[quote=BigPayDay]Ex,

So what's your favorite Platform?

BPD[/quote]

Don't have a favorite.  But the idea of a fund research dept that follows both load and no load products, as well as a fee based platform that can hold etf's, and individual equities works for me. I also like being able to offer all of he funds from the fund families I learned so well while at Jones.  The fact I can do this while keeping fixed income and cash in a traditional brokerage acct without a fee attached solves most of my problems.

BPD,

You should have quit this argument when you were only a little behind.

I'm not sure how long you have been in this business--but realizing that there are many other platforms available to service clients than A shares and 25 year CMO's in a commission account is a baby step.  The giant leap comes when you make the move to indy realizing you have been selling yourself, your clients, and your family short all these years by remaining with a firm that claims to be many things that they are not. 

I can assure that it's such an eye opening experience (going indy) that many ex-EJ people feel passionate enough about on this forum to share information with those who remain at Jones.   Some might say bitterness...but realizing you have been duped and the naysayers were indeed correct creates a moderate degree of resentment.  Gratitude would be far more appropriate than your current attitude.  I know I am thankful to those who were helpful to me. 

Let's see here, BigJA (figure it out, oh creative one) - I want to know that I have more options at my fingertips if I would like to pursue something.  Oh, and I'm a younger guy and don't have $500k yet to put in your fee-based platform.  So...I would like to go to someone else that can put my money in something that serves ME better.  Not a cookie cutter piece of crap platform (you started the mudslinging, so I'll apparently continue it) that doesn't serve ME, as the client. 

Are you that much of a joke to realize that EVERYONE is not best-served by the "best sales force" in the history of the galaxy? 

Tell me this, BPD - can you place a naked straddle for clients, or futures?  There are, believe it or not, clients that would like to invest in these.  Not as many as C-shares, but there are some.

BigPayDay.........you did it again.......you got nailed

Wake-up !  There is another world out there

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

[quote=zacko]

BPD,

You should have quit this argument when you were only a little behind.

I’m not sure how long you have been in this business–but realizing that there are many other platforms available to service clients than A shares and 25 year CMO’s in a commission account is a baby step. The giant leap comes when you make the move to indy realizing you have been selling yourself, your clients, and your family short all these years by remaining with a firm that claims to be many things that they are not.

I can assure that it’s such an eye opening experience (going indy) that many ex-EJ people feel passionate enough about on this forum to share information with those who remain at Jones. Some might say bitterness…but realizing you have been duped and the naysayers were indeed correct creates a moderate degree of resentment. Gratitude would be far more appropriate than your current attitude. I know I am thankful to those who were helpful to me.

BigPayDay This is more your color

TOP 10 REASONS MY CLIENTS ARE GLAD I LEFT EDWARD JONES:

10. My clients also like the FACT my FIRM wasn't hit for 75 million in fines and facing close to 1 Billion in CA settlement.........

  9. FEE BASED BUSINESS (NO I WON'T EDUCATE YOU ON WHY IT'S BETTER THAN A SHARES) MY CLIENTS LOVE IT

  8. WHEN MY CLIENTS COME IN IT IS FOR SERVICE, NOT SELLING THEM THE "FLAVOR" OF THE MONTH LIKE YOU STILL DO...........DO THEY STILL HAVE THOSE SATURDAY PROMOTIONS, LIKE SELLING A "STOCK" or  'BOND" or A PARTICULAR "MUTUAL FUND"  OH, YEA BFD, THAT'S REALLY TAKEN CARE OF YOUR CLIENT ISN'T IT? Do you think they don't know it?

   7. BY THE WAY MY CLIENTS DO READ THE "WSJ" SO THEY ARE VERY PLEASED I LEFT..........They relate to the articles.

    6.  The don't have a newbie that Edward Jones put in my old Office, that's still wet behind the ears

   5.  They really love our customer statements, it really smokes Edward Jones statements

   4.  They love our financial plan, that is reinforced every quarter when we have our review

    3. They love that we don't bug them with unnecessary crap that is mailed in their Quarterly statement.

     2. They LOVE NOT PAYING HIGH COMMISSIONS........

     1. THEY LOVE THE FACT THERE IS MORE THAN ON IR IN OUR OFFICE, AND ALL OF OUR STAFF IS LICENSED SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO CALL SOME DIM WIT IN ST. LOUIS TO GET AN ANSWER...... 

