Just got back from my regional meeting. It was worthless. I came out with one good idea and that was from a seg 3 comment outside the meeting. All kinds of talk about recruiting(right!). I guess they'll be needing it. Meetings were all about the 5 step process, boring and redundant. Presentations were rote. Hotel was nice, but of course jones didn't pay for parking or saturday lunch. I know at least three of us seg 2's that have resumes out. Will all most likely switch industries.

I think we did a region-specific award for all FA's.  It was at the spouses/FA meeting on Day 1, not at the awards dinner.  Pretty hoakie, since msot of the enw accounts by the veterans are just Advisory Solutions acounts for re-positioned assets, not "true" new households.

Actually, we have always gone to VERY nice hotels - resort-type destinations around New England.  I can't really complain about that.  But yes, I think the 0-10 crowd (or more likely 2-10 year crowd) is getting increasingly bitter.  Tired of the kool-aide, have seen a few people leave for other firms this year (we have had VERY few leave for other firms in the past few years), and are just plain tired I think.  The 10+ crowd are either happy as clams because they net 200K in bad years and don't have to work very hard, or are lazy, old slobs that barely keep their heads above water grossing 250K on trails and a few maturing bonds each month.

I hear you guys on the resort style places, however my region this year is going to a 3 star hotel. I have stayed in the same hotel before and I pricelined it for $65. Whatever.

Navet- Man leaving the industry... that is a tough pill to swallow. What is your situation, is there anything I can help with?

As far as the meeting, I am almost ready to explode so I hope that things are done very well without the standard BS or someone might get their head ripped off and I might not have a job on Monday.

Love people, love the intellectual challenge, hate prospecting. These knees wouldn't allow me to door to door even if I was willing. I have a nice 7 figure nestegg and will retire in 5 years no matter what. I just don't see the sense in working this hard just to give my book away when it is just starting to pay off. I can make more money than I'm currently pulling in in a couple of different industries, get better bene's and some time off. I really don't like jones, kool-ade and the born agains in my region. So, this obviously not the place for me. It works for younger people who are good at schmoozing and think $50k is good money. What I've learned about investment management has been invaluable. Unfortunately, none of that was actually taught by jones. It bothers me that jones hardly seems to care what you put peoples money in(within the relative range of mf's, bonds, and recommended stocks), just wants you to gather assets. I wouldn't let 95% of the FA's I've met at Jones touch my money. That being said, I do respect jones history. A nice , conservative middle america house that caters to rural america in a personal manner. It will only get so far using that business model, but it performs that particular function well. But as for me, after some family illness issues I getting ready to draw down, downsise and destress. Like a wise man said, "I've never seen these words on a gravestone: I wish I'd spent more time at the office".

We're headed to ours this weekend.  The worst place we've ever stayed has been a hotel in Louisville, KY.  Most people would think it's a great hotel, but once  you've traveled a few times with Jones, you start to recognize good and great hotels.  Ours this year is a brand new one (to Jones and physically), so it should be great. 

I think I've been to 9 Summer Regional meetings now.  I always seem to come away with one good idea.  I hate the recruiting stuff.  I've already got about 20 other EDJ guys whose offices I can almost walk to in about 30 minutes.  Enough with the recruiting.  The most interesting thing about the awards banquet is seeing how much alcohol that one table will consume.  It's normally a lot. 

I hate the two day format.  Seems like a complete waste of time to drive for 4-5 hours for 8 hours of meetings. When they were three days it was at least a really nice long weekend and you had some free time to relax. 

I can't wait to hear more about the 5 step process.  I'm really looking forward to that.  (insert sarcastic emoticon here) 

hey spiffy,  how many of those 9 summer regionals have you attended as an FA, and how many as a stl observer?

your firm's business model is built on constant growth due to canabalism and failure within the industry. .... JUST LIKE every other firm.

navet's statement about not trusting his own money with basically any FA within the firm is very telling....but from my years at your firm I'd say if anything those numbers have gone down.  navet seems like the typical 10+ year vet. Pissed off and feeling used and abused.......can you say transfer broker?  

