Rank, funny your name was a great selling tool.  I used to pull up rank,stocks on the old dos system, find hold, sell or not covered stocks in my book and make a sales call on them. It was awesome.  Made my month several times.  Prospecting, hell with all the transfers from my old office, I don’t have the time.  This will pass, and I will be hitting it hard. 1 goal, run the pyramid schemed EDJ office out of town!!!

[quote=farotech]Here’s another thing I forgot to ask, as I have been reading this forum for a while but have never posted: I am fed up with pointless, pi$$ant fees. $40 for an IRA. $3 for low money market balance. Do indy firms have these little fees that just exist to irritate clients?[/quote]

Pretty much every firm has IRA fees in that neighborhood or higher.  At least when you’re indy you can more easily afford to waive them because of the higher payout.

Most firms also have inactive account fees.  They are worse at some firms than others.

I have NEVER heard of a fee for a “low money market balance”.

EDJ’s has the dreaded 3$ low money market fee.  I’m sure this little suggestion got someone an “atta boy” from the white boy GP structure

I have NEVER heard of a fee for a "low money market balance

We have one ($2) only if you have a checking account option on the mmkts brokerage account and the balance falls below $5000.  No minimums or fees if you don't have the checking account.  Most of my clients who have the checking never fall below the minimum and if they did...big deal... the interest rate on the account is 4.5% or higher.  They are pulling money out of the bank MMKTs right and left for this.

Joe,

You've got to be kidding!!  If you want a mmkt account in the Jones brokerage account you have to keep a minimum of $2500 in it or they will charge you $3.00 to keep it.  This goes directly to the GPs bottom line and your office profitability.  I agree it's not well advertised but it is there.

[quote=FreeFromJones]

Joe,

You've got to be kidding!!  If you want a mmkt account in the Jones brokerage account you have to keep a minimum of $2500 in it or they will charge you $3.00 to keep it.  This goes directly to the GPs bottom line and your office profitability.  I agree it's not well advertised but it is there.

[quote=AllREIT] [quote=FreeFromJones]

Joe,

You've got to be kidding!!  If you want a mmkt account in the Jones brokerage account you have to keep a minimum of $2500 in it or they will charge you $3.00 to keep it.  This goes directly to the GPs bottom line and your office profitability.  I agree it's not well advertised but it is there.

[/quote]

That is among the more retarded things about EDJ. This sort of nickel and diming will cost you clients in the long run.
[/quote]

First, I agree.  Second, I think all firms have some version of this, where someone who hasn't seen a client in 10 years gets a bright idea on how to squeeze out a few bucks of extra revenue at the expense of pissing off some of the clients.

Third, stupid fees like this led to me having a relatively large account at EDJ.  I had a client with maybe $50,000, and he was hit with a couple of stupid fees, I don't even remember what they were exactly, but it was under $50.  When he figured it out, he was hot.  He came in with his wife, I believe to close out the account, but he wanted the satisfaction of chewing me out face to face in front of his wife before he moved his money.  I agreed with him on the fees, and had already gotten his account reimbursed out of my commissions earlier that morning.  When he found out that I went out of pocket to fix it, his attitude changed completely. 

About a week later he came back in with stock certificates and moved about $300,000 to me, part as stock we left alone, but the majority as stock we liquidated and bought A share mutual funds with.  AND, when we were done, he insisted on taking my BOA and I out for lunch as his treat (he was hellbent on getting me back my $50, never mind that I made a couple of thousand that morning on the trades we did).

I’ve never seen numbers on how much fee revenue Jones gets from the $3 fee on MMKT, but I can’t imagine it’s huge.  I don’t see it in my office.  I rarely have a client who has a MMKT fall below the minimum.  If they do I usually suggest they add more money at about 4.5% or let me send them a check for the balance.  I hate that fee. 

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]I’ve never seen numbers on how much fee revenue
Jones gets from the $3 fee on MMKT, but I can’t imagine it’s
huge.  I don’t see it in my office.  I rarely have a client
who has a MMKT fall below the minimum.  If they do I usually
suggest they add more money at about 4.5% or let me send them a check
for the balance.  I hate that fee.  [/quote]



Given that current MMA rates are 5.05%, EDJ should be paying me to have money on deposit at below market rates.



Why is Scottrade so sucessful? B/c they don’t have the endless stupid
fee’s that other discount brokers have.  Stupid stuff like account
minimums or  inactive account fee’s etc.



Yet another area where fee only is going to win. Clients see a single fee vs a storm of chickensh*t itemised fees.



 

Honestly, although I agree that extra fees are a nuisance, if you manage it

correctly, there are very few fees actually charged. I don’t have anyone

with the $3 fee (I manage it with the low-balance reports). Most firms

have an IRA fee (most wirehouses are higher than EJ), and we waive it if

you have more than $500K in Household assets with us - so about half

my clients don’t pay that fee. Some of the other fees are in liue of

commissions (i.e. stock dividend reinvestment). For $100/yr, you get 2

fee-free IRA’s, unlimited checking and unlimited dividend reinvestment.

That can save a lot of $$.



It’s not perfect, but it really stacks up very comparably to most other

firms.

[quote=FreeFromJones]

Joe,

You've got to be kidding!!  If you want a mmkt account in the Jones brokerage account you have to keep a minimum of $2500 in it or they will charge you $3.00 to keep it.  This goes directly to the GPs bottom line and your office profitability.  I agree it's not well advertised but it is there.

You'd think that gross commission from mutual funds would be enough to cover the home office's bottom line, but no, they need an additional $3 every time a money market goes below $2500. So what does that do for the guy who has a pile of money in investments and uses the money market as a holding pen occasionally? Nothing makes big clients madder than chicken$hit fees.

farotech-I am not arguing for/against the $3 fee, I hate it too, but in
your situation the guy would not be charged the fee if he used it as a
"holding pen" once in awhile.  his account would likely NOT be
coded as a money market but as a cash account, and the fee is not
charged to those accounts.

therefore, if you need to hold $2499 for a year while you wait for buying opportunities, you lose $36 to fees, or gain nothing and keep the money in cash.

CTAXX for anyone below $2500 in cash. Quitcherbitchin

 THE WORD IS ON THE STREET....THE WORD IS ON THE STREET!!!

 My Damn Feet Hurt

 ED JEHOVAH

therefore, if you need to hold $2499 for a year while you wait for
buying opportunities, you lose $36 to fees, or gain nothing and keep
the money in cash.



NO-a cash account receives the same interest rate that the money market
account does, and would not have the $3 fee.  the cash account
simply does not buy money market shares and is not eligible for
checkwriting or debit card transactions.  the 2 “classes” receive
the same interestrate.

[quote=theironhorse]therefore, if you need to hold $2499 for a year while you wait for buying opportunities, you lose $36 to fees, or gain nothing and keep the money in cash.

NO-a cash account receives the same interest rate that the money market account does, and would not have the $3 fee.  the cash account simply does not buy money market shares and is not eligible for checkwriting or debit card transactions.  the 2 "classes" receive the same interestrate.
[/quote]

Uh- NO.  Cash does not recieve the same interest.  (And it's not even close.)  Re-check your info.

[quote=farotech]

therefore, if you need to hold $2499 for a year while you wait for buying opportunities, you lose $36 to fees, or gain nothing and keep the money in cash.

gad12-sorry-I was speaking out of my rear, you are correct, the % in
the cash account is significantly lower than the money market.