Wow chief, a little harsh dontcha think?  If you and Jones really want to continue to pay for someone that A: may not make it, and B: will probably leave after 3 years anyway, then go for it.  Isn’t that part of the Jones investment philosophy anyway?  Throw money at a losing proposition and hope things work out ok…DCA it’s down 20%… buy more it’s on sale… buy more cuz our home office says to…  Cut the kid some slack.  Haven’t you ever taken a job and found out you it wasn’t the right fit for you?

By the way, if it didn’t improve your P&L and give you a shot at more LP offerings, you probably wouldn’t care one way or another about mentoring, being a visiting vet, etc…  It is a little difficult to appear altruistic when you get paid on the back end for your efforts.  As I recall, the trainer, mentor and ATL could have pulled the plug at any time on the kid.  Why shouldn’t he be concerned about the non-compete contract?  It’s a farce anyway.  Whatever Jones lossed on the deal is just a cost of doing business and cutting losses.

chief. that was pretty cold blooded. read one of his later posts - i think he gets it that life is tough.

I appreciate you guys sticking up for me, but he is right. I have wasted valuable resources. On the bright side, I am brave enough to quit without wasting anymore. I have come to terms with myself that although this is an excellent opportunity, it isn’t for me. At least not at this point in my life.



I really appreciate what you guys do as vets and mentors chief. I appreciate it enough to disallow myself from wasting anymore of EDJ’s time.



Instead of this excellent opportunity, I am going to end up behind a desk making 30k a year. And I am doing this because I understand that I do not have enough left in me at this point to succeed. You should be thanking me.



Enjoy your unfounded self-pity.

Lots of people jump in the deep end and THEN find out they cant swim lol.


Chalk it up to one of lifes trials and tribulations.

"A negative attitude is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do without getting anywhere"



I’m sure that was said by some famous guy that I cannot cite.

Was I harsh? Maybe.  Was I blunt? Yes.  I understand he has had a tough life.  We all have had a tough life at some point. I am the ninth of 10 kids, put myself through college, earned money with work-study program in college.  I sold my high-school class ring for food and had to cut back to two-meals a day in college because I couldn’t afford three.  After attending classes full-time in the mornings, playing a collegiate sport full-time in the afternoon, and then going back to the dorms at night to clean the bathroms and showers of my fellow dormmates.  I got through (not summa cum laude but over 3.0).   I have walked streets doorknocking in the dead of winter when it is 10 degres outside trying to support a wife and kids. Have I thought about leaving Jones? Yes, several times.  Have I? No.  Because I am in a great position.  I am my own boss with a nice office and nice clients.  I have gone on trips around the world to places I never thought I would see.

I hear you chief, but I have to echo icecold.



You certainly aren’t a business owner. To be honest, I’m wondering how Jones can get away with even saying that - it is quite a bit misleading.



His issue was that he wanted to leave. Some of us were trying to tell him to tough it out. He made it clear it just wasn’t a fit for him. Not everyone wants to be the relationship person in this business. He may be a brilliant money manager (why I told him to pursue the CFA).



Being an advisor/broker/planner isn’t the be all end all and neither is Jones. But I think the kool-aid drinkers do think so.



As for asking for help - no one is going to doorknock for him.



I already mentioned that everyone has had a rough life. And each person bears their burden differently. I just got a say, his life has SUCKED.



The office I’m planning on moving to when I transition is nice too - a lot bigger, and a lot cheaper. I asked the landlord how much he charges Jones v. how much it costs the branch - 50% more. I also have nice clients who I plan on taking with me. My wife and I take trips around the world all of the time - I take the Jones cash and turn it into something better. And I don’t have to deal with insufferable GP’s and other sanctimonious Jones brokers who were handed their books.



I think you would do yourself and your family a favor if you looked at leaving. Just a thought.

