Seriously?  Everyone I know of can use Vanguard and PIMCO.  Which one's don't allow those fund families?

Yes, I am serious.  I looked into two of the largest firms out there.  I looked at Fidelity Instituional Wealth Services which offers 14,000 mutual funds.  While they offer Vanguard Funds, many they do in a limited form.  For example, Vanguad Dev Market Index Fund has a $50k min purchase.  Generally this is a small portion of my asset allocation for most accounts.  Normally this fund is only 3k min.  And of course the "main" PIMCO funds, Low Duration and Total Return are only availble for retirement plans.  Plus, it's the R share class.  Hugely expensive versus the institutional share class.

The other big player I reserached was Trust Company of America.   Again, a huge list of funds but no Vanguard offerings and the PIMCO is only the Admin share offerings. 

Can you give me a company that offers both Vanguard and PIMCO Inst shares?

Thank you.

WFA has both.  If you are indie check with firms that use First Clearing as their clearing firm such as Summit

[quote=B24]

Seriously?  Everyone I know of can use Vanguard and PIMCO.  Which one's don't allow those fund families?

[/quote]

Hey B.  Could you explain the Jones Advisory account.  Is it only discretionary firm built models or can you pick your own funds as well?

Trust Guy - Check TradePMR, Scotrade, TDA Ameritrade, RayJay, and Schwab. 

I Am Legend - It is discretionary (firm managed, strategic allocation + rebalance).  Uses funds and ETFs.  Jones reps can pick the funds, but can't change the allocation.  Fee starts at 1.35% (Jones guys can discount it), and minimum investment is $50K.

You need to look at discount brokers that are not competing against these fund families.  TD Ameritrade, Scottrade, TradePMR, and maybe Schwab.

[quote=I am legend]

[quote=B24]

Seriously?  Everyone I know of can use Vanguard and PIMCO.  Which one's don't allow those fund families?

[/quote]

Hey B.  Could you explain the Jones Advisory account.  Is it only discretionary firm built models or can you pick your own funds as well?

[/quote]

Either firm built discretionary models, or you pick your own.  HOWEVER, you have to use the funds Jones has vetted.  There's like 220 ETF's and funds.  And you're locked into their allocations.  It's not great, but it was a good first step.  Well, I should say it's very good for what it is, but it is very limited.  It's perfect for the newer advisors that don't know what they're doing, and even experienced advisors that don't really want to bother with the investments, and just want turnkey asset management.  You can't unleash a newbie in a fiduciary world without some serious guardrails.  They are coming out with a UMA end of this year, which will be nice.  But I'm sure it will still have steep guardrails on it.  I don't know if they will ever get to the point of allowing discretion with asset allocation and open choice of funds.  It sucks because right now if you want to do fee-based biz, you are forced into one model of investing (buy and hold style-box investing). 

B–I guess since Jones has so many rookies they feel they have to control it. At wfa we can pick our own and be completely tactical. I can go all cas/bonds if I want to.

[quote=I am legend]B--I guess since Jones has so many rookies they feel they have to control it. At wfa we can pick our own and be completely tactical. I can go all cas/bonds if I want to.[/quote]

Yeah, don't remind me.

Actually, I heard recently that 40%+ of our FA's have less than 3 years experience. 

You can go direct through Vanguard, You have access to there ETFs, Which do not have any ticket charges

You will need Power of Attorney on clients account, And you have to do your own billing.

[quote=B24]

[quote=I am legend]B--I guess since Jones has so many rookies they feel they have to control it. At wfa we can pick our own and be completely tactical. I can go all cas/bonds if I want to.[/quote]

Yeah, don't remind me.

Actually, I heard recently that 40%+ of our FA's have less than 3 years experience. 

[/quote]

Sounds like you should move!  Your business model seems to fit with other firms much better than Jones.