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Jones to RJFS --THANKYOU!

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Dec 11, 2009 4:19 pm
Salvador Dali has this great painting called The Persistence of Memory.  It's the one with the clocks that look like they're melting over the cliff.  I love that painting.  Mostly because it reminds me that we don't always remember things as they really were, but more in the way that we want them to be.  Like when our clients remember getting 15% on a CD, but not the 13% inflation that went along with it.  I think that's what happening here with you, Zacko.   You had a great year in 2002 and got a bonus in the first and second trimester.  Don't remember that part of the story do you?  You only remembered the part of the year that got under your skin.  It is true that there wasn't a bonus in the third trimester of 2002 and then again in the first trimester of 2003.  But after that it came back and was there until just this last year.  Since 1991 there have been 4 trimesters, not years, that Jones hasn't paid a bonus to it's HQ employees or the FAs.  You just happened to be having your best year when one of those trimesters hit.    Jones did postpone the LP in 2003, but those of us who got the offer but then were told to wait, got paid as if the offer actually took place.  Without any cash out of our pockets, BTW.  It wasn't the greatest situation, but Jones could just as easily have told us that they were just going to cancel that offer altogether.  How many companies would have done that?   While you're telling your tale of woe and despair everywhere you go, make sure you get your facts straight.       
Dec 11, 2009 4:28 pm

The whole point of the story is that you can’t depend on bonus payouts to be part of your income on a regular basis. If they are available good for you… My net since moving from Jones to LPL is now 72% after I pay my costs. That is on every dollar of production. That is always going to be better for me and my family than the 38.5% that I was getting at Jones before I started calculating the other costs that I had at Jones.

Dec 11, 2009 5:06 pm

Yeah your right, 2002 was a "great year" with a low net payout for anyone who had a "great year"  And, a great year for the top GP's at Jones.... with Doug Hill getting a pay raise.  1300 IR/FA's left Jones the next year in 2003.  Over 12% of the greatest salesforce and number one company to work for?  I guess they don't include such articles in their reprints? 

2 straight trimesters was 8 months...so it's close to a year and it included my best trimester ever at Jones with no bonus.  The other two were low bonus brackets.   The fact remains, even IF Jones were in the top 50% bonus bracket, I would have still fared better as an indy, although the numbers would have been closer.     Trust me Space, I do remember both the good and the bad from Jones.  However, the more I am reminded of the past -- The more I become thankful for the present.   It's not even close.   ZACKO
Dec 11, 2009 5:09 pm

Exactly. The clones remain clueless defenders of what they are told to be true rather than what is actual fact.

Dec 11, 2009 5:18 pm

Spiffy,

  Are you Rick S. in FL?
Dec 11, 2009 6:53 pm

I have to side with Zacko on this one.  One of the hardest parts about Jones’ compensation system is not really being in control of your bonus.  Yes, you control your production, but that’s where it ends.  My mentor is having a breakout year, and he will have next to no bonus this year.  He is obviously not happy. 

I guess my biggest concern is, as I continue to grow my fee business, I don't want to get in the situation where I have, I don't know, say $450K in recurring revenue, and one year I make $240K, and the next year make $180K because of the market or Jones' financial results or whatever.  I can accept lower pay due to market changes in my AUM.  But I can't accept lower bonuses due to Jones hiring 1500 newbies and having to train them and pay them.  Not when the base pay starts at 40%.  If it were like 50% and then bonus above that, well then I would look at it as more of a firm profit sharing contribution.  But 40% is too low if you can completely wipe out the bonus of a million-dollar producer.  In some ways, I think there should be some additional payout grids for higher producers, at the expense of bonuses to lower producers.  Even though I am not close to that level yet, I just think it's wrong for $500K+ producers to have the same payout as a $100K producer in a bad year when there are no bonuses (or even low bonus brackets).
Dec 11, 2009 7:04 pm

Correct B24.  That's what irritated me.... I was receiving the same payout as a second year broker although I was grossing over 70k on average per month.   Now, I am getting my own "bonus" with every ticket I place.  Same payout on A, B, or C shares also---it's a leap ahead in every way.  That's the entire point of starting  this thread--and that's why "I am still thankful after six years away from Jones" 

  Yes, we are quirky migone.
Dec 11, 2009 7:07 pm

[quote=zacko]

Yeah your right, 2002 was a "great year" with a low net payout for anyone who had a "great year"  And, a great year for the top GP's at Jones.... with Doug Hill getting a pay raise.  1300 IR/FA's left Jones the next year in 2003.  Over 12% of the greatest salesforce and number one company to work for?  I guess they don't include such articles in their reprints? 