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING

BPD,

A shot at me?  Ok--I'll respond.  24k is nothing out of 600k net before office overhead.  It's less than 5% dude.  I'll be honest as I always have been since day one...I am thinking of reducing the advertsing even more.  I'm sure it has some intangible value, but I am doing it because I can afford it.  Name recognition has helped me over the years and my advertising is centered around that.  However, most of the business I recieve is referral based and I feel has little to do with advertsing.  I will say that far too many noob brokers think advertising is the ticket to success.  IT IS NOT.  In fact, I feel advertsing is probably the worst return on your money you can get in this business.  If one ad in the paper runs you $200 and is only there for one day....it may or may not be worthwhile.  You could buy ten CPA's lunch for $200 and would have a much bigger impact in my view.

Truth is on advertsing is that to obtain sucess, you have to stick with it over a period of time and it should NEVER be the cornerstone of building your business. 

And, as far as posting on this forum--I seem to have the time.  I mean no harm towards Jones or you--but only to provide some facts to those who have been kept in the dark--just as I was.

Zacko,



My thoughts exactly except for the last paragraph.



BPD

The thing I like the best after leaving Jones is the ability to build a fee based business any way I want.  I manage most all my accounts myself with discretionary authority.  I left Jones knowing very little about managing stocks and now I have become quite good at it and  my business has grown faster than I ever could have imagined. 

My days are so different now.  I spend nearly all my time managing my positions and reviewing accounts which are almost all fee based.  I feel very grateful for this opportunity to run my business the way I want to that I never would have had at Jones.  Now I work hard but my life is so much less stresful because I have a fee based business that is better than a fairly average guy like me could have ever have imagined.     

I am set up on the mates plateform to do multiple trades in all my accounts at once.  Everything is top notch and I feel better than ever about what I am doing and the service I bring to the table for my clients. 

BPD-If your are successful at EDJ just imagine what you could do being indy or at a wire house with all the tools you can dream of and some you probably don't even know exist.  Just my thoughts.

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Malcolm,

The last thing I want to do is manage discretionary accounts all day. Besides, can I really do it better than American Funds or any other good institutional or seperate account manager? You are setting yourself up for disaster and much liability should the market correct again like it did back in '00 - '02.

You say your life is less stressfull doing business this way. I don't see how.

TA 

You said "I spend nearly all my time managing my positions..." This is what you pay an assistant to do. You do not understand this business.

Answer,

Many large clients have fee based discretionary accounts with their advisors.  We have a few on the books--and they are far easier to manage as you don't have to call the client every time you place a trade.  Most of the time I will anyway just to provide good service.

To compare any of that to American Funds shows your experience level in the business.

Play a game here:  For arguments sake let's just say Jones and LPL and RJFS are equal in terms of what they provide.  Why would you as an advisor want to affiliate with a b/d that keeps $.60 of every dollar YOU earn v having absolute ownership?  Why would you allow some entity that doesn't know your business from Adam control your margins for you?  Why would you be content with limits v more open architecture?  Why would you choose a firm that forces you to have 2000 plus clients in order to grow and stay profitable?

Even if you believe Jones' way of A share only, etc.. is the right thing for all of your clients, why would you do it under their umbrella given the questions I mentioned above?

Answer. 

If using American Funds works for you that's great.  First of all I really love managing portfolios myself.  Maybe our clients are a bit different.  My minimum account size I will take is now $250,000 and on average a new client has a net worth of a few million dollars.  Average new account household this year is around $600,000.

My clients want special attention and at least for me this is a way to provide it.  I will put myself up against your American funds anyday and the funny thing is, I like down markets.  That is when I can really provide value added service.  I can do a lot in these accounts that you can't with your American funds.  For example I may buy foreign governmen bonds, I may short stocks, I may add hedge fund positions.  I also have a guy who has been a commodites trader for 23 years in my office who I sub that part of the accounts out to to manage when appropriate.  It's a different thing than what you are selling.

