Less.

Most likely anyhow.   Also, you may get some confused stares from the title of your post.  At Jones, there is actually a program for failing FA's called "Goals".  It actually threw me at first.

It's interesting to see the wirehouse guys' recent interest in Edward Jones. My region hired brokers from UBS and Merrill this month. (I never thought I'd see that happen.)   Are things really that bad at the wires? Are clients and prospects reluctant to do business with you guys?   The latest On Wall Street issue breaks down payouts from the various firms. I couldn't believe how badly lower producers are penalized at the wires. I thought 40% was the industry standard, but you'll only see that if you're a pretty big producer.   People are constantly talking about how Jones keeps its brokers in the dark, but the more I poke around in other firms, the better Jones looks.  

[quote=UNDERMINDED]Less.

Most likely anyhow.   Also, you may get some confused stares from the title of your post.  At Jones, there is actually a program for failing FA's called "Goals".  It actually threw me at first.[/quote]   I assume that's true also. Our minimums are pretty low compared to what some of my previous wire colleagues experienced. As has been said on this board before, if you can't cut it with the goals at Jones, this may not be the career for you.

[quote=Borker Boy]It’s interesting to see the wirehouse guys’ recent interest in Edward Jones. My region hired brokers from UBS and Merrill this month. (I never thought I’d see that happen.)

  People are constantly talking about how Jones keeps its brokers in the dark, but the more I poke around in other firms, the better Jones looks.[/quote]   Ah, Borker, everything is relative.  I'm sure that life is very tough right now at the wires for those on the lower end of the production scale, but from my vantage as an independent, Edward Jones still looks like a gulag, or that strange little commune that died out years ago in Guyana, South America. Careful with that Kool-Aid...you never know what they slipped into it...

[quote=SometimesNowhere][quote=UNDERMINDED]Less.

Most likely anyhow.   Also, you may get some confused stares from the title of your post.  At Jones, there is actually a program for failing FA's called "Goals".  It actually threw me at first.[/quote]   I assume that's true also. Our minimums are pretty low compared to what some of my previous wire colleagues experienced. As has been said on this board before, if you can't cut it with the goals at Jones, this may not be the career for you.[/quote]   I was just curious. I'm not looking for a plan B just yet.

[quote=Indyone][quote=Borker Boy]It’s interesting to see the wirehouse guys’ recent interest in Edward Jones. My region hired brokers from UBS and Merrill this month. (I never thought I’d see that happen.)

  People are constantly talking about how Jones keeps its brokers in the dark, but the more I poke around in other firms, the better Jones looks.[/quote]   Ah, Borker, everything is relative.  I'm sure that life is very tough right now at the wires for those on the lower end of the production scale, but from my vantage as an independent, Edward Jones still looks like a gulag, or that strange little commune that died out years ago in Guyana, South America. Careful with that Kool-Aid...you never know what they slipped into it... [/quote]   I'll quickly agree that independence is the best way to be in the biz. I'm just too far from being able to consider going independent to even daydream about it yet.   Do you believe that the wires are still "better" than Jones? I'm not so sure anymore.

[quote=Indyone][quote=Borker Boy]It’s interesting to see the wirehouse guys’ recent interest in Edward Jones. My region hired brokers from UBS and Merrill this month. (I never thought I’d see that happen.)

  People are constantly talking about how Jones keeps its brokers in the dark, but the more I poke around in other firms, the better Jones looks.[/quote]   Ah, Borker, everything is relative.  I'm sure that life is very tough right now at the wires for those on the lower end of the production scale, but from my vantage as an independent, Edward Jones still looks like a gulag, or that strange little commune that died out years ago in Guyana, South America. Careful with that Kool-Aid...you never know what they slipped into it... [/quote]   Indy, I really expected better from you.    One of these days we'll stop comparing Jones to indy.  The better comparison is Jones to the wires or regionals.  I would guess that you could substitute any wirehouse firm in the phrase "...Edward Jones still looks like a gulag..." these days and be pretty accurate.   The reality is that Jones doesn't discriminate on payout like the wires and the banks do.  If I'm a guy grossing $350K a year at ML who just got told my payout is getting cut, then maybe someplace like EDJ starts to become attractive.  In most regions if you're hitting $350K a year gross, you're a rock star.  You're getting trips, bonus money when it's available, LP eligibility is a reality, etc.  At ML your boss just said bend over.  At Jones, you'd probably be first in line for an open office in the transfer.  At ML, your boss is wondering how he's going to divide your assets when you leave.   I would love to see a bunch of transfer brokers come over to Jones right now.  We still want to grow our sales force.  We're not going to pay a big signing bonus like the others might.  We do have a transition package that could arguably be called a signing bonus, but it's not a forgivable loan.    From a growth standpoint it makes perfect sense for Jones.  Let's say my region wants to grow by 5 FAs this year.  If they hire 5 newbies, those newbies have to go out and doorknock and all the other stuff to build their biz.  In my area, they'd probably be knocking on some of the same doors.  Not good.  It would take them years to move the needle as far as market share goes.    Or, Jones could hire 5 transfer brokers, give them a good transition package, not affect any of the recently hired newbies, and pick up instant market share.    So, if any of you want to talk about Jones payout vs you're wirehouse payout, shoot me a PM.    I'm off my recruiting bandwagon now.  That's more recruiting than I've done in my entire Jones career. 

