Although they are itemized for us, I am not going to track them.  I actually do have that fear, but not sure there is much I am going to do about it.  Once in a blue moon I will conduct a sample audit to see if any are missing.  But I have yet to see any missing.  FYI I work at Jones.

Good luck with your search, I was very concerned that this was happening at Edward Jones.  I have since left and gone independent.  I roughly tracked my trails for a year and did not think they were very accurate.  Same problem though, just too difficult to figure out.  (Esp since I was leaving shortly anyway.) 

Good luck with your search, I was very concerned that this was happening at Edward Jones. I have since left and gone independent. I roughly tracked my trails for a year and did not think they were very accurate. Same problem though, just too difficult to figure out. (Esp since I was leaving shortly anyway.)

[quote=gad12] Good luck with your search, I was very concerned that this was happening at Edward Jones.  I have since left and gone independent.  I roughly tracked my trails for a year and did not think they were very accurate.  Same problem though, just too difficult to figure out.  (Esp since I was leaving shortly anyway.)  [/quote]

Since it’s all electronic, it would be the same anywhere (indy or captive firm). Despite waht everyone likes to claim about Jones, I find it hard to believe they would intentionally withhold trails from anyone. Like I said, I have never actually found that I was missing any, I just wonder occassionally how I would know if I DID. I actually do unscientific calcs based on my mutual fund aum once in a while to make sure I am in the ballpark.

BofA witholds a % (10% - 20% depending on your grid) of trails and pays it in stock the following February as long as you fulfill the many metrics.  I was pissed when it was first announced but I have to admit, you don’t miss the cash in the short term and I have over $30k in stock coming my way next month.

I was really concerned when I went Indy from Jones a few years ago about the fact the some of the trails would get lost.  After things settled down, I looked at the detailed reports from fund companies and spot checked my major ones and they looked fine.  However, there is NO WAY I could ever do a complete line-by-line audit.  I have found out on several occasions that Putnam mixed up my rep code with someone elses at my b/d on a few 529 accounts.  Our numbers are almost identicle except mine has an “S” where his shows a “5”.  It wasn’t enough $$ to justify asking for it back.  I hope I not getting screwed on anything else…

It’s not a concern.  With the volume of trails that people get, it’s too hard to keep track of exactly, but one should have a rough estimate.  It would not surprise me if they are often wrong, but I’d think that I’d get too much as often as too little.

I usually scan my detail report from the company, and have yet to find anything too out of place.

At Jones we have a detail screen that will tell us, down to the individual account, what trails are being paid.  Three different “levels” of info.  First is by fund family.  They breakdown firm name vs customer name and even tell you what assets aren’t eligible for payout yet (like the American Funds that are only 6 months old.)  The next screen will break the fund families down by fund.  So, for instance, I can tell I get paid $27.06 per month on American Balanced Fund A.  Then one more level down you can look at it by account.  So, if I were that concerned about it, I could have my BOA check them.  I know about what I average, so I know about what it’s going to be each month.  As long as I’m not missing a thousand, I don’t really pay that much attention.   

So, for instance, I can tell I get paid $27.06 per month on American Balanced Fund A… I know about what I average, so I know about what it’s going to be each month. 

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]So, for instance, I can tell I get paid $27.06 per month on American Balanced Fund A… I know about what I average, so I know about what it’s going to be each month. 

The one problem I did encounter when I left Jones to go to LPL is that Jones did a TA replacement for me for a month and then brought in another FA to replace him–each time a new FA was placed in the branch Jones did a (Blast)(This is when they notify each mutual fund company and annuity company of the new FA) so even after I had did a change of broker/dealer on a mutual fund, Jones would notifiy the fund company of  the new FA and they would place Jones back on the mutual fund account…then I would have to submit new paperwork to change the broker dealer again.  So I lost several thousand dollars of trails to the new FA.  I did get it straight!

[quote=NOFX] BofA witholds a % (10% - 20% depending on your grid) of trails and pays it in stock the following February as long as you fulfill the many metrics. I was pissed when it was first announced but I have to admit, you don’t miss the cash in the short term and I have over $30k in stock coming my way next month.

[quote=Ashland] [quote=NOFX] BofA witholds a % (10% - 20% depending on your grid) of trails and pays it in stock the following February as long as you fulfill the many metrics.  I was pissed when it was first announced but I have to admit, you don’t miss the cash in the short term and I have over $30k in stock coming my way next month.

All of Jones’ preferred funds pay monthly.  Kind of nice - no ups and downs.  However, I do use some other fund families as well, so I get some of the quarterly “good months”.

Except for Oppenheimer.  They pay quarterly.  But, I don’t know of that many people using Oppy, so it probably doesn’t matter.