2 straight trimesters was 8 months...so it's close to a year and it included my best trimester ever at Jones with no bonus.  The other two were low bonus brackets.   The fact remains, even IF Jones were in the top 50% bonus bracket, I would have still fared better as an indy, although the numbers would have been closer.     Trust me Space, I do remember both the good and the bad from Jones.  However, the more I am reminded of the past -- The more I become thankful for the present.   It's not even close.   ZACKO[/quote]   Yep, Doug Hill did get a raise in 2002.  The first one in a couple of years.  His salary went up from $175K to $181K.  Barely a cost of living raise.  His GP payout went up by about $100K, which was a 3.5% increase from 2001, but a 43% drop from 2000.  Not that I feel terribly sorry for anyone making $3 mil a year, but just to give the folks some persepective, I thought I might share that piece of info.    I'd bet that if Doug knew it upset you so much, he would have skipped over that .02% bump in his compensation for the year.    I'm not going to take the time to double check your facts on the attrition that year.  I'll take your word for it.  The question is, how many of those folks were New FAs who just simply didn't surivive the bear market?  You make it sound like all of those folks left the company to find greener pastures at places like LPL and RJ or other brokerage firms.  I don't think that was the case.  I'd bet a lot of those folks left the business altogether.    I'll say it again, like I did in maybe my second post in this thread - congrats.  I'm happy that you're happy at RJ.       
Dec 11, 2009 7:54 pm

Glad you have finally recognized that RJ and LPL are greener pastures.... and to think it took 32 pages!

I think about 1/3 left for other firms--and the other 2/3 were noobs.  I didn't like the fact that Doug Hill got a pay raise at all during a year where no bonus was paid to the hardworking IR--who are the sole source of revenue for the firm.  Firm revenue was down 20% if not more and he gets an increase in his personal pay?  His income did of course double in 2004 to over 7 million which was the year he was forced to step down by regulators.    After multiple trips to the home office, the only GP that I ever really respected was Tom Bartow.  He might have been a liitle off center--ok--more than a little.....  but he actually cared more than most.  And--although I didn't know it at the time, I learned alot from him.
Dec 11, 2009 8:22 pm

[quote=zacko]

Glad you have finally recognized that RJ and LPL are greener pastures.... and to think it took 32 pages!

I think about 1/3 left for other firms--and the other 2/3 were noobs.  I didn't like the fact that Doug Hill got a pay raise at all during a year where no bonus was paid to the hardworking IR--who are the sole source of revenue for the firm.  Firm revenue was down 20% if not more and he gets an increase in his personal pay?  His income did of course double in 2004 to over 7 million which was the year he was forced to step down by regulators.    After multiple trips to the home office, the only GP that I ever really respected was Tom Bartow.  He might have been a liitle off center--ok--more than a little.....  but he actually cared more than most.  And--although I didn't know it at the time, I learned alot from him.[/quote]   You obviously have a reading comprension problem...Spiff said...and I quote " left the company to find greener pastures at places like LPL and RJ or other brokerage firms"...that doesn't mean that they actually found greener pastures there...just that that was what they were looking for!  For a million dollar producer like yourself, you sure must have a bug up your ass to come on here and bash like you do.    My question for you is...did you start your career at EDJ?  I agree with you about Bartow...he is a lunatic, but has lots to teach! 
Dec 11, 2009 9:08 pm

[quote=zacko]

Glad you have finally recognized that RJ and LPL are greener pastures.... and to think it took 32 pages!