Spiff,

Why do you want Jones to have more market share? I never understood that when I was with Jones. The brand awareness is nice, but not if the people who are aware have assets I can't touch. Every account that is transferred to Jones is one more account you will never be able to go after.   This is not a slam, I'm really curious as to why market share is a good thing for you as a rep (I understand why it's a great thing for Jones as a firm).

Higher market share = higher revenues = higher bonuses = happier wives

   

Lakers:

10 replies and not one answer.

  Answer: They are lower.   If you are looking for a specific number, I don't know. Most of us have never been on them. Most that have, fail, and they wouldn't be on here posting answers because they aren't likely to be working in the industry.

Not sure where subprime securities were ever rated AAA-Might have to cough up your source on that one.     Lakers

  Why don't you give an answer?  Or are you still trying to figure out the whole AAA subprime thingy?

[quote=now_indy]Spiff,

Why do you want Jones to have more market share? I never understood that when I was with Jones. The brand awareness is nice, but not if the people who are aware have assets I can't touch. Every account that is transferred to Jones is one more account you will never be able to go after.   This is not a slam, I'm really curious as to why market share is a good thing for you as a rep (I understand why it's a great thing for Jones as a firm).[/quote]   Jones' national market share is like 1.5%.  There will NEVER be a shortage of assets out there.  Yes, it gets tough in markets where we have like 8%.  But that's still only 8%.  And that's only in your immediate market.

Lakers:

Oh, hi Primo. Wonder where you’ve been. After you’ve made an ass out of yourself so many times I see why you had to switch identities. As usual, read the question, I don’t work at Jones you moron.

  So much to work with here... not sure where to start.  Ok.  The only reason to post in this thread is a) you are at Jones and have an answer.  b) you want the answer because you want to go to Jones as it would be easier or a step up from where you are.  c) You were bored and felt like calling Lakers an idiot again.  Seems to me that a) and c) are out, so b) it is.  The rumor that Jones will take anyone with a pulse is false.  They also require an IQ higher than your shoe size, so you can cross them off your list.

There are two offices in my town, and we’re approaching 10% market share. (Of course, the other guy has about 8% by himself.)

  It does get frustrating that a ton of folks in my town of 8000 are already with him and are therefore off limits, but we have some small towns in the surrounding area without Jones offices that I'm planning on prospecting in before too long.

Borker is right.  More market share means more dollars in the Jones pot.  Profitability is increased, costs as a percentage goes down, I get more bonus.  Now, I would personally only like MY market share to go up.  Screw everyone else.  But I can’t drive the bonus percentages on my own.  We have somewhere around 5% market share in my zip code.  So, out of $100 we have $5.  There’s still a lot of room for growth around here.  

  To the OP's question - if you're talking about production goals it's going to vary.  Some guys are happy with $250K gross, some want $500K.  Our RL would love to hit $1 mil.  I'd be happy settling in the $500K range (nowhere near that yet).  Work, golf, trips.  Not a bad life. 

My region is very young.  Only about 7 or 8 guys over 10 years experience.  The first office in my region was only like 18 years ago, so the longest tenured vet is only in 18 years.

I would say the average production in my region is about $300K.  Maybe 13 or 14 people doing north of 300K (and that's today.  a year ago, the number was probably 20).  Then about 20-25 doing 200-300K, then about 30 or so doing under 200K (we have lots of people under 5 years LOS).  This numbers don't appear to average to 300K, but most of the one's doing over 300K are well over 300K.  We have several doing over 500K.  So the mean is probably around 300K, with the median probably a bit lower.  We finally had our highest producer make Managing Partners Conference (I think you need a minimum of around 850K - the number excludes trails, but I think he did about 850K and just squeeked in).