I've never been to one as a home office observer.  So, all of them have been as an FA.

navet is a new FA who is looking for a reason to hang it up here at Jones.  He's admitted that he's got a million in the bank and is just biding his time in the industry until he can retire or find something else to do until he does retire.  He won't become a transfer broker.  Unless he moves to a bank for some reason. 

I don't know much about his money management skills, but I would venture a guess to say that his opinion of the other Jones FAs in his region is more about his own ego than their abilities. 

B - I agree that most of the 5-10 year guys in our region are just plain tired.  If you started 10 years ago, you've got bookend financial meltdowns on your record.  Dealing with one of those is bad enough, two would be mind numbing.  We're going on two years and a half years of overall negative returns.  So, if you've been out for 5-7 years, around half of your career has been spent apologizing to clients or hand holding nervous folks while they see their retirement savings try to claw it's way back to what it was before.  We keep getting told that prospecting should be really easy right now with all of the changes in the brokerage industry and the disgruntled clients out there, but I don't believe very many of us are seeing that actually be the case. 

If most of those folks are like me, they'd like to take about a 3 month sabbatical.  A week in Tortola or New Zealand is nice, but it's not long enough to fully recharge the batteries.  It's kind of like charging your dead cell phone for 3 minutes.  It'll get things going again, but pretty soon you'll need to recharge again. 

I don't like the two-day format either.  Too far to drive and bring the family for two days.  Seem to just rush from one thing to another, always just hoping to get out of the meetings.  This year we had one awesome speaker (he was a LTC attorney) who was obviously a professional speaker.  The 5-step process was so useless.  I honestly think half the people at Jones think that Jones invented that process, like it's something revolutionary. 

Navet-why would you have joined this industry so late in life as a new/new?  I don't blame you.  I can't imagine being in this industry less than 10 years and retiring (unless you had been hired to work an existing book).  I only know one guy that is doing it well.  Most come and once they realize how hard it will be and how long it will take, leave.  But this one guy actually started at age 58, and got to segment 4 in about 2.5 years.  He averages about 30K per month (he's 5 years in now), and started totally from scratch.  He just has a very good work ethic, a very good process, is very diligent and responsible, and is actually one of the few people I know at Jones that I would trust my money with.  He spent like 25 years in the insurance industry (none of it in sales) in operations, accounting, etc.  He worked at Aetna or Hartford or something.

Spaceman,

You took the thoughts right out of my head.  I keep telling myself I am not going to take the crappy side of this job just to throw in the towel in time for some other guy to reap all the benefits.  Though I am not the "5-10 year guy" you mentioned (I'm out 3 years), I feel the grind.  I love the job but need some time to get my mind fresh.  Some days the phone weighs a ton and I don't feel like going to see prospects.  3 months doing anything else would be great, it just wouldn't pay the bills.   Hearing of 5-10 year guys feeling this way is not reassuring.  What positive ways do you deal with these thoughts? 

As for the regional...I am indifferent toward going to this one.  This will be my fourth but the first which I am not looking forward to attending.  I am in a very mature region (Seg 5 is the largest segment.) So, you would think there is a lot of good things to be learned.  It seems to me most of the vets who do show up are merely there to socialize with the other long-timers. The no-shows have "done their share of summer regionals."   

Spaceman- How many assets did you take over?

[quote=RealWorld]

Spaceman- How many assets did you take over?

[/quote]

Not enough. 

It started at about $9 mil, but about $2-2.5 mil transferred out or moved to another branch in the first couple of months. 

It was just enough that I knew I wasn't going to put a $0 on the board in a month, but not enough that I could live off the the trails and the bond calls. 

[quote=navet]...I have a nice 7 figure nestegg and will retire in 5 years no matter what...[/quote]

[quote=iceco1d]

Navet, what region/area/state are you in?  Feel free to PM me...

[/quote]

How funny Ice. You're DKing a Jones guy onlline! Get that 7 figure ACAT paperwork started early.

