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Please post all company stereotypes here

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Feb 17, 2008 5:04 pm

I know every company out there hiring reps/consultants advisors has some negative stereotypes surrounding them.  They are partly based on truth so it would be helpful to know these stereotypes for people getting into the business so we can really probe these issues before signing on the dotted line! 

  Here are the rules:    1. Post your 1-2 sentence negative stereotype of the company. The funnier, the better! 2. After you post your stereotype, you must name the next company that will be stereotyped by the next user. 3. Don't defend your company or get defensive since we are really trying to get through all the BS we get from recruiters so newbies can make the right decision with their eyes wide open. 4. Stay on TOPIC 5.  You may ask follow up questions of users to get more clarification on why a company is stereotyped the way it is so that everyone can make their own determination if the stereotype is true.   Let the Trolling and Flaming Begin!!   First company, a controversial forum favorite:  EDWARD JONES   READY GO!!
Feb 17, 2008 6:20 pm

Here’s another idea, akkula: why don’t you play your games on your xbox or playstation, and use this forum to learn something useful about this profession?

If you want to learn something about a firm or the industry, use the search button.  If that doesn’t answer your questions, post a specific question.

OK?  Ready GO!


Feb 17, 2008 6:45 pm

Please see rule 4.  Thanks for the lecture.

Feb 17, 2008 8:44 pm

An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response<SUP =reference id=_ref-0>[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.<SUP =reference id=_ref-1>[2]

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll   I think this topic is worthwhile and I would like to use it to explore and perhaps debunk some of common myths about different firms.  Many of the stereotypes we have may also hold with the public and it is good to know what they are so you have the ability to over come objections or find a company to work for.  It is important to stay on topic, however.  If the community doesn't find the topic worth while, it will not be replied to and will die.  Therefore, if you don't like the subject matter, the best course of action would be to ignore it.  I guess I should have been careful about what I asked for in my original post!   I won't respond to any more trolling posts, as defined above, so that I don't get us too far off topic.   Topic: Edward Jones--see first post 
Feb 17, 2008 8:45 pm

Thanks goodness you have finally arrived from your starring role as a back office 401K record-keeping FA-wannabe to enlighten us by making up silly rules and games, Akkula!!  How has this forum even survived thus far without your creative direction?

Is jabbering about firm “stereotypes” and trying to encourage “trolling and flaming” really your idea of gaining insight into prospective employers?!  Sounds more like the trouble-making ways of a troll to me.

If you truly want to avoid the rather costly mistake of joining the wrong firm, it might not be your wisest move to start by alienating those who are otherwise willing to help by sharing the benefit of their actual experience. 

It’s up to you.  Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s still ignorance.





 

Feb 18, 2008 2:25 pm

This sounds far too much like the 10th grade.

Feb 18, 2008 8:30 pm

Agreed.

  Hopefully we can just call a truce.   To be honest, I used the search function and only found sparse information on some companies while others were talked about ad nauseum.  I picked Edward Jones as my first company hoping to get that one discussed first since there doesn't seem to be any shortage of opinions on that company.     
Feb 19, 2008 1:05 am

Seems like a reasonable topic.  How about posting stereotypes you know of, Akkula, and then others can chime in to agree or disagree rather than having your topic go to waste.(hint use search feature and look for previous adjectives describing the companies). What do you know or have you heard about EdJones? 

http://forums.registeredrep.com/search_results_posts.asp?SearchID=20080218190749&KW=Edward+Jones&PN=2   Edward Jones--a lot of securities and a some insurance... Just getting started Jones is a good place to go...However, I see a lot of turnover on new people...
Feb 21, 2008 2:46 am

Edward Jones: I have always thought of Edward Jones as a place that goes after smaller accounts and wants you to do a lot of volume.  I get the impression that they have a narrow product line and that you only need to have your Series 6 to work there. 

  Merrill Lynch:  Want you to use proprietary products.  This is my biggest concern with them since I want to deal with 401k.  NY, eastern attitude (no offense).  Pay well.   AGE:  Good mix of products with very open architecture.  A notch below some of the big wall street firm with regard to prestige.   Wachovia: Who?   Ameriprise:  People who just got out of college and trying to get their grandma to rollover into a high cost product.   There are also a lot of insurance companies that are running around trying to sneak in a life insurance policy under false pretenses.
Feb 21, 2008 4:31 am

yea, you continue to prove you’re clueless. 

