I believe that Edward Jones uses 1950s sales and marketing strategies as a device to lull “regular folks” into the nostalgic sense that its quaint little storefront offices (called “nonthreatening” by the Harvard Business Review) and unassuming, ordinary “advisors” can be entrusted with their nest eggs, whereas those fancy-pants guys in the metro high rises would make them feel anxious and insecure. Jones’ genius, of course, is that it conveniently fails to mention its exorbitant fees. I have just posted the first in a five-part series on the Edward Jones empire at kronstantinople.blogspot.com.