If you can't make it as a broker yet, I hear it's a great training ground.  Even if you never become a broker, it trains you well in many aspects of the brokerage business.  And being in St. Louis is an added bonus...there are several other large firms located there if you want to move on after your time with Jones.

I think the success rate of the PASS program FAs is generally  higher than the norm.  Part of that is the training and experience you get in the program.  Another part is that you typically take over an existing office somewhere.  It's not normally a huge, career making office, but it is normally big enough that you won't starve. 

What B said about being in STL is also true.  I know of a couple of PASS program guys who decided they really didn't want to become and FA, but stuck with Jones in HQ and are now in very good positions making decent money. 

Companies around STL like the EDJ name on a resume.  Wells Fargo, Scottrade, Stifel, MetLife, and a couple of others all have large corporate offices here.  Any of them would happily talk with an EDJ person. 

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]

I think the success rate of the PASS program FAs is generally  higher than the norm.  Part of that is the training and experience you get in the program.  Another part is that you typically take over an existing office somewhere.  It's not normally a huge, career making office, but it is normally big enough that you won't starve. 

What B said about being in STL is also true.  I know of a couple of PASS program guys who decided they really didn't want to become and FA, but stuck with Jones in HQ and are now in very good positions making decent money. 

Companies around STL like the EDJ name on a resume.  Wells Fargo, Scottrade, Stifel, MetLife, and a couple of others all have large corporate offices here.  Any of them would happily talk with an EDJ person. 

[/quote]Describe this "ideal office" and what size office it take for a vacated branch with another advisors leftovers to be enough for a newbie to not starve. Serious question considering the stories I have heard about what is left behind unless it is an office from an advisor that was fired for watching porn or they killed over. But as far as I have heard, most empty offices are that way for a reason and it is hard work for the newbie to turn it around. All though it would be better then your house, it is still usually a big challenge.

I don't have any specifics other than what happened in my own region, so here's what has happened locally - We've had 3 PASS program FAs come to our region and take over existing offices.  Two were competitive, one was not.  All of them took over books of about $10 mil.  That's just enough to make you think you've made it, but not big enough to actually make it.  You're not going to starve because you've got client to call on, but you still have to build it. 

The PASS program guys, from what I have gathered, have access to the Priority Locations list of open offices.  Which means they can sort of cherry pick the offices that aren't filled locally.  Once in a while we see offices of $20-30 mil that Priority Locations and the local region are having trouble filling.  That would be a great opportunity for a PASS program FA.  If you're willing to move anywhere in the country, you can probably find a great opportunity. 

Pass program is really a good program. I was going to join it but while in training it pays next to nothing (at least at the time)...