Feb 21, 2008 4:39 am

[quote=Akkula]

There are also a lot of insurance companies that are running around trying to sneak in a life insurance policy under false pretenses. [/quote]   PROVE IT!
Feb 21, 2008 3:35 pm

[quote=Akkula]Edward Jones: I have always thought of Edward Jones as a place that goes after smaller accounts and wants you to do a lot of volume.  I get the impression that they have a narrow product line and that you only need to have your Series 6 to work there

  Merrill Lynch:  Want you to use proprietary products.  This is my biggest concern with them since I want to deal with 401k.  NY, eastern attitude (no offense).  Pay well.   AGE:  Good mix of products with very open architecture.  A notch below some of the big wall street firm with regard to prestige.   Wachovia: Who?   Ameriprise:  People who just got out of college and trying to get their grandma to rollover into a high cost product.   There are also a lot of insurance companies that are running around trying to sneak in a life insurance policy under false pretenses. [/quote]   You clearly have a great handle on all of our firms.  Based on this, I am going to quit EDJ, cancel my S7, S63, S66, and insurance licenses (sorry no, S6), and go work for Merrill, where I can just sell those great "Merrill Lynch" brand mutual funds.  Someone from Wachovia approached me, but I had never heard of them, and they seemed too small to be a real player in the industry.    They also mentioned they had just bought another firm with a "Good mix of products with very open architecture".  I think they said they only have like 12,000 reps now or something like that.  Not big enough for me.   Go back to college and finish your associates degree in fine arts.  I heard WalMart is hiring.
Feb 21, 2008 4:09 pm

We tried to warn you, Akkula.  If you prefer to still answer questions rather than ask them, and to toss about wildly inaccurate “stereotypes” that have virtually no semblance to reality, you’ll be no closer to learning something helpful about potential firms than you were yesterday.  As it is, you seem bound and determined to ignore all warning signs and run that train faster and faster right into the side of the mountain.

I’ll give you this though, my young friend: if you ever managed to get yourself on the RIGHT track for a change, you’d probably do great things!  More is the pity …


Feb 21, 2008 5:39 pm

There are plenty of people out there selling life insurance policies and calling it whatever they can think of OTHER than life insurance.  It is not specific to a company, but an industry in general.  Same goes with annuities, especially group retirement annuities.

Feb 21, 2008 5:56 pm

Well, since life insurance has so many different uses and applications, I can hardly blame them - as long as full and proper disclosures are made!

Feb 21, 2008 5:58 pm
theironhorse:

There are plenty of people out there selling life insurance policies and calling it whatever they can think of OTHER than life insurance.  It is not specific to a company, but an industry in general.  Same goes with annuities, especially group retirement annuities.

  I have always found the group annuity thing peculiar.  I don't think I have EVER spoken to a client (either the trustee of the plan, or the plan participant) that new that their 401K was a group annuity platform.  And there are a LOT fo them out there.  Personally, I don't see the advantage of an annuity platform in a 401K.  Though the platforms are usually very rich (nice websites, lots of investment options, good service, etc.), you typically are paying through the nose for them - but nobody realizes it!
Feb 21, 2008 6:07 pm

[quote=theironhorse] There are plenty of people out there selling life insurance policies and calling it whatever they can think of OTHER than life insurance.  It is not specific to a company, but an industry in general.  Same goes with annuities, especially group retirement annuities.[/quote]

Come now, ironhorse, the “industry in general” is selling life insurance without calling it life insurance?  Feeling in an exaggerating mood this morning, are we?  Let’s take a brief look at what that scam would have to entail.

How would all these agents at all these insurance carriers manage to do what you say?  I’m especially curious how someone can agree to be subjected to a paramed exam, AND sign the necessary releases authorizing the release of all relevant medical history, AND sign a formal application inside a document called “Life Insurance Policy for John Doe,” AND write a check made out to an insurance company, but not know they are buying life insurance. 

Or did I misunderstand you?

Feb 21, 2008 7:19 pm

you did misunderstand me Morphius.  I was referring to the thread title.  It is not one SPECIFIC firm doing this, but various agents across the insurance industry doing it.  there are bad life agents at each firm.  they are not specific to one place, hence the stereotype should be within the industry itself, not the company.

and you KNOW you have had someone tell you they did not KNOW they were buying life insurance even though they did the paramed.  they are either clueless or lying, but they do this. and the only reason i have heard for the group annuity thing is because it gives access to multiple fund families with no large annual costs to the plan provider.  and no, i do not sell them, but that is the biggest reason i hear from insurance guys who set them up.
Feb 21, 2008 7:49 pm

Thanks for clarifying ironhorse.  I can understand the group annuity thing easily, but if someone tells me they didn’t realize they had purchased life insurance I think I’d be inclined to be very careful before I worked with them.  Never know what they choose to remember about what you told them a few years from now.

Feb 22, 2008 1:21 am

I love this board.  This is the angriest group of Frank Costanza's I have ever seen.  If you want to see someone get bent out of shape, this is the board to do it!  I guess it wouldn't be any fun if no veins were popping out of necks or not laptops were thrown around now would it?  Wow, I thought talking about some stereotypes I have heard of some firms would be a rather benign topic.  I guess not!