I didn't want to be a salesman with the simplist business I wanted to be a guy who managed portolios for rich people with a great annuitized business.  This sounds hokey but I want to be proud of what I do and I guess being a salesman with the most simple business around pumping mutual funds to the masses didn't make me feel like I was doing I could be proud of. 

If it works for you though then hey more power to you. You can make a lot of money with your business model.        

Sorry for all the type-o’s. 

You're right, Malcolm. What "rich" guy wouldn't rather have a former shoe- salesman/ Jones broker making all those important decisions? Those American Funds managers are just a bunch of over-educated dimwits. Economics PhD from Harvard or London? No match for Malcolm's Diploma in Farm Implement maintenance from DickWeed School of Technology. I have to admit, if it were my millions, and of course I will never have millions as a Jones guy (oh wait..I have a million, my bad)..I would galdly hand it over to Malcolm the magnificent and his new best friend, the 23 year commodity /futures trader guy. And the kicker is this..Malcolm can fix your  tractor too!

[quote=Bill Fakkland]

You're right, Malcolm. What "rich" guy wouldn't rather have a former shoe- salesman/ Jones broker making all those important decisions? Those American Funds managers are just a bunch of over-educated dimwits. Economics PhD from Harvard or London? No match for Malcolm's Diploma in Farm Implement maintenance from DickWeed School of Technology. I have to admit, if it were my millions, and of course I will never have millions as a Jones guy (oh wait..I have a million, my bad)..I would galdly hand it over to Malcolm the magnificent and his new best friend, the 23 year commodity /futures trader guy. And the kicker is this..Malcolm can fix your  tractor too!

[/quote]

ROFLMAO, a guy in a strip-mall office with 1970s technology, who's not much more than part of a sales force for a mutual fund family is trying to play "mine's bigger than yours".....

Hey Mikedickhead, our technology is clearly 1980's. Strip malls give us easy access to Chinese food. And as anyone on this board knows..mine IS bigger than yours. I know this because people who are successful don't use ROFLMAO like a true moron. Why don't you and Player have a ROFLMAO-emoticon-bold type-capital letters one on one? Maybe after you're done you can pick up my order of Kung Pow..and skip the plastic forks, I have set from a fund company. You can take the areshole out of the Jones office and put him in an Indy backwater, but the arsehole still remains. It's amazing how smart you doorknobs get one day after leaving Jones.

Bill,

You have so clearly bought more into the hype than I could have envisioned.  No one ever questioned the academic acheivements or even the management expertise of American Funds. 

If that's the best you can do...then run with it.  But, truth is--it's the ONLY thing you can do.  Maybe now you have Franklin and a fund or two within the other families that are usable--but really--your only real option is selling A share front load funds while placing most of the business within one or two families due to breakpoint issues. 

Being able to offer any share class with the same payout (90%) as well as offer fee based programs along with a much better bond inventory is what sets me and many others apart from you.  It's a fact that is indisputable.  Spouting the company line instead of having an original thought only makes you look even more inexperienced than you appear to be. 

I'm glad you have your million...and so do I.  Incidentally, I got mine 20 years younger than you did.

[quote=The Answer]

Malcolm,

... You are setting yourself up for disaster and much liability should the market correct again like it did back in '00 - '02.

[/quote]

Do you know what an investment policy statement is?  Personally, I can admit that I didn't until I left the greatest salesforce.  Look it up and it might answer some of concerns about liability in a discretionary account.

[quote=Bill Fakkland]

You're right, Malcolm. What "rich" guy wouldn't rather have a former shoe- salesman/ Jones broker making all those important decisions? [/quote]

BF,

Do you really consider yourself the equivalent of a shoe salesman.  Money isn't the only reason to go independent. Self respect is another.  At least Malcolm can put "former" in front of his shoe salesman title.  You could too with a little effort.

Explore your options at www.joinlpl.com or www.advisorchoice.com .