Chief,



I appreciate your concern for me (Jones?) wholeheartedly. However, I have been chugging along my entire life as a loner. They say that you become your surroundings. The entire argument of understanding human psychology is nature vs. nurture, or, your environment vs. your genetics. My environment was chaos and despair. My heart goes out to everyone of those children born into that world, because society probably will not let them leave. I succeeded when not a single person I have had the privilege of being acquainted to has. Why? Because I literally cut myself off from every last one of them. Ever told your best friend that you grew up with and share nearly every aspect of life, that you can’t be around them anymore until they change?



I did, and I surrounded myself with what I considered to be successful people. Success breeds success, and here I am. But I have sacrificed human nature to get here. And to me, Jones’ model of business was asking me to continue to be alone. I do apologize that I did not realize this sooner… I honestly had forgotten how much comrade meant to me, and should mean to everyone. I am not a loner by nature, I love people. I surround myself with people. However, at 22, I lack people to share childhood stories with or someone that I can even remotely relate to. So, at this stage of my life, I’d like to build some real relationships. Perhaps in 10 years I will feel as close to these people as I had to my best friend Adam, who shared the experience of poverty, the deaths of our fathers, and the evil that permeates the city along side of me – and together we got through it. But in order to discontinue merely “getting through”, I had to make decisions to “get out”.



Again chief, I am eternally grateful for your concerns for both your company as well as myself. It is noble to get angry and defend your company when others seem to be hurting it – that is true loyalty, and I envy you. The fact of the matter however, is that I have not found that place for me.



Magician, I had never thought of obtaining a CFA or CFP. But I truly appreciate you mentioning it, because I have spent a few hours researching what is needed to acquire these licenses. I have learned that Vanguard has their own CFP training courses. What is the difference between the CFP and the CFA, when related to real-world experiences?

And 22 year olds come to this forum and ask “Why won’t most firms hire me at 22?”

[quote=MISS JONES]Likely you (Ice) will not win a trip or win a bonus this year but most of our new FA’s do… and 50% of all our FA’s win a trip TWICE a year… That is not the norm anywhere else.

[quote=iceco1d][quote=chief]

See above your post Miss J.

Raise your hands if you want to spank miss J on the butt........

tooyoung - if you’re up for moving, look at the opportunities of working for Jones at the HQ.   You already have your licenses, which opens a few more doors for you at HQ.  You’re obviously smart, driven, and focused, otherwise you wouldn’t be where you are today.  Get your feet wet with a quality company for a few years, then see what else the world has to offer you.  Maybe you’ll discover that you really do belong in a Jones office somewhere.  Who knows.  I promise you a phone call from your RL to the right people in the home office will make a transition easier for you.  And it would be cheaper for Jones to hire you than to have to go to the trouble of suing you for training expenses.  If you want more info PM me and I’ll be glad to help.  

There’s a list of trips.  There are a limited number of spaces on each excursion, so the desirable ones fill up pretty quickly.  So, if you really want to go to Borneo, Malaysia you’d better be quick to win.  On the flip side, if you win, the worst, IMHO, place you could get stuck going is Breckenridge, CO for a ski trip.  That would suck. 

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2. You are correct that we are W2 employees but we do run our branches the way we want to as long as we are legal, profitable and ethical…

We don’t run branches the way we want. Are you kidding me?



We run our branches the way we want inside the EDWARD JONES UNIVERSE. Outside of that, the rhetoric is that it’s bad, “not good for the client”, or not the “Jones way”.



Seriously, bathing in the kool-aid may create a profit and decent way of life for your family, but is it TRULY the best thing for your clients? I get sick of that mantra. “We’re the only ones who do it this way.” Jones says “this is the way you do things”.



I had a client in my office tonight, worth around $5mil. Just for kicks, I asked a few people around the region what they would do with him. Anybody care to guess what EVERY one of them said?

By the way, Jones trips have JONES people on them. Take the cash and go where there is no “Farewell dinner”.



No offense to Spiff, B24, Borker, Miss Jones and any other friendly Jones people.

We are basically a wirehouse with one-broker offices, no on-site BOM, and a unique “culture”.



Let’s move on.