[quote=navet]Love people, love the intellectual challenge, hate prospecting. These knees wouldn't allow me to door to door even if I was willing... [/quote]

Navet - Think about it, pray about it and make the best decision for you. Good luck and God bless

Typical Regional:  (Segment = meeting/ dinner)

1.  Cheerleading segment  (The firm is the greatest firm in the world)

2.  Smoozing Segment   (I Bleed Green and I will help the RL any way possible)

3.  Growth Segment  (We need to grow to gain scale and lower costs!! Humm $1300/month P&L charge for Computers??) 

                   Did I buy another new computer this month?

4.  Drinking Segment (Whoooo hooo, Free drinks!)

5.  Hotel Room Segment (FA telling Wife how much he hates most of the FA in the Region)

6.  Dinner/Awards Segment (Great I get a plaque for production, nic nac for mentoring and upset stomach from the new guy telling me "He got a guy" who has a million and he is about close the deal and move segments.

7.   Drive home Segment (Think about trying to find another million dollars this month to keep alive and meet production goals.  

8  Monday Segment: (Right back to the Grind)

9.  Wake up Segment:  (After 4 of the above meetings)  (Build a business for yourself and not for someone else)

10:  Easy Math Segment:   (using 10M for example: Bigger numbers = bigger difference)

                                          10 Million @ 1% = 100k  (90% pay out) = 90K net

                                         10 Million @ 1.35 =135K (40% pay out)=  54K net (81K -- disappears, who took it?)

90K vs 54K  (Prettty easy choice)  ----If you this is how you run your own business, you might want to do something else

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Holy Crap Fooled no more... that actually may be the most genuis post I have read on here. Pretty much got it right in terms of how the regional meeting is going to go.

Spaceman - That is probably what made you make it here. Got enough to not commit suicide but not enough to not work your #!$ off. Good for you.

Fooled - Your depiction of a typical Jones summer regional meeting is pretty funny.  Also, accurate. 

I really hate to get this conversation started, but I'm going to anyway. 

You're math, while correct, isn't technically accurate.  I'll give you props for at least getting the numbers right.  Here's where I disagree:  Do you even get to keep $90K if you're only grossing $100K at an indy?  I'm not sure you do, but I'm sure someone will correct me pretty quickly.  But let's just assume you do. 

What do you spend on your business out of that $90K.  Rent, technology, assistant (maybe), postage, marketing, insurance, etc.  Now, I realize you're not going to spend the whole $36,000 ($90K-54K) that you got paid out above what the Jones guy did, but you're certainly not going to take home $90K.  The question then is how  much do you take home and how much extra work do you put into your business for that extra money.   

I'm not arguing the merits of Jones vs indy.  I am fully aware that there are some advantages and disadvantages to both.  But if you're going to do the math, at least make it an apples to apples comparison.

Fuzzy math.

you are forgetting some simple pieces. Like the 10 to 25 bp the BD takes off the top, and that's before the 10% haircut (and I'm not so sure you're getting 90% payout if your history is $120000 a year). So you are netting a whole bunch less. And I run my office about as cheaply as you can, and technology, rent, association fees or whatever cost over $1500 a month. Minimum.

So your $90K just became more like $81K out of the gate, and you haven't paid the $18000 a year nut to keep the doors open. All told, you are jumping ship for the difference between $54K and ... $64?

And one last thing: if you were doing $10K in advisory solutions, there's absolutely ZERO chance you'll get a 100% rate of success bringing business with you ... OOPS. Now you're making less at your new office. Good luck with that.

duplicate comment.

Why make $64k when you can make $54k good point.

From: http://forums.registeredrep.com/forums/rookies-trainees/gethardgetraws-2009-2010-cold-calling-journal?page=10#comment-2242461

[quote=navet]Just what I would be looking for. Some 20 something who doesn't know sh-t, calling me wasting my time. Go somewhere for 10 years and get some experience junior. The only money you're going to get is a few "I feel soory for the little prick" dollars.[/quote]

Then:

[quote=navet]

... These knees wouldn't allow me to door to door even if I was willing.

... I just don't see the sense in working this hard just to give my book away when it is just starting to pay off. I

... So, this obviously not the place for me.

... It works for younger people [/quote]

Navet, you're a tool. And you failed.