Jones make you suddenly fall into a life of crime. Are you saying as a firm you always do what is right for the client because Jones MAKES you do it, or would you do it anyway?

Jones is a good place to work. No doubt about that. But what would the survey look like if they included Indy's? I can tell you I like my current Job better now and I love my Managing Partner

munytalks - that's my point - the way the jones IR preaches it; it's jones that makes them the most ethical people in the business not them; that in itself is an issue.

BR - dead on - the funny thing is most of the IRs don't want to realize they are turning over assets, they feel as though they are laddering their clients....hold on I just threw up in my mouth...;

I love starting from zero from every month after building "my" book for 18 years but wait...I have this huge list of money dues coming from my 2500 clients to call; all is not bad, boy isn't Jones swell?

BrokerRecruit,

I would actually say the opposite is true regarding your "churning" statement, and it actually exposes your ignorance of Edward Jones.  There are trails at EJ, and every other B/D.  The vast majority of Investments at Jones are in the form of Mutual Funds, and those funds pay trails.

I would argue that in a Managed Account "churning" is alive and well.  if I were a client of a managed account and I saw NO activity, I would ask "What am I paying YOU for?".  Therefore, trades are placed in SOME managed accounts to justify fees...Not ALL, mind you, but some.

I'd just stick to the recruiting if I were you.

munytalks,

There's nothing in your post that I do not agree with.

Mr. Hill- Walter, thanks but answer the question.

Do you understand the difference between a survey taken that asks EMPLOYEES about WORK conditions and a study on what is best for a CLIENT?

munytalks,

Yeah, you mean the survey taken by JD Power, or Forrester Research last year... Sure do.

Ranks Highest in Investor Satisfaction with Full Service Brokerage Firms- J.D. Power

One of the best advocates for its customers - FORRESTER RESEARCH

Jwalter - your ignorance of the industry is really showing with those last comments; it's amazing you try to call out BR on industry knowledge given that last statement. 

Given where you sit and the tools (or lack of) at your disposal, there's no surprise that you lack an understanding of fee based platforms. 

Tell me what did your client pay 5.75% if there isn't any activity with their account?

And another thing- best you not post opinion on Managed Accounts when, as a Jones IR you have no idea what it's about. Kinda makes you look silly.

Let me help out- I mentored a ton of newbies so I think I can break it down for you. The definition of 'churning' is buying and selling investments in a client account for the pure reason of generating a COMMISSION. Like what YOU get paid when you sell grandma a bond or a Revenue Sharing Mutual Fund-A share of course.

MANAGED accounts charge the client a FEE for MANAGING the account. AND YES, activity results as a by-product of management but cannot be considered CHURNING because the broker does not earn BOTH Commission and FEES- see?

If you watch the top ten holdings of a Mutual Fund month to month, you will notice some changes occurring. This is because the Fund Managers are trading to bring about a return that is favorable. Not unlike an Advisor who Trades a managed account to bring about a favorable return.

Now, feel free to share this Saturday at your new IR meeting.

[quote=jewalter]

I would argue that in a Managed Account "churning" is alive and well.  if I were a client of a managed account and I saw NO activity, I would ask "What am I paying YOU for?".  Therefore, trades are placed in SOME managed accounts to justify fees...Not ALL, mind you, but some.[/quote]

Care to guess how many trades are placed as you suggested versus the number of mutual fund switches or "touchdown" bonds, or assets allocated across mutual fund families just due to YTB concerns at Jones?

BTW, if my clients were to ever ask why there was no activity in a flat fee (not managed, btw) account I'd tell them the truth, we don't trade on a calender basis to justify a trade, we trade when it's in the client's best interest.

[quote=jewalter]

munytalks,

Yeah, you mean the survey taken by JD Power, or Forrester Research last year... Sure do.

Ranks Highest in Investor Satisfaction with Full Service Brokerage Firms- J.D. Power

One of the best advocates for its customers - FORRESTER RESEARCH

[/quote]

Mr. Hill-Walter- AGAIN- Read the Entire article. Don't just read the posts from St. Louis on the re-prints. FIRST OFF- AND DON"T tell me I am wrong because I was in St. Louis when the words came out of the GP's mouth about this survey- EDJ submitted a PRE-SELECTED LIST OF CLIENTS TO CONTACT FOR THIS SURVEY-

The topics the clients' were questioned on were Do you like your broker, are the statements easy to read, were your trades executed quickly, correctly. etc.