I think about 1/3 left for other firms--and the other 2/3 were noobs.  I didn't like the fact that Doug Hill got a pay raise at all during a year where no bonus was paid to the hardworking IR--who are the sole source of revenue for the firm.  Firm revenue was down 20% if not more and he gets an increase in his personal pay?  His income did of course double in 2004 to over 7 million which was the year he was forced to step down by regulators.    After multiple trips to the home office, the only GP that I ever really respected was Tom Bartow.  He might have been a liitle off center--ok--more than a little.....  but he actually cared more than most.  And--although I didn't know it at the time, I learned alot from him.[/quote]   It must have killed you that a guy like me got a pay raise in 2002 then too.  Mine would have been a higer percentage than Doug's, though.  Maybe about 4.5-5%.  But that's because I got a cost of living and a merit increase.  I was such a good little home office employee.    Are you reading the 10-K?  Are you missing the part about Doug taking a $2 MILLION cut in his partnership earnings between 2000 and 2002?  And you're going to complain about him getting a 3% raise ($6000 and some change) on his personal salary?  It wasn't until 2005 that his total compensation his $7 mil.  In fact, in 2004, when you said his income double, according to the 10-k, his total icome dropped down to $1.8MM.  I believe that was the year that he took $3MM out of his own pocket and kicked it into the uwec whistle blower fund.    I'm not a big Doug Hill fan.  I liked Bachmann, love Weddle, but was indifferent to Hill.  I think he's much more effective now that he's not the MP than he was.  If you want to use his salary as one of the reasons you left EDJ, great, more power to you.  I don't see it as the evil GPs trying to screw the FAs.  Evidently you do.  We'll have to agree to disagree.    foot - no, I'm not in FL.     
Dec 11, 2009 9:39 pm

Where's my piece of the Whistle Blower Fund?

Dec 11, 2009 10:07 pm

Salvador Dali has this great painting called The Persistence of Memory.  It’s the one with the clocks that look like they’re melting over the cliff.  I love that painting.  Mostly because it reminds me that we don’t always remember things as they really were, but more in the way that we want them to be.

    Spiff-   It was your friend the revenue sharing whistle blower who asked you if you were located in Florida. I remember distinctly you are one of the chosen on a street corner in or around SL. I just wanted to comment that everyday you impress me with your vast knowledge. Now we are reminded of your love of art...and Jim Weddle.   And then you end with the most intelligent statement in the history of mankind which is highlighted above. Cuts both ways.
Dec 11, 2009 10:43 pm

[quote=BigCheese]Salvador Dali has this great painting called The Persistence of Memory.  It’s the one with the clocks that look like they’re melting over the cliff.  I love that painting.  Mostly because it reminds me that we don’t always remember things as they really were, but more in the way that we want them to be.

    Spiff-   It was your friend the revenue sharing whistle blower who asked you if you were located in Florida. I remember distinctly you are one of the chosen on a street corner in or around SL. I just wanted to comment that everyday you impress me with your vast knowledge. Now we are reminded of your love of art...and Jim Weddle.   And then you end with the most intelligent statement in the history of mankind which is highlighted above. Cuts both ways. [/quote]   ....BC....you crack me up!    
Dec 12, 2009 4:59 am

I was just wondering, O gods O FA Forum, are you ever proactive about this stuff, meaning to say forget the past and look forward to the future? You know, maybe be positive, and support each other in your efforts? Just a thought.
Go ahead and laugh away…

Dec 12, 2009 5:02 am

I have my behavioral call on Tuesday. What should I expect to be asked? We’re not talking nudity and bowls of jello, farm animals, and such are we? What kind of behavioral ?'s

Dec 12, 2009 12:32 pm

lets stop with the ej threads. they’re so boring, as is the firm itself and their simple minded reps.

Dec 12, 2009 10:54 pm

Hey, there is a fantastic persuasive argument to desist. Insult some people and then request that it ends. Generalize a group of people and ask that no one offers a volley? Yeah, let’s see how that goes. Sorry, but you are so exciting and intricate in your thinking. Tell, us, oh complex minded easy$$, uhmm prostitute, what do you have to say that is so exciting?

Dec 14, 2009 3:35 pm

Kool Aid-

It's called sarcasm.   And yes, I started my investment career at Jones durring the mid 1990's.  I started my office in a town where I knew no one, and built my office to the second highest grossing office in my state over the next ten years before leaving for much greener pastures.  In fact, I own the pasture now.   I bash where and when it is completely deserved--but hopefully, it's taken lightly and some find benefit.