Spiff, Max you are proving the point. X-ray is not a Jones tool.It is provided by a preferred revenue sharing vendor. I taught a part on it in my region… approximately 10% of the IR’s were using the tool. Seriously you can not debate this topic until Jones gives you the ability to utilize and download tools that allow you to be great advisors. You must backpeddle on this point or all your other salient points wil lose credilbility to those of us ex-Jonesers who try to be somewhat un-biased. You simply so not thave the same tools and platforms available to you and that is why you actually @ jones do tend to attract a certain type of client.

Britney, as an aside, I think you have PrimeVest crossed with Primerica.  PrimeVest is not a bad B/D...certainly not in the realm of Primerica.

My bad Indy…I stand corrected.  Spiffy your telling tales.  You have such a wood to become a GP, you will do NOTHING other than what is taught at jones.  You sell nothing but preferreds, and longggggg term bonds…anything that pays 2 pts or better.  You recruit the local homeless guy to fill a contest category.  I was taught to sell from the BAR CHART.  Let me say this again…I WAS TAUGHT TO SELL FROM THE BAR CHART!!  PORTFOLIO REVIEWS WERE BASED ON THE BAR CHART!!!  WHEN I TRIED TO USE X-RAY, THE PERSON AT GOLDMAN ASKED IF I USED GOLDMAN FUNDS, I SAID NO…HE SAID, WHY DON"T YOU DROP US A TICKET AND WILL GET YOU SIGNED UP TO GET IN TO X-RAY…PAY TO PLAY.  GO SELL SOMETHING…to SOMEBODY.

[quote=skolbrother]Spiff, Max you are proving the point. X-ray is not a Jones tool.It is provided by a preferred revenue sharing vendor. I taught a part on it in my region… approximately 10% of the IR’s were using the tool. Seriously you can not debate this topic until Jones gives you the ability to utilize and download tools that allow you to be great advisors. You must backpeddle on this point or all your other salient points wil lose credilbility to those of us ex-Jonesers who try to be somewhat un-biased. You simply so not thave the same tools and platforms available to you and that is why you actually @ jones do tend to attract a certain type of client. [/quote]

I also use the asset allocator tool that is part of the Sungard Financial Planning software that Jones rolled out this year.  I like the efficient frontier chart to discuss risk/reward trade offs with people.

spears - My experience with the X-Rax is completely different.  Maybe it used to be that way.  It was the Goldman guy who pointed it out to me, but it doesn't take much to figure out that it's run by Morningstar.  In fact on their website it's call the Morningstar Instant X-ray, not the Goldman Sachs Instant X-Ray.  Your internal must have been a jerk.  The only wholesaler who has ever told me to send him some tickets before he'll do anything was the Van Kampen guy when I asked about seminars. 

You're jumping to conclusions about my business based on your experiences with Jones.  Again, maybe you weren't a think outside the box kind of guy when you were at Jones.  That's your problem.  If you couldn't figure out how to get what you thought you needed in order to do your job correctly, then you needed to leave Jones.  You do what's right for your clients.  Period.  I can do what I need to do with my clients at Jones.  You might do it differently, but not necessarily better. 

What did you do before Jones hired you that allows you to cast judgement on the kind of people Jones hires?  College grad with a degree in finance?  MCD's counter guy?  Business owner?  I'm sure you weren't a well qualified financial advisor with an existing book of business.  Maybe we should have hired the local homeless guy instead.   

I think the new guy in the office is!!  Not jumping to conclusions, but reading through your message.  You will NOT become who you would like to become by thinking outside the box…period.  Good luck and good SELLING.  Your a sales guy in a sales organization.  Jones could substitute stocks with vacuums and you homers wouldn’t miss a beat.  If your doing what you say…you’ll be sitting at your same office in 10 years watching others become GP’s…and you’ll be shaking your head…“I’ve done whats right for my clients, I thought thats all it took to move ahead at Jones”.  WRONG!!  You better get back into your box…bud.

If I remeber correctly, you stated you run call sessions.  All these outside the box ideas you have, did you mention these at the call sessions by chance.  We used to talk about WHATS WORKING .  You know...lets hear your sales pitch on the b of a bond we have in inventory.  Turn any of your fellow jonesies onto your out of the box investments?  THE ANSWER IS NO.  You would get blown out of the region with that type of talk.  NO THINKERS NEEDED HERE IN OUR CAMP.  Jim Jones.

You know, spears, I wonder how successful you and I would be if we stopped lobbing pot shots back and forth at each other and took that time to call a few more clients or prospects. 

I get it that you don't like Jones.  You feel you got lied to, you didn't think you had enough tools available to you to do a proper job with your clients, or the RL pissed you off, whatever.  There's something you don't like.  You say we're all salesmen who could also be selling vacuum cleaners.  Skolbrother says we need to download tools to do something different.  None of us can think for ourselves.  And Jones likes it that way. 

So here's what I'm thinking about while reading you bash Jones and Skol tell me I can't be a good advisor without some other tool I have to download.   I have access to the Morningstar X-ray program, SunGard's Financial Planning software, the Jones bar charts, Jones, S&P and Morningstar reports on stocks and funds in addition to anything available on the internet?  I can evaluate my clients retirement, education, business, and estate planning needs.  I can dig deep into their portfolio or keep it really simple for them.  I have access to stocks, bonds (munis, agencies, corporates, structured notes, treasuries, mortgage backed), funds (70+ familes are buy eligible including 8 preferred and 7 focus families), etfs, CDs, uits, life insurance, LTC insurance, mortgages,  SMAs through the MAP program, 401Ks, trust services, annuities (fixed and variable, A, B, and C share), and some others that I know I'm missing.  I can prospect by phone, in person door to door, through any networking group I choose, by mail, or virtually any other way I choose.  I can get my CFP and Jones will pay for it.  I can work whatever hours I need to get the work done I need to for my clients.  What am I missing other than a fee based platform that makes me an inferior broker to you or any other guy out there simply because I work for Jones?  Cause I'm looking at it wondering what else I should be working on with my clients. 

While I get a kick out of debating the virtues (or lack thereof) of Jones with you guys, I'll bet others are getting sick of it.  What do you say we all gang up on some other firm for a while.  I'll let you pick.  We can get off the Jones topics and on to something more worthwhile.  

My first thought was NO...but I will agree to move on.  I'm glad I decided to start my own practice, it's been the most fun I've had in years.  I was spending to much time on this forum anyway, and your right, always more clients to service and referrals to be called.  I enjoyed the sparring and I hope you win the diversification trip.  GOOD LUCK AND GOOD....well, you know!

Spiff- I assume you are doing a the best with what you have. However me debating what you do not have access to is like debating the virtues of the 3-4 defense with my 6 year old he simply has not been exposed to enough to understand advantages/disadvantages. My point simply was all the ex-Joneser biased or unbiased say the same thing: you do not have the tools available to you that I do. I am happy you feel you have everything you need. In all honesty as my friends at Jones will attest I miss the trips and a few other small things but I could not go back due to the lack of platforms or tools.

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]

While I get a kick out of debating the virtues (or lack thereof) of Jones with you guys, I'll bet others are getting sick of it.  What do you say we all gang up on some other firm for a while.  I'll let you pick.  We can get off the Jones topics and on to something more worthwhile.  [/quote]

That's just crazy talk .  They would have to shut this site down for lack of use if we got off the Jones thing.