Survey and Study are TWO different excercises. STUDIES have shown what is BEST for a client

[quote=jewalter]

 FACT - Edward Jones is given a priveledge by the SEC to not have a branch manager in every office.  This is due to our compliance record. [/quote]

Do you have any evidence to support that claim, or to prove that Jones isn't operating under the same OSJ location requirements granted every firm if they so choose?

Mike - you'll get carpal tunnel trying to educate this fool. Watch this-

Hey Mr. Hill-Walter- explain what an OSJ is.

MB - great point here - the fact is the SEC or NASD will not make favorable decisions based on a compliance record to this extent.  What their concerns are fall on the ability of a firm to properly supervise its staff to include their advisors.  What the regulators are ok with is Jones being able to properly supervise their branches with a registered principal off site.  It's no different for OSJs that have non-OSJ offices or satellite offices. 

This is a line that is fed to the new IR early on in Study for Success...brain wash early and often and one will begin to believe that we really are the most ethical firm on Wall St.

Mike & Muny on a side note - any comments on what professionals in the industry feel about Jones?  How are they viewed by HNW clients, third party research firms, industry analysts - not the JD Powers who has no industry knowledge? 

Just curious...that would appear to be a bit more of an unbiased summation in my eyes.

munytalks,

You know absolutely nothing about me besides the fact that I enjoy working at Edward Jones.

I understand your condescending comments are a by-product of anonomys message boards and do not hold that against you (I am actually guilty of the same in my response to BrokerRecruit, to which I hereby apologize for)...whoever you are.  I'm sure you do not converse like that with individuals on a regular basis. 

The bottom line is, for whatever respective reasons, you like the indy channel and I like Jones.  I'm sure you don't go out and try to "screw" clients on a regular basis.  You may think that I and Everyone at Jones tries to get the highest commision off each and every trade and each and every client.  The bottom line is that your opinion is an opinion.  I'm happy you stated it.

You may think that Jones reps are just too stupid to figure out managed accounts, and that's fine.  We just think that on the whole, the aren't suited for all of our clients.  That's our opinion.

As you are probably aware, there are certain trade-offs to working at Jones, as with any firm.  We accept these, and my individual opinion is that they are in the client's best interest.  It's just my opinion.

Now, you can call me any name you wish, or belittle my firm all you want...but, if we found ourselves sitting beside each other at a bar, I'm sure we could have a friendly conversation about what makes us different (at least I hope we could).

I wish you the best in your endeavors,

-jewalter

Ever tried hammering a nail with a tape measure, or using a mitre saw as a level, or tried using a phillips-head screwdriver instead of a flat-head?  Similar to SOME (before you get pissed at me for "attacking" the best company in the history of the galaxy to work for) clients as they relate to the products and tools at Jones.

So Walter, are you saying that there is gray area with the NASD/SEC?  Last time I checked, rules were rules and they were black and white.  The NASD has regulations on OSJ supervision and I believe it states that there must be a local or corporate OSJ within 200 miles, or something like that.  If you think I'm wrong (which I could be) look it up and give me the exact statute.  But I'm sorry, EDJ does not get "special privelege" (spelled without a d) from the NASD. 

And please don't try to educate me on the industry.  I am well aware of how things operate and I work directly recruiting mutual fund and portfolio managers as well.  I don't want someone bs-ing me about why they executed a trade so that they can pay the bills.  How many $500k fee-based accounts have you signed up?  I am much more comfortable working with a portfolio manager that will manage my accounts for a 1% fee with some discretion.  Well worth it, chief.

I still don't know why you think I know nothing about Jones or the industry when you, in fact, are incorrect.  So go push the Jehovahs out of the way in order to get to Ma and Pa Kettle's door first.

"EDJ submitted a PRE-SELECTED LIST OF CLIENTS TO CONTACT FOR THIS SURVEY"

NOW we're getting somewhere.  I've often thought that the client satisfaction surveys might also have something to do with the average level of sophistication in the Jones client base.  Typically, EDJ operates in smaller communities with smaller, less sophisticated clients.  In general, these clients are easier to please because they've been used to CDs and savings accounts, so most investments are going to be a big step up in average return.  Typically, EDJ reps are nice, community-oriented folks with less competition (heck, sometimes, they are the only game in town), so they are looked at with great respect and admiration by the local population, even if they have only average (or in some cases, far below average) skills in invesment management. That, and some strategic selection of clients for survey purposes, and the general level of client sophistication may explain a lot.

Frankly, I've met plenty of angry EDJ clients with portfolios full of Putnam, Goldman Sachs, Van Kampen, Lucent, preferred stocks, and 20-year GMACs to know that not everyone is satisfied with Jones...not by a long shot.  Many clueless EDJ clients only become angry after being told what they have in their portfolio ("it matures WHEN?!!")

It's moments like these, and there have been plenty of them over the years, that cause me to doubt the validity of such surveys, and resent how they are presented as the unbiased, gospel truth.

Gag.

walter - here's the deal.  My stance on this board has always been that there are firms out there for everyone.  The indy I work exclusively with is fantastic and has attracted a lot of talent from Jones, LPL, RJ, Commonwealth, ML, etc.  There isn't a perfect firm for everyone.  My BD isn't perfect for everyone.  There are things I dislike about them, but, as a whole, those things are very minor and typically don't impact the client or advisor. 

That's always been my viewpoint, as well as the fact that I'm happy you like Jones.  When I call guys like you, I don't call them a kool-aid chugging clone, but I respect their decision that they're happy and wish them luck in a very professional way.  Now, when people attack, I attack back, especially when I'm told that I know nothing about this industry (which is completely untrue) and I make an extremely good living for talking on the phone for 30-35 hours/week.  I have nothing personal against Jones.  My views relate to my being a former prospective client. 

I keep in touch with many Jones reps and they are great guys and great advisors.  They know all sides of the business and certainly don't try to screw the clients to turn a buck.  It's simply something that happens everywhere.  I have seen, that because of the model, there is the possibility that it could happen frequently at Jones.  That's all.

Good luck.

Walter:  "aren't suited for OUR clients"  Like your clients are any differnt than mine?  My clients used to be Jones clients and they LOVE the fee based approach.  Truth is you are just another noob with a couple of years under his belt at Jones and your preaching what you have been taught as being gospel.  Jones CAMPAIGNS FOR ALL OF THOSE AWARDS--it's great marketing, I'll admit--and I'll bet it will even help you land that $10,000 ICA ticket--but don't think for  minute that your at a special firm for special people...you are not.  Far from it.  ANd, I do know better than you.

For brokers 3 years and under Jones aint so bad--and it might even be better than being at many of the large wires (don't know I never worked at a large wirehouse), but it doesn't come close to what any decent indy firm offers.

Mr. Hill-Walter, I know enough about you based on your own posts in here.

So let's do some role play- Here's the scenario. A $500K account comes to you from another firm where he was paying a fee. The account is almost all stock. The client likes stock and wants to actively trade his account.

What do you do? Take the account but then try to sell him ICA? Take the account but first explain that he will have to pay for each and every trade now- and show him how much? Take the account and explain the commission fees when he complains? Or, tell him you would love to work with him but he is better off finding an advisor who will continue the flat fee basis that most benefits him?

This was my most challenging situation when I was at Jones. Sometimes I could see where clients were better off either fee based or managed. But the program that was BEST for these clients did not exist at Jones. As an Independant, I really can offer what is best.

INDY- FOR YOU- Yes, it was announced that select IR's were being contacted to submit lists of SELECTED clients for this survey-further the clients KNEW it was coming. Remember, Jones would NEVER sell lists of any sort of the client base-nor could they legally lend the names for the purpose of the survey. So people knew it was coming.

Closing- I doubt we'd ever meet each other in a bar- I never liked the Train Wreck.

Indy, you are right about the typical EDJ client. Jones emphasizes the fact that the sales lit is written with an 8'th grade reading level. Take a look at the ad campaign they've got going on right now.." Edward Jones...making sense of investing" I'd be willing to bet if you asked any current Jones rep or former Jones rep, both would agree a majority of time spent talking to clients / prospects is spent "educating".

"The FACT remains that Edward Jones continues to uphold a CULTURE of doing what is right for the client."

I remember hearing something about people intuitively thinking the opposite when words like: value, ethics, integrity, honesty